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Ryley and Sam are 17 months apart. Ryley is in 8th grade, Sam is in 7th. They have a lot of the same classes at their middle school. If your brother was in your science class, wouldn’t you study with him? These guys don’t. They don’t agree on a lot, but someday they might. Middle school is a tough time. I think they find solace from the pressures of middle school drama because someone who loves them is right there. Shhhhh, mom, don’t say that! Next year, when Ryley goes off to high school, they might be surprised by how much they miss each other.
 Pre-dance
My favorite ice cream when I was a kid was neapolitan. It’s a layered combination of the three most popular kids at ice cream school: Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry. Of course, the chocolate is mined out first, like precious gold. Then the strawberry, then lowly vanilla. It wasn’t until adulthood when I could appreciate the three flavors together.
I wanted to bake a cake for Valentine’s Day mostly because it’s the one chance for my silicon heart-shaped pan to be rescued from Pots n’ Pans Purgatory. I wanted to do something unique. Neapolitan cake! It would be so easy.
 Take it from the top... Normally, I’m a scratch baker, avoiding box mixes if I can. In this case, I made an exception because mixing up three different cake batters from scratch could take all day. Also, I figured it was important that the batters be consistent in thickness and baking times. I used Pilsbury cake mixes because they had identical bake times for each flavor. I got devil’s food, white, and strawberry.
Mixing up three batters at once was very easy. I lined up three bowls and poured the cake mixes. I put water in each, then oil, then the eggs. It was like a factory assembly line. I mixed white, washed the beaters, mixed strawberry, washed the beaters, mixed devil’s food, washed the beaters. I went from lightest to darkest in case I missed a glob.
 spreading the love My plan was to use 1/3 of the cake batter from each flavor. 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = one whole cake. This worked out to be 1 1/3 cups of each flavor. I poured devil’s food, then spread it. Then vanilla, then strawberry. I baked it for 34 minutes, which was perfect.
But what should I do with the rest of the batters? I made 24 cupcakes, 8 of each flavor. That took up another 1/3 of the batters. The rest of the batter was spread in a pan side-by-side.
 What did I get myself into? It was a lot of work. It’s not the kind of cake to throw together on a random Tuesday afternoon. But for special celebrations, it’s a lovely, bright, tasty choice I’d do again. In fact, my plan is to make it again for Ollie’s first birthday.
 Love! Frosting ideas: What’s great about this cake is that you could use chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla frosting. Any would work. I decided on strawberry because I wanted the cakes to be pink for Valentine’s Day. To color the frosting, I threw a few whole strawberries into a standard vanilla buttercream. It gave the frosting a pretty tint and authentic flavor.
For the cupcakes, I topped them with the strawberry buttercream. I put red sprinkles on some. A few lucky cupcakes got dotted with dark chocolate pomegranate candies.
Let me know if you try it!
My first pregnancy loss happened in February 2005. My next pregnancy loss was also tied to February. I was due in this short but dark month, due February 2006. Loss dates, due dates, procedure dates. I can’t walk through my mental calendar without tripping over a marker.
It’s the center of the month. I’ve chewed through one half and will finish the rest. But first, I must stop and consider where I’ve been. I wrote about it at A Deeper Family.
 ~ Spring is Coming ~
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