The different flavors of birthdays

Birthdays. It's interesting how varied our feelings toward and reactions to our own special day can be. Some people shout it from the mountaintops, throwing elaborate fetes or even multi-part affairs with plenty of food, drink, and rowdy, uninhibited fun. Others let the day come and go quietly -- treating it as just another day and no reason to make a fuss. And still others dread the reminder that, in the blink of an eye, they've grown another year older as they stare fixedly on the reflection before them, searching for the newly sprouted white hair or wrinkle that hadn't been there the day before.

Well, my assistant's friend, Alastair, belongs somewhere in the second camp. He was going to let his birthday slip quietly by, lost in a sunshine-filled spring weekend. My assistant, who while in no way a "shout-it-from-the-mountaintops" kind of birthday girl, believes in the beauty of birthdays and wasn't about to let a special one slip by unnoticed -- without warm wishes and, more devastatingly (IMHO), without cake.

So here's what she did:
You wouldn't guess from the looks of it, but this is a coffee cake. Not coffee cake in that it's meant to be paired with coffee, but coffee cake in that it's loaded with it. Here we have a single layer of dark chocolate mocha cake topped with Kahlua-infused cream cheese frosting, patted with coffee cream cookie crumbs, and garnished with fresh strawberry halves. A nice little pick-me-up for a long day at the office and an even better birthday cake for someone who enjoys Kahlua and strawberries.

I hope you had a fantastic birthday, Alastair! And I certainly hope you enjoyed the cake :)