My grandpa turned 88 this weekend. The family had a surprise and slightly impromptu birthday party for him. It was great to get multiple generations together. Looking through pictures of my Papa in his many different ages and stages also gave us a chance to do comparisons. A younger picture of my Papa looked a lot like a picture of my brother when he was a kid. Another pictured looked like my uncle and my nephew. The genes are strong in my family and a glance through a photo album is hard core proof.

As with any celebration there HAD to be cake.... The week before I began racking my brain trying to think of flavor a combination he might like. I originally settled on a pear cake with caramel glaze. However, my mom didn't think that combo sounded too tasty.* She attempted to get me to make a caramel cake but I vetoed that idea right away as my grandma was famous for her caramel cakes... I was not about to try and out do a culinary legend and legacy like hers. So after some additional searching I came across a recipe for a strawberry cake. A lot of the recipes I found initially were make with strawberry Jello. I know my Papa isn't into artificial flavors so I tracked down a vanilla cake w/ strawberry puree recipe over on Smitten Kitchen (I love that blog!). So I pulled out my biggest mixing bowl for this 3 layer cake recipe and crossed my fingers. I even bought a new 9" cake pan b/c I only had 2.