Nifty Fifty, and Champagne Punch

Kendra Oliphant
Jan 11, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Mar 4, 2023

A little over a week ago, my mom turned the golden age of 50. Naturally, I had to throw her a surprise party! But how? Where would we have it? Who should I invite? Will other people keep the secret? All these questions needed to be answered, so lets go back, because it was around Christmas time that I started having questions swirl like ballerinas through my head.

During the Christmas season I spent some time staying with my aunt and uncle. While I was there I realized that my aunt was the perfect person to help me! After all, my mom had thrown her, her very own 50th Birthday party a few years ago. So, at breakfast one morning I brought up the fact that in about a month and a half my mom would be turning the big 5-0 and that I was thinking about throwing her a party. I told her that I was going to need some help, and asked her if she would mind giving me a hand. She said that she would love to, and we started thinking about venues and who to invite. We didn't want to get too crazy because that's really not my mom's style. We left it at that for a couple weeks and then I started doing what I do best, which is make lists. I started thinking about color themes and cakes and whether or not to spike the punch.

My Aunt and I decided to throw the party at a restaurant and motel that is owned by some of our family members, and is a traditional place to celebrate birthdays in our family. It was perfect! They let us rent out the back patio/sun room that had both a front and back entrance that made hiding from mom and tearing down the party a total breeze.

The party went off without a hitch! All of my mom's friends showed up at just the right time and were in place when the guest of honor arrived! It was so special, because the party itself surprised her but on top of that my sister and I had both made the hours long drives from where we live which is 2 and 5 hours respectively.

This is just after my mom saw me and my sister. My grandpa in the background was so happy to have been apart of such a large surprise. It was a happy day for all of us!

Now, I don't have the largest budget for parties, so I decided that I would make the cake and punch myself, that way I didn't have to pay a bakery. It was so good! I'll be sharing the recipes and photos below!

Classic Vanilla Bundt Cake - From the Blog "Brought to you by Mom"

Ingredients

- 1 1/2 c. unsalted butter

- 1 1/2 c. sugar

- 6 large eggs

- 1 1/2 tsp salt

- 2 1/4 tsp baking powder

- 3 c. all-purpose flour

- 1 Tbsp vanilla

- 1/4 tsp almond extract

- 3/4 c. cold milk

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Use a mixer to beat butter until it is softened.
Beat in the sugar gradually.
Add in the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Add the salt and baking powder mixing slowly.
Add in the vanilla and almond extracts, with the mixer on low.
Add in the flour and the milk, slowly increasing the mixer speed to medium.
Beat the batter until smooth.
Grease and flour a bundt cake pan (I prefer using crisco as my grease, before I flour the pan.)
Add the batter to the bundt pan as evenly as possible, and smooth out the top with a spatula, then tap the bundt pan on the counter to release bubbles from the batter (my grandma taught me that this ensures a solid cake with few holes.)
Bake the cake for 50 minutes, making sure to test it with a toothpick to ensure that it is thoroughly cooked before removing from the oven.
When done baking, remove the cake from the oven and loosen the edges of the cake. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes is up, turn the cake pan onto a cooling rack and let the cake gently sit and finish cooling on the rack.
Frost your cake. ( I used premade frosting and then added sprinkles and candles)