Ho Hos with Cream Cheese Frosting

Today, December 19, is Scott’s birthday.  I did not bake my dear husband a cake.

It’s too hot here to turn on the oven.

Melting chocolate happens…

…without turning on the oven.

No need to exacerbate it by baking a cake and running the oven for an hour.

Instead he got Ho Hos made in a local Aruba bakery topped with homemade cream cheese frosting.  I was able to handle whipping up some frosting.

Because I knew that Skylar would get many more thrills out of Ho Hos with a candle than Scott would, I made sure she had a candle to blow out.

At age four she’s still not quite familiar with the concept that you keep your wishes to yourself and as she was blowing out her candle she yelled,

“Make a wish!  I wish that I blow this candle out.”

And I thought to myself, good wish kiddo because this kitchen is already hot enough and the sooner you blow the candle out, the sooner temperatures fall.

Down from about 87F to 80F would be lovely in the kitchen.

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Ho Hos with Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Ho Hos, I suggest:

Food Network Ho Hos recipe

Babble’s Homemade Ho Hos recipe

Joy the Baker’s Chocolate Peppermint Roll

AllRecipes Ho Hos Cake recipe

Purchasing Ho Hos (nothing wrong with that, they’ve been around since 1967 and Hostess knows what they’re doing)

For the cream cheese frosting (Gluten Free with Vegan option)

1.5 tbsp butter (or margarine), softened

1.5 tbsp cream cheese (Philly brand, Tofutti, etc.) softened

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 c + powdered/confectioner’s sugar

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whip vigorously by hand until smooth.  Adjust the amount of confectioner’s sugar based on how thick or thin (more like a glaze) you prefer your frosting.  We like ours very thick and so I used almost 1 cup powdered sugar.  Store extra frosting in the refrigerator or freezer.

Yields about 3/4 c frosting

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One tip if you don’t want to bother with a roll-up style dessert like Ho Hos because although they’re pretty they’re fussy would be to make Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting.

They accomplish nearly the same flavor goal but in a flat format that’s much easier to tackle.  Just a suggestion if you don’t feel like wrappin’ and rollin’.

After we were done with our Ho Hos we washed our hands thoroughly so that we didn’t get crumbs in our eyes.

Or cream cheese frosting in our hair.

Then we sang Happy Birthday with extra loud and screaming emphasis on the, Happy Birthday DEAR DADDY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU part.

Nothing about this birthday was traditional starting with Skylar having a candle and blowing out her candle and stating her wish aloud.

To singing Happy Birthday after the birthday cake birthday ho hos were already eaten to…

Not serving a cake…

To not making something entirely from scratch.

But Scott didn’t seem to mind.

He said he loved the Ho Hos and that the frosting was delicious.

The best part, in fact, he said was the frosting.

Clearly he’s been hanging around me for over a decade if now he’s using cake as an excuse just to get to the frosting.  Ironically we had our 10 year anniversary the last time we were in Aruba.

The birthday ho hos are a step up from his birthday last year, albeit marginally.  It’s the thought that counts, right?

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Questions:

How traditional are you when it comes to birthdays?

We are so nontraditional.  Scott’s birthday usually falls over Chanukah and so it gets lost in that shuffle.

Plus, we are usually traveling and out of the country in December.

We also don’t exchange birthday gifts, or Chanukah, Christmas, anniversary, or other gifts anymore, either.  We buy what we need throughout the year and have given up doing gifts.

Do you have any special birthday memories?

I have so many birthday party memories from my childhood from roller skating parties with pizza, RC cola, and white sheet cakes with pink frosting roses (I loved the pieces of cake that had the thickest and most frosting) to having all my friends over for slumber-birthday parties to my pre-Skylar birthdays which involved copious amounts of alcohol and lasted until the wee hours of the morning.

Ahh, memories.

He doesn’t read my blog but I’ll show him this post…Happy Birthday, Scott!