Happy Birthday Nick!

Once every 7 years Nick's birthday falls on Mother's Day. We love you moms, but I'll dedicate this year's post to the birthday boy :)
Nick likes bright colors and fruit, so when I saw this idea for a party online last month I knew Nick would love it.
I made the rainbow mobiles by sewing strips of construction paper together, tying a bead at the bottom and taping them to the light. They really added a colorful, festive feeling to the apartment. I used an orange table cloth, green plates and blue napkins to brighten up the table.

The cake was a real hit. It was six layers of rainbow goodness.

It was an easy recipe, but took time to make. I'll put the directions at the end if you're interested. Yum!
His gifts this year centered around the guitar. He got a capo and some picks to try out. Then for the big surprise - Guitar Lessons! Nick is a hard person to surprise with something he'll really get excited about, but this did it!

Happy Birthday!
I LOVE YOU!!!


The cake:

The cake is two white cake mixes, each split into three equal parts. In each one, you add a pureed fruit and a little food coloring. I made one cake mix, split it into the three fruits and baked them. Cool them for 10 minutes, then take them out of the pans to finish cooling. Then do the dishes and make the other three (unless you have 6 pans and two ovens!). Once they are all cooled, you layer them with a simple syrup between each layer, frost with whipped cream and add fresh fruit on top.

Here's the fruit I used:
Red = strawberries (or raspberries/cherries...)
Orange = mangoes (or orange zest & orange juice)
Yellow = lemon zest & juice (or banana...)
Green = kiwis
Blue = grapes (only because they didn't have blueberries at the store)
Purple = blackberries (no dye needed) (or grapes)

I used about 1/2 cup of each pureed fruit, but should have added more of the kiwi, mango, and blackberry since they had more subtle flavors.

Syrup = 1/2 cup water & 1/2 cup sugar. Heat to a boil then let cool. Brush on each layer with a pastry brush.

I used a 12 x 12 piece of scrapbook paper to cover the cardboard cake round then covered it with Saran Wrap.