First Birthday! and Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Okay, so as I've mentioned we took our son to the beach for his first birthday for what we hope and pray won't be the last time. It was a wonderful trip, and I just wanted to share some pictures and obviously, a cake recipe.

First, since you can't have a birthday without cake:


I give you Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake! Seriously if you like chocolate you need to try this. It is the most delicious chocolate cake I have ever tasted. I have to generally avoid sugar because I have an endocrine disorder, but I use special occasions as an excuse to experiment with baking. I bought a boxed cake mix in case it was as gross as it sounded but it was awesome and totally easy. I made cupcakes (that's one of them above) so I reduced the cook time to 18 minutes at 350 degrees, and I used this vanilla buttercream recipe instead of the chocolate icing they suggest because Husband isn't actually that big a fan of chocolate.

And now...

BEACH PHOTOS!

The requisite flopsy hat:
My Boys:
Me and the cutie:
He wasn't sure about the water. I think it was too cold, but luckily he was all about the sand!

The whole thing was just amazing and I'm so glad we got to go, but I can't believe how quickly this year has gone by.