Treat of the Week: Bertie's Birthday Burger Bash, 2012

Every year, my mother and father host a wonderful birthday party for their grand-dog, Bertie. Each year, “Bertie’s Birthday Burger Bash,” reaches new heights of perfection. Of course, there are presents. Bertie loves to get presents. He very much enjoys sticking his head into a gift bag and pulling out his toys and treats. This year’s presents all had a circus theme! Bertie is the ringmaster. 

And, of course, no “Birthday Burger Bash” would be complete without hamburgers—sliders to be exact—adorned with assorted cheeses, avocado, spinach, tomatoes, pickles, and sun-dried tomato cheese spread. Bertie had his own—sans roll since he’s on Atkins. These were accompanied by lovely oven roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes. During dinner, we discussed the fact that if any dog were to be created a knight by Her Majesty, it would have to be Bertie. 

Now, we all know my mother’s sheer brilliance with a cake. And, you’ve seen past examples of Bertie’s birthday cakes. So, you know he always gets a very special cake each year. This year’s cake was truly exceptional! Shaped like one of Bertie’s favorite toys, a pink hippopotamus called the “Pink-o-potamus,” my mother carved the shape from Bertie’s preferred sunshine lemon pound cake. To do this, she first made a drawing of the finished cake, and then, cut a full-size template out of craft paper to use as a guide. Very, very clever, I say. 

The Pink-o-potamus is iced with bright pink and subtle pink butter cream icing which gives the impression of the toy’s “fur” The pound cake was cut into two layers and filled the lemon curd! Perfect for a twelfth birthday. Black and white icing gives the hippo some lovely detail.

But, this wan’t all. No hippo cake is complete without ice cream. My mother made some homemade strawberry icecream in her Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. This was topped with a homemade strawberry sauce made with macerated berries and cassis.

As most dogs do, he especially enjoyed the “birthday song” and the blowing out of the candles. I helped him a little with the latter. So, after blowing out his candles, Bertie enjoyed his own piece of cake—very small, and a tiny scoop of ice cream.  By the end of the day, we had one tired, but very happy dog. And, really, that’s the most important thing.

We couldn’t be prouder of Bertie. He deserves a party every day, as far as I’m concerned. So, the very least we could do was to make sure he had a special “twelfth-ish” birthday. I think the mission was accomplished.