Ruby's Raspberry Fluff Cake

This is my birthday girl. I don't like to admit it to myself, but she is now eight years old. That means I have roughly one decade left to tuck her into bed at night and listen to her practice violin and to make sure she at least tries the vegetables on her plate. It's like trying to hold tight to a handful of water; you can feel it slipping through your fingers before you get a solid grasp. I like to tell her that I will smash the clocks and throw away the calendars so she won't get any older, but she just rolls her eyes. She's old enough to know how ridiculous that is, even if her mother is silly enough to try it. (It almost worked for Frog and Toad.) Besides she was born old. And smart, too. It's tough to be in charge around here.

Three of my sisters have little May birthday girls too, and so it was decided to have a quadruple cousins birthday party with a Max and Ruby theme. Do you know Max and Ruby? It's the story of a bossy, yet caring, older bunny sister with an unpredictable and very silly little brother bunny. The only clear difference between Max and Ruby and my two charges is that Max and Ruby are rabbits. Other than that, the distinction is fuzzy.

In one story, Max and Ruby both decide to create something special for Grandma, so Ruby bakes a beautiful Raspberry Fluff Cake...while Max fashions a crude mud and worm cake. So for our quadruple cousins birthday party, we had Ruby's lovely cake...
And Max's yuckamucka cake.

Was I wrong to include that photo? Egads, it is unsightly. It didn't bother the under-12 year old party goers. They actually preferred Max's cake and specifically requested their own gummy worm. We won't dwell on that one. Let's dwell on this cake instead:This one is worth your time and attention. It's a fabulously light and fluffy buttermilk cake, filled with raspberries and cream and frosted with some pink tinted whipped cream. I wish I had a piece right now for breakfast. It so festive and purdy, just perfect for a special celebration. Make a wish, birthday girls! And don't bother wishing for time to slow down, because it doesn't work. Better just have another piece of cake and enjoy it all while you can!

Money Saving Tips: Cheat and use a cake mix here, pepped up with buttermilk and real butter. A cake mix on sale will cost roughly a dollar. Get your raspberries on sale or from Costco, or use frozen.

Raspberry Fluff Cake

1 white cake mix

eggs, at room temp

buttermilk, at room temp

butter, softened

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

2 cups raspberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

pastel sprinkles

Prepare cake mix according to package directions, substituting softened butter for the oil, and buttermilk for the water. Bake in 2 nine inch cake pans. Cool completely. Whip cream in mixer until just fluffy and gently add in powdered sugar and vanilla. (Put in a few drops of red food coloring for pink frosting.) Place one cake layer on stand. Frost with whipped cream and top with berries. Sprinkle berries with granulated sugar. Top with remaining layer cake. Frost entire cake with pink whipped cream. Add sprinkles if desired.

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