Happy Birthday Dr. H!

Yesterday was my Professor's birthday! He is now 39 years old:) We all decided to surprise him. I leaked out to his students that it was his birthday, so they all sang him "Happy Birthday" during class. Then...Maruthi, our post doc from India bought a large bouquet of balloons.

I baked a Fresh Fruit French Vanilla cake.

John, my undergrad, brought ice cream.

Suzie, Darrin's undergrad brought drinks. And Darrin went and picked up the gift we all chipped in on, a $50 gift card to Thai Ruby's, one of his favorite restaurants.

Let's just say he was very pleasantly surprised. Dr. H works so very hard, he needed to be shown that he was appreciated. On a super awesome side note, everyone that ate my cake told me I should open a bakery- which is super funny because that is my inside joke with myself- to run away and open a bakery. Enjoy the pics and I the recipe for the cake.



Fresh Fruit French Vanilla Cake:


Ingredients:
1 box French Vanilla cake (Duncan Hines i think- it has the recipe on the back for making a 2 layer french vanilla cake- follow the instructions on the back for making the two layers- i think it says something about 4 eggs, etc)

1 jar whipped vanilla frosting
1 large container whipped creme
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 stick butter
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg and cloves (ground)
2 kiwis
1 banana
2 peaches
1 container strawberries
1 container raspberries
1 can mandarin oranges drained

1. Bake the cakes as described on the box and let cool.
2. Mix together the jar of frosting and whipped creme until homogeneous-keep chilled.
3. Slice up half of the strawberries, 1 peach,1 kiwi and the banana.
4. Take half of the whipped creme frosting mix and add the chopped fruit-throw in some raspberries and the can of mandarin oranges drained.
5. Add the fruit mix to the top of the bottom layer of the cake-place the top layer on top of the frosted bottom layer.
6. Spatula the remaining frosting all over the outside of the layered cake.
7. Decorate with the rest of the fruit and place in the fridge while you make the apricot glaze.
8. In a pot, melt the butter and brown sugar. Add the apricot preserves, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, and cloves. Let boil for a few minutes and remove from heat. Using a fork sprinkle the glaze over the cake.
9. Place cake in fridge or serve immediately.
10. Serves about 15 people.