Birthday

On Saturday morning Taani woke up with a smile on her face. It was Gramma’s birthday and Taani knew mummy would bake a cake and Taani would help with the icing. This time they were going to do a chocolate icing and mummy would help make little red flowers with yellow centers to decorate the cake with.

She could hear her older brothers in the adjoining room. They were probably talking about a match they had that afternoon at the club. Taani heard the words “backhand” and “swing” and decided they were definitely talking about tennis.

Mummy came in and drew the curtains back.

‘Wakey wakey, little angel of mine’ Mummy bent forward and gave her a kiss on the cheek. As always, mummy smelled like roses – the pink roses that Gramma so loved.

‘Can we get roses for Gramma today?’ Taani asked sitting up on the bed.

‘Yes darling, daddy went out to get roses. Now hurry, we need to bake the cake!’

Taani got out of bed quickly. ‘When is Gramma coming over?’

‘Uncle Ben is driving her over at around 11 o’clock’.

Taani looked at the clock on the wall. It showed 8 in the morning. That meant, they had three hours. Would that be enough time to bake the cake, she wondered as she brushed her teeth.

Taani had had a birthday party two months ago. Mummy had baked a chocolate cake with snow white icing and there had been a candle in the shape of 6 right in the middle of the cake. Daddy had asked her to blow out all the candles except the one in the middle. Gramma had played a new song she had written. Gramma played the piano. Taani had attended a concert a few months ago. Mummy had bought her a blue dress in shiny satin and everyone had dressed up for the evening. Even Mattey, who never wore anything but jeans had worn a jacket and tie.

‘Taani, come on down quickly,’ Mummy was calling out.

At breakfast mummy had made Saturday pancakes and there was custard too! Mummy always made something special for Saturday breakfast.

‘Should we make red flowers with strawberries or with sugar?’ Mummy asked as she poured milk for Taani

‘Sugar!’ Taani said immediately

‘Of course,’ mummy said laughing. ‘Now drink your milk.’

Taani scrunched up her nose. She did not like milk. Mattey and Chuck came in and sat down for breakfast

Taani leaned over to Mattey and whispered, ‘Will you drink my milk Mattey?’

Mattey leaned towards her and smiled. Then he sat up and said, ‘Mom, Taani wants me to drink her milk.’

‘Taani,’ Mummy said shaking her head.

Taani stuck her tongue out at Mattey who laughed.

Chuck said, ‘Leave her alone Matt. Taani, I’ll show you a trick where you can drink your milk without tasting it.’

‘How?’ Taani said. She glared at Mattey.

‘Give me your glass’

Taani pushed the glass towards Chuck who picked it up and went to the counter. Taani tried to see what he was doing but he wouldn’t let her.

Mummy just smiled as she went about getting things ready for the cake.

When Chuck came back, the milk had turned pink!

‘Drink this’, he said.

‘Is it milk?’

‘You tell me!’

She took a small sip. It was sweet and fruity and didn’t taste like milk at all.

‘It tastes like strawberry!’

Chuck smiled ‘Magic!’

Mattey laughed again and said, ‘It’s just the concentrate Gramma made last week. He put it in your milk and now it tastes like strawberry. It’s still milk!’

‘But I like it!’ Taani said. She believed Chuck could do anything and everything.

Chuck winked at her and went back to eating.

When they were all done, they helped clear the table. It was Matt’s turn to wash the dishes so Mummy asked Taani to go get dressed and then they would start with the cake.

When Taani came down again, Daddy was in the kitchen putting the roses into a vase so they would not dry up. He had brought a big bunch of red and white and a smaller bunch of pink roses. The rose buds were so tiny, Gramma could pin them on her dress like an ornament.

‘They are beautiful, daddy’, Taani said leaning into him.

He smiled and kissed the top of her head. ‘Just like your Gramma!’

Taani laughed and he laughed too.

‘What are you wearing to the club for lunch?’ he asked her as he arranged the flowers.

‘I am wearing the white dress with the green apples on it. The one Gramma gave me on my birthday!’

