Day 276: a very special 1st birthday

We celebrated our daughter’s birthday this summer. We celebrated our daughter’s birthday this summer. Our daughter’s birthday. No matter how many times I say it, I still get goosebumps like a freshly-plucked turkey and butterflies tickling the underside of my diaphragm, fluttering frantically to burst out in one big joyous and colourful kaleidoscope. It was the first of the cherubs’ birthdays to celebrate as our new family. And what an emotional and powerful day it was.

A message to you, our darling daughter: we wish you the happiest of birthdays and a life full of happiness, sunshine, light, kindness, love, safety and support. We live in what seems an ever-darkening world, but we’ll keep you safe and the darkness at bay, and prepare you with the strength and tools in life you need to beat it back and help others do the same. There is of course much joy in it, too. Having you and your siblings in our lives is the perfect demonstration of that. All our love, Daddy and Tata xxx

Nigella’s Devil’s Food Cake

Of course, a birthday calls for cake and it obviously had to be a Nigella one: Day 277 is Nigella’s Devil’s Food Cake; unintentionally decorated to look more like a Valentines cake (they were the pinkest sprinkles I could find, though you should be able to make out a few unicorns sinking into the Devil’s frosting too).

I’m sure none of you need to know this (as you’ve probably made it a hundred times before), but recipe for it is in Kitchen and on nigella.com (link below).