We gathered together at Damian's house and he took care of dinner. I can't remember exactly what we had to eat (Aunt Carol's fried chicken?) but any dinner that I don't have to make is awesome for me. Lucy was in heaven - as the only grandchild in Utah, she received lots of attention from both her uncles and her grandpa. I love these two pictures below - I know that they are almost identical but Lucy looks so relaxed and at ease. I was about to take Lucy away from her grandpa because I thought that he might want to concentrate on his phone call but he waved me away and managed to have his conversation without any interruption from Lucy at all (wish I could get away with that). I don't even think that she was tired, just so comfortable snuggling with her grandfather. He was doing this little finger clicking by her ears that is supposedly calming for babies. It certainly seemed to work.
Since Damian took care of making dinner, I took care of making the Dayton family's traditional birthday confection - chocolate roll. I've made this dessert several times before and it is simple but tedious to make. The Dayton family is fiercely protective about this dessert and not altering it. It is of utmost importance that the whipped cream inside not be sweetened because the chocolate sauce that tops it is extremely sweet. It's all about the juxtaposition of the plain cream (which is chilled) and the super sweet chocolate sauce (that is also hot). So no substituting cream cheese or sour cream or jelly or anything like that. Luckily, I'm pretty anal about following recipes exactly.
Over the years, I have tried to perfect the cake part because it is supposed to be very light and spongy and mine too often have turned out very heavy and flat (which still tastes okay but just not as good). To get it that way, you need to sift all the dry ingredients several times and then separate the whites from the yolks of the eggs and beat them both separately (like, forever!). It takes a long time and you need a good mixer (which I don't have - my old hand mixer was awful and then it finally broke). Fortunately, my neighbor across the street let me borrow her hand mixer and it was the easiest time I ever had making Dayton chocolate roll. My favorite part about making chocolate roll is rolling up the cake part (because that means I am almost done). But also, I have this towel from Williams-Sonoma that imprints this pretty pattern on the cake part when I roll it up. I'm interested in getting some other kitchen towels that have patterns on them to see what else will imprint on it.
What is a birthday chocolate roll without the candles? Lucy loves birthday candles so much...
She was lucky enough that her grandpa let her help him blow out the candles.
Happy Birthday Grandpa Dayton! We were so glad that we got to celebrate with you and I had another opportunity to perfect my chocolate roll!!
5 comments:
Seeing "Grandpa Dayton" as part of your post made me kinda sad (but in a good way?) thinking about Uncle Merrill's dad, my grandpa, and how great he was. I know my dad and Uncle David used to do the finger clicking trick as well---must be a Dayton thing:)
Also, good work on the chocolate roll. My brothers have discussed kicking me out of the family since I'm not actually a fan of that particular dessert.
I would much prefer a cheesecake or fruit tart myself or maybe even strawberry shortcake in season. But I'm happy to comply with chocolate roll for the birthday of someone else. It is pretty much a worthiness initiation for the Dayton daughter-in-laws - if you can make chocolate roll, all is well.
Oh, Lucy looks so comfy on the tummy of her grandpa Dayton. She needs this relaxing time more often.
I am so glad that I get to be a part of this family
(At least in part because of the chocolate roll).
I love the chocolate roll tradition! (I guess I can say that since I never have to make it.) I want a piece.
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