Candy Cake with lots of love

I Owe It All To Mother!
It’s your birthday, Mom.

So I will raise a cheer.

For without you, wondrous person,

I would not be here.
Yes, I owe it all to you, Mom.

From the time that I was small,

You encouraged me in everything,

And tried not to let me fall.
Throughout my life your caring,

Brightened each and every minute.

You loved me and enriched my life,

And I’m so glad to have you in it!

I came across this wonderful poem on a site called http://www.poemsource.com/ and this poem was penned by Karl Fuchs.

Today is the birthday of one of the most important people in my life. She's the lady that many of you admire without even having met her. The lady who broke many barriers in her lifetime, most without even her own knowledge. She travelled to the United States when she was just 20. That too, in the late 50s when most people in India didn't get to travel within their own cities. She married of her own choice, outside her community. Switched careers half way through to be able to have a full time career and raise her two children with no compromise. She has been my source of strength when I've faced trouble at work. She's the woman who called me at 2 a.m. because she knew I'd be awake after a painful breakup. I can count on her to laugh with me and double my joy and to cry with me to reduce my pain. As I always say, "If I can achieve, in my lifetime, even a tenth of what she has so far, I'll count this life a successful one." She says she's lucky to have gotten a great family, but we feel we're luckier because we got her.

I didn't bake this cake today. It was my colleague's birthday about a month ago. And I decided to bake a little cake for her. As you can all see from the picture, I'm not exactly great when it comes to decorating my cakes. I have a long way to go. This is yet another recipe adapted from my much used and much loved Ann Pillsbury's Baking Book. The recipe calls for chocolate bits and I ran out of chocolate chips. So, I decorated the top with chocolate vermicelli and confetti. I should really be saying that I tried to decorate the cake.

P, my colleague for whom I baked this, was thrilled to bits. She didn't expect me to get her a cake. And she said this was the first time someone baked her something for her birthday. Well, she liked it. And that is all that really matters.

2 cups Flour

4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Sugar

1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Oil

2 eggs

3/4 cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Essence

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Butter and flour for dusting

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes. Pour into a prepared pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the batter and bake for 30 minutes at 350F.

I will be making something special today or tomorrow to celebrate. Two other special people also celebrate their birthdays. My friend and partner in crime from my college days, Subha, is one of them. My best friend's daughter, Meghana, turns one today. I was to travel to Madras today and celebrate this special day with my family. But my plans changed. I will be visiting next month. In the meanwhile, I have sent a bunch of roses and a chocolate cake. That's really the best I could do. That's the simplest way for me to be able to say:

Happy Birthday Amma.