The request had been three flavors in one. I could have done neapolitan ice cream and been done with it. I did not do that.
Dinner first, because you cannot cut into a birthday cake on an empty stomach in this house. A big bowl of beef lo mein came out of the pan in almost one motion - noodles stretched across the serving bowl, onions going silky and brown, sesame seeds on top. Then out came the cake.
Three layers, vanilla buttercream all the way around, rainbow jimmies because they had been requested and I respect a request. The inside was what I’d been hoping for the whole week - pink and pale and chocolate, a clean little stack of three. A slice went beside coffee the next morning, which is the highest compliment a cake can get.
