birthday season

My husband and my niece have birthdays that are five days apart. Since today is smack dab in the middle of those birthdays I have cakes on the brain.

This past weekend we discovered a local grocery/bakery store with incredible cakes like this one. Looking at them was enough to convince me to buy a cake rather than make one this year for my husband's birthday. They look too good.

My sister, on the other hand, make a strawberry cake. Completely from scratch. I have never heard of a strawberry cake made with real strawberries. Not surprisingly, it got rave reviews. I found a recipe for a strawberry cake that uses real strawberries on A Dash of Sass. My sister used the recipe for Pink Lady Cake from Smitten Kitchen with a couple of alterations she saw recommended in the comments section

photos via a dash of sass and google images