Sunday, April 5th, was my husband’s birthday. We planned to go to Edelweiss Restaurant with my two daughters and son-in-law. Along came the coronavirus – Scratch that idea. My son-in-law volunteered to bring a long table and chairs. We had a card table and plastic chairs we could set up. Luckily, it wasn’t too cold, so we set them up in the driveway. We ordered food delivered from our favorite Italian restaurant, Cafe Sicilia.
Since I had my mother-in-law’s recipe for Boston Cream Pie, I could bake a cake. I searched under “cake” and “pie” with no results. Then I looked under “desserts” and found it.That was the easy part. I beat the eggs whites first with clean beaters, and then beat the yolks and added other ingredients before folding in the whites. Egg whites won’t beat into stiff peaks if there is any grease or yolk on the beaters. The picture shows Jack ready to dive into the cake.
My Pam spray can was almost empty, so I used margarine to grease the pans and sprinkled them with flour. However, I had to use a spatula to get the cakes loose from the pans, which didn’t leave a smooth surface. I tried to flip the cakes and get a smooth top, but they had stuck to the plate. Next I tried to slice each layer into two, but it was hard to get them even. Oh, well, the cream filling would cover it up. After making the filling, I put the pan in the refrigerator to chill until after I “attended” church – on my computer of course. When I took the filling out, it was too thick to spread, so I had to add milk and stir. Hoping that would make enough filling to cover the ravaged top, I spread it between the layers, but there was only enough for the bottom three layers. Now I know why the recipe said to sprinkle powdered sugar on top. I used lots to cover the top.
Soon after my daughters and son-in-law arrived and set up the table, the food arrived. We enjoyed eating the chicken rollatini, a rigatoni dish, crusty rolls, garlic bread, and salmon with noodles and capers – I thought capers were black, but these were green, plentiful, and as big as peas. They tasted a little like green olives.
When we were ready for cake, we sang “Happy Birthday” to my husband, and I served the cake. After we finished, I cut two sections for my wonderful neighbors on each side who had brought us groceries and toilet paper, and my husband delivered them.
I bet all of us will remember the birthday dinner that was different for the rest of our lives.
