Happy Birthday, Rick!

So, today is my father-in-law's birthday, and I was lucky enough to make the cake for his dinner celebration with the family.  Also lucky for me is that Rick and I both share the same favorite cake-- red velvet!  

As muh as I love the traditional cream cheese frosting, I wanted to give this birthday cake a little extra pizazz. So I made a sight modification to get a cannoli frosting.  I also adorned the edge of the cake with chocolate hazelnut pirouette cookies.  I'm calling it "Italian Velvet."  The result was incredible.  

As you can see, I also wrote a tasty chocolate birthday message to Rick!

 

The cake was perfectly moist and a bright deep red, just as it should be. 

The cake was also incredibly rich.  I did my job of putting everyone into a sugar coma after dinner. 

Maybe the pieces should have been one pirouette smaller.... ;-)

Happy Birthday Rick!!