Birthday Cake and Birthday Pie

No... they aren't twins. They are 12 months and 3 days apart. (Like the kitchen supplies in the background... they are all over the house, because yes, it's still torn apart.)

Tradition: Pick the type of birthday treat you want. That has not always been easy. I've done double layer cheesecakes, triangle shaped cakes and truck cakes with a bed full of candy. This year was a little easier. :-)

Luke wanted Vanilla- Raspberry with Lemon icing...
I used this recipe to start with- but changed some things, so here's my version:

Vanilla- Raspberry Cake

2 1/3 c. flour
1 TB baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. frozen raspberries*

Mix everything except the raspberries about 1 minute, stir in the berries then pour into two 8-inch round, greased and floured pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Let rest 10 minutes then remove cakes from pans (place 1 hand on top of cake, flip over, so cake "falls" into hand, remove pan, gently turn right side up again onto wire cooling rack) and place on wire racks until cool.
*Next time I will let them thaw while I mix the cake so they are a little more dispersed/broken up in the cake- or just use fresh.

Jesse (who takes after me and doesn't really care for cake & icing) decided on a Peanut Butter pie. Jesse and I browsed allrecipes.com looking for a good peanut butter pie. He didn't want something too rich and he finally decided on this one:

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie
It was really good, and like one person commented on allrecipes.com, it only needs 3/4 of the 16 oz container of whipped topping.