‘She’s been saving that for today,’ Mummy said as she mixed the batter for the cake. ‘Taani will you help me with pouring the eggs in?’

‘Sure, mummy!’ Taani said happily and went to help her mum.

Taani watched as her mum moved the spoon around slowly and steadily. She called it ‘Folding’ which Taani thought was funny because nothing actually got folded!

‘And now we pour the batter into the tray. Will you grease the tray please’

Taani took some butter from the plate and spread it over the tray.

‘And now some flour. Just a little’

Taani took a small handful of flour and sprinkled it over the tray. She watched as mummy carefully poured the batter in. ‘No air pockets,’ Taani said and smiled.

Mummy gave a little laugh as she turned the baking dish around on the table and gave it a gentle shake. The batter settled down smoothly.

Mummy carried the tray and popped it into the oven.

‘How long mummy?’ Taani asked

‘About forty five minutes. Let’s start with the sugar flowers.’

Taani mixed in icing sugar and butter and then mummy put in a few drops of red coloring and they made tiny balls of the mixture. Next they flattened each ball a little, then pinched it to create petal like points which then Mummy smoothed out, so they all looked like flowers. Next they made a mixture of yellow and made tiny flat discs which went into the center of the flowers. Then mummy put the plate with the flowers into the fridge where they would harden and be ready for the cake.

Next came the chocolate icing. Mummy took out a large bar of chocolate and set it on the stove to melt over a boiler and slowly the chocolate became lumpy and then into a shiny liquid. Mummy put in some sugar so that the icing would shine when it was on the cake.

While the cake was baking, the two of them cleared the dishes and Mummy put them in the dishwasher. Soon the kitchen was filled with the smell of cake.

‘Smells heavenly,’ Daddy said when he came to get a glass of juice. ‘Can’t wait to eat it!’

Mummy opened the oven to check if the cake was coming out well and then closed it again. ‘Ten more minutes!’

Taani smiled happily. She looked at the clock. She wanted to finish the icing before Gramma arrived.

‘There’s plenty of time’ Mummy said with a smile.



When the oven pinged, Taani called out to her mother who had gone to talk to Daddy in the living room.

Mummy came in laughing, ‘Yes, yes darling, the cake is ready! Let me get it out.’

Taani stood by the table as her mother took the cake out. Her eyes were as big as saucers as she waited for Mummy to turn around with the cake.

‘Oh!’ Mummy exclaimed and Taani’s heart leapt!

But Mummy was smiling as she turned around. The cake was beautiful! It was a rich dark color and it had risen smoothly and Taani could almost taste it!

She couldn’t wait to start with the icing!

‘It’s a lovely cake, Mummy!’ she said clapping her hands in joy. Gramma would love it!

‘Yes dear. Thank you for helping me out with it.’

They waited for a few minutes then mummy got the cake out of the baking tray and placed it on the cake dish. Then she poured the thick chocolate mix on top of the cake and spread it around all over the cake.

‘Now for the flowers!’ Taani said happily. Mummy watched with a smile as Taani arranged the flowers around the border of the cake.

‘Oh it’s wonderful, darling!’ Mummy gave her a kiss and placed the cake right in the center of the table.

‘Now let’s go get dressed!’ Taani said pulling her mother out of the kitchen. ‘Gramma will be here anytime!’

And sure enough Uncle Ben’s car came into the driveway just as Taani came down in her white dress with green apples.

Everyone started singing ‘Happy Birthday!’ as soon as Gramma walked in through the door. And Mummy brought out the cake with candles lighting it up. The flowers looked so pretty in the gentle light falling on them. Gramma loved the cards the boys had made and she kissed Daddy when he gave her the roses and she pinned the pink ones to her dress just like Taani knew she would.

But when they were getting into the car to head for the club for the birthday lunch, Gramma pulled Taani close and whispered into her ear, ‘I loved the cake Taani. The icing was gorgeous. Thank you so much my little pumpkin.’ And Gramma gave her a kiss.  Taani’s smile went from ear to ear. She thought her heart would burst.

She said softly, ‘Happy Birthday, Gramma.’