Sunday, April 10, 2011

Because he's the Birthday Boy,

as is the tradition in my family, Madman got to pick the menu for dinner.

Beer battered fish. (He caught them himself.) (The fish, not the beer.) (Though he is the one who went to the store for beer, so I guess he did catch that as well.)
Homemade french fries. (Actually, I picked these - as long as I had the deep fryer fired up anyway, seemed like a good go-with.)
Maple-glazed carrots. (I would have gone lazy on the veg, and concurred with a previous administration but Madman really loves maple, and we need to finish last year's syrup off anyway.)

For dessert, he didn't have any special requests this year, so I made him an apple-upside down cake.
(BTW, follow the link - her picture is way better than mine...)
It was well-nigh a miracle, but I actually followed the recipe exactly as written, even down to cutting a circle out of parchment paper. (This is rare for me. I usually read a bunch of recipes, then wing it. Or start with a recipe and modify as I go.) It was worth it - the cake is delicious!
And the parchment paper is a wonderful neat trick. I've had some ...umm... interesting experiences with the flipping of an upside-down cake.
Like the time we ended up with peach inside-out cake...

10 comments:

Wanderingcatstudio said...

That's funny.. Dave and I were just talking about pineapple upside down cake and how I should make one... I don't have pineapples, but I do have apples!
And you have to have homemade chips with beer battered fish! If it's not a law, it should be!

Bullwinkle said...

Happy Birthday Madman!

My mom used to do the birthday menu thing :) I always picked french fries and choc cake. Dude has to pick this weekend - so far he has the cake part decided. But I think I goofed and he can't have his dinner choice for two more weeks (oopsie - that's the next time we can get meat).

Alison said...

Happy Birthday to Madman! I hope it was a good one. You had me giggling at peach inside-out cake; it is such an apt description.

I bought rhubarb plants yesterday, so hopefully this time next year, we can have rhubarb cake!

Becky said...

Mmmm, fish and chips! Sounds wonderful!

Unknown said...

before canned pineapples became so common, it was always apple upside down cake... yours looks yummy-Hope the birthday boy enjoyed

BeckyinVT said...

But peach inside out cake sounds like such an adventure!!

Anonymous said...

Happy b'day, Madman! Your apple cake sounds yummy, right side up or inside out or whatever.

Joansie said...

Sounds yummy to me. I'm know in the family for my maple-glazed carrots with rum and dill (and other secret ingridients.

Glad your dinner was a success.

Angie said...

Happy Birthday, Madman! Sounds like a lovely birthday dinner! Mmmm!

Trupa Nunta said...

Sorry i said this so late but i had some problems, so Happy Birthday.
It is a great recipe, thanks a lot for sharing the link.