Benedict's 8th Birthday

Our tradition is to have 2 celebrations for each of the children's birthdays, one on the actual birthday, when we just have a little party in the family (together with Thea and Ron and their kids) and a bigger party with friends on the Saturday after the birthday. On the family celebration, we usually order Pagliacci pizza and eat cake, then we have a BBQ or some other party food and another cake for the second celebration.

Here is the family "Pagliacci" party at Thea's

...notice how Benedict is gently pushing Christopher's hand from the cake :)
I made the cake using a cake mix and a Romanian chocolate cream recipe that I've used as both filling and icing. I decorated the cake with caramelized walnuts.


The party on Saturday. We had hot dogs and another cake, this time from Safeway. We had a sunny day so we were able to do the whole outdoor party thing, complete with grill and pinata and playing in the club house.