Elias Turns 2

Elias turned 2 this December, man that is hard to believe! Right now he is really interested in tools, trucks, airplanes, trains, babies and giraffes. Talia thought we should make him a giraffe themed cake, so we looked to see what we had in the pantry after Thanksgiving.

We decided to go with pineapple chunks for the "spots" and chocolate cake for the "skin" to make a giraffe print look... well, sort of.

I used Laura Vitale's chocolate cake recipe for the cake, but did a pineapple upside down thing first, to make a "2" with pineapple pieces. We had leftover cherry pie filling and whipping cream from Thanksgiving, so we decided to make a chocolate whipped cream filling and layer it with cherry and the rest of the fresh pineapple. This way, more of the sweetness came from the fruit than icing. The flavors balanced perfectly. Talia picked out a giraffe to print and tape on a skewer to help decorate and she made him a really nice birthday card.

For his birthday we found a jungle-themed lego set with a giraffe... that was his favorite piece to play with!