Hi guys, I can't thank you all enough for your help! The cake came out beautifully, I'll see if I can get pics uploaded tonight. The starburst was a big hit and the starburst balloons were great, and easy. I used scissors to cut them into the shapes & then piped the strings on. Then scattered colored sprinkles over the whole top of the cake. William was delighted with his cake, the cake itself was delicious. Stacy- I made the strawberry filling from frozen berries and used your friend's cream cheese frosting recipe with twice as much cream cheese and butter but only the 1 lb of sugar (mainly because that's all that I had) and it was just the right amount of sweetness for the cake. The starburt balloons prompted lots of discussion on what other candy would work...things like fruit roll ups (or do they still make those square sheets of "fruit leather"?) or airheads (which are supposedly like starburts only already flat). So now, if I've got to make another balloon cake for the kid's party on Saturday I'm not afraid! This sort of cutting out shapes as decorations will work out well for me because while I have a steady hand for drawing, painting or glass cutting I seem to be having some sort of fit whenever I try to decorate with icing. Kathleen- I think that I'll try to get to the WS outlet this Sunday. I wonder if Woodbury will have them? And thank you all for the compliments on my little guy. I can't believe he's 4! Still every bit as cute, just a lot bigger. Nna

Yes, those kids are getting big, aren't they? The Princess is a teenager. (sigh) Lars, we haven't gone to the outlet mall yet, we're going to the one in Birch Run. It's by Frankenmuth, where we are spending the night, it's one of those German/Bavarian themed tourist kind of towns, with lots of Oktoberfest type activities that go on all the time. There is, however, an outlet mall in Grand Rapids too, and they are kind of overwhelming. Plus, they are entirely outdoors, which is not necessarily a pleasant thing in Michigan in the fall/winter. I'm just hoping for dry weather, no rain or snow, so we can actually walk around town and the mall without getting drenched or freezing! Annie

Yummy! And Happy Birthday! You look terrific! I don't have a birthday cake on my birthday - DD makes me my favorite Wolferman's Rum Cream Pie!

Iris, I will include 2 great cakes for mailing. Both of them are moist and heavy-- Our Family Birthday Cake: Moisty Rich Chocolate Cake You MUST use the cocoa powder listed. Do not even bother to make this cake with Hershey's cocoa. Droste's cocoa is a Dutch processed cocoa. I used to be able to find it in most stores with the cocoa or the gourmet foreign foods. Now Gelson's or online is the best source. 2 c sifted flour 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 2 c sugar 1/2 c solid shortening like Crisco 1/2 c sour milk (add 1/2 to 1 tsp of vinegar to the 1/2 c of milk before you get started) 2 eggs 1/2 c Droste Cocoa 1 tsp vanilla 1 c boiling water. Add vinegar to milk and let it sit as you set up everything. I bake this cake in a tube pan (angel food cake pan). Grease the bottom only of the pan and the tube. Cut out a wax paper or parchment paper liner the size of the bottom of the pan, cut an opening for the tube, and place the waxed paper on top of the greased pan. Grease the paper. (I like to use the Better Than Pam shared here a few years ago to grease the pan. See below.) Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, baking soda, salt and set aside. In large bowl using an electric mixer, cream the shortening, sugar, cocoa and vanilla. Slowly add boiling water. Add milk and eggs and mix. Sift half of flour mixture into bowl while beating slowly, then add the other half. Bake 30-40 minutes in cake pan and 55 minutes in tube pan. Use a cake tester or skewer or tooth pick to test for doneness. This cake sometimes needs another 5 minutes. Remove pan from oven and rest on a cooling rack 20 minutes. To remove from pan, run a butter knife all around the edge of the pan, turn it over on the cooling rack. Remove the wax paper or parchment paper liner immediately. Cool completely. Cover in a cake server. This cake tastes better the next day. Better Than Pam--with mixer, combine equal parts of solid Crisco, flour and cooking oil. Use this to grease bread pans and cake pans. If you have never had a homemade from scratch pound cake, you do not know what you are missing! Cold Oven Pound Cake Trisha Yerwood 2 sticks of butter, room temperature 3 c sugar 6 eggs, room temperature 3 c flour, sifted 1 c whipping cream 1 tsp vanilla DO NOT PREHEAT THE OVEN. Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar; add eggs, one at a time beating till incorporated. Add flour alternating with the whipping cream, beating just enough to combine well. Add vanilla. Grease and flour tube pan, and use a wax paper or parchment paper liner on the bottom of the pan, greasing it too. (I use Better Than Pam) Pour batter into pan and smooth it out. Place in cold oven and turn on the oven at 325 degrees. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Use a cake tester to check for doneness. Cool in pan 20 minutes, turn out on rack to cool and remove paper liner immediately.