Cake for Grandpa's 80th

In preparation for my father's 80th birthday party, baking his favorite chocolate mocha cake was my responsibility.   MJ assembled the ingredients: melted dark chocolate, sour cream, flour, creamed butter and loads of white sugar.  Sawyer kept us company in the kitchen,  acting as our personal food tester, floor sweeper, and butter snatcher.

Yes, when we turned our backs,  Sawyer swiftly managed to lick the butter dish.  No worries folks, we discarded any trace of the remaining butter before it ended up on someone's morning toast.

Cake came out of the oven and we promptly placed it on the cooling rack, on top of the fridge.

 Most of you ladies will understand the concept of multi-tasking: I rested the cakes on the back counter with the intention of removing them from the pans but between preparing a photo collage for the party, making a card and sneaking in a nap, I completely forgot about the cakes....then I heard an explosive outbursts from MJ, "SAWYER! WHAT DID YOU DO? OMG!!"  Well, so much for the nap, I ran into the kitchen to find Sawyer sheepishly looking at us, while MJ pointed to the cakes.

Sawyer managed to reach the cake and scarfed down the spongy, tender centre of the cake.  No part of this cake could be salvaged. We now know Sawyer loves chocolate mocha cake as much as Grandpa does!  We felt defeated and so did Sawyer...

 Having run out of the key ingredients to bake another cake, I desperately scrounged the pantry for a cake mix...BINGO!  A box of gluten-free chocolate cake mix - not quite the same caliber as my homemade cake but it would pass for a "real" cake....almost.

 Once baked, the g-free cakes resembled burnt pancakes. Such was my luck that day.  However, nothing a hefty load of butter icing couldn't cover up! Tadda...

Folks, that was the tip of the iceberg... later, while leaving Sawyer unattended again to do some other household chores, I returned to find my apron and a powdery substance on the floor.  Pondering, I was racking my brain to determine what I had left out and sure enough the light bulb went on:  BAKING SODA BOX!  Oh, where was the box?  I had stored the flour safely away but couldn't find the new box of No-name baking soda.....until I looked over to "Sawyer's" couch....there was the evidence on my lovely black leather couch....OH SAWYER! He managed to drag the box to his couch, without leaving a trail from the kitchen to the living room.  Thankfully, the contents were not to his liking and proceeded to leave it there for me to clean up...sigh

Between those two incidents, having eaten a 1/4 cup of butter in the foil, and his hole-digging antics in the backyard, I was ready to park him on the front porch with a sign saying:  "FREE TO A GOOD HOME".....kidding!