When I decided to make my kids' birthday cakes myself, "birthday week" became a thing. Especially when the cakes started getting more and more elaborated and requiring fondant work. It means that a full week before the actual birthday date, I need to start preparing any topper and decorations so that they have time to dry. Then I need to bake the cakes. Then I need to prepare the buttercream or ganache. Then I need to make the fondant I need in all the necessary colours (and of the course the kids generally go for red and black, ie THE MOST DIFFICULT COLOURS TO ACHIEVE - although, if a Google search brought you here for that reason, dark cocoa will melt away all your black-colour nightmares, you're welcome). Then I need to cover the cake in fondant. Then I need to decorate as needed. So, as I was saying, "birthday weeks" have become a thing: they're the week I spend gradually assembling a cake.

And with Bout d'Chou's birthday coming up this week, it is 9:12 and before I even had breakfast this morning I had eaten lost bits of chocolate cake and licked the spoon used to make vanilla cake. (Yes. Because the kids also generally pick more than one flavour of cake. Why not, right? Last year, Coco actually chose FOUR. I don't even think professional bakers do four flavours, even for freaking wedding cakes.)