Happy Belated National Chocolate Cake Day!! And National Cake Day!! And Birthday!!

So I was catching up with my blogging friend Madeline over at A Dash of Snark this morning, and I realized that I had missed a national holiday without even knowing that it existed.  There is a holiday known as National Chocolate Cake Day!!  True story!  And I missed it!!

(Am I the only one who didn't know that this perfect excuse for baking one of the best treats a sweet tooth ever tasted even existed?  Did everyone else know about it and not tell me?  Were you keeping it from me because you wanted to help me finally start and stick to the "21-day fix" healthy eating program that is on my long list of grandiose and ambitious resolutions for 2017?)

Well, I Googled "National Chocolate Cake Day," and I found out that it was Friday, January 27, 2017.  That got me curious to know if there was also a National Cake Day for all kinds of cakes, so I Googled that (yes, that's how I spent my morning: Googling national cake holidays!); and it turns out this is a holiday as well--and it was last celebrated on Saturday, November 26, 2016.  Who knew?!  What's so sweet to me is that my dad's birthday is November 26; what's more, he died on November 25, 2016, one day shy of his 82nd birthday, which he really wanted to live to celebrate.

Well, I know now what I have to do: I'm going to bake a cake today in honor of Dad's birthday, and I'll start my "21-day fix" tomorrow.  (Yeah, that's it: tomorrow.)

So...what kind of cake to bake?  There are so many great choices!  My go-to, however, is always a golden cake (made with butter instead of oil), topped with homemade buttercream frosting.

And it just so happens that I have another great excuse, aside from Dad's birthday (and of course, the important national holiday that I missed), to bake such a cake.  In February, my husband and I are heading down to VA to celebrate the first birthday of our little granddaughter, Princesa.

And I was asked if I would be willing to make her a "smash cake" for the party, which will be a royal affair fit for a princess if I know her other grandmother (who could seriously start a party-planning business, she's that good at it).  My answer of course was, "Would I ever!"

So this is the kind of cake I'm going to try to make for Princesa's big day, using 6" round pans.

As soon as I can get out to the grocery store for baking supplies, I'm going to practice by making a prototype of this little beauty.  And then my husband and I are going to do some practice eating of the cake, I believe.  Just so we'll be up to speed for Princesa's birthday.

Yes, I want to "fix" my bad eating habits.  But life is too short...and I also believe that every now and then, I just need to

(P.S.--Perhaps I'll post a picture of my practice smash cake tomorrow...even if it's a "Pinterest fail"!)