Last years birthday was an odd one for me – turning the same age my father was when he passed away. It was such an indescribable feeling. This January will mark year 28 without him. Since he passed away when I was 6 years old, I honestly have only really known life without him. I cherish what I remember, but I still mourn him. I haven’t come to a place where I outwardly celebrate his life in his remembrance. Maybe it’s because I was so young and only remember so much. I am no longer bitter about my dad’s death – I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, good or bad, and I know it may take awhile to find the reason.

This year I am officially older than my dad. WOW. Again, I can’t even put into words the feelings that bubble up over this. So when words fail me (which isn’t very often I might ad), baking does not. I put my energy and effort into some surprise delivery cupcakes and planning a mid-week birthday treat.

On Sunday I baked a luscious lemon batch of cupcakes and filled them with a blueberry sauce and piped on the most perfectly paired lemon cream cheese buttercream. I used a new piping tip – which made me relive my ice cream cone filling days in high school.  I used my extra large cupcake liners to ensure some indulging would happen as these pretty perfect cupcakes were delivered. Monday afternoon was definitely made better for a local business. A surprise thank you and acknowledgement of helpfulness. The world can use some more of these types of visits!

On Tuesday evening I baked a decadent chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate espresso ganache and piped on a mountain of espresso buttercream. The only request from the birthday co-worker was lots of chocolate. I think I delivered with this 1:1 cupcake to frosting ratio goodie!