Normally, for my siblings’ birthdays, my dad and I make homemade brownies, with Sendik’s ice cream to compliment them. Note, when I say homemade, we just pick up brownie mix and make them at home. This year was different, as my mom was a surrogate for twins, and she developed an aversion to dairy. To combat this, my dad formulated a genius idea. “STEAK CAKE!” he shouted, sounding as confident as Bill Gates writing a check. “It’s perfect,” he said. “She loves steak, so why not?”

“That’s exactly what we’ll do,” I said, agreeing.

Our idea was to cook a rectangular steak, matching the shape of a cake, and prepare it in a cake pan.

My dad and I picked up the biggest slab of steak Sendik’s offered. We sauced and seasoned the steak, cooking it perfectly well-done, just the way Mom liked it. We were about to put on the candle when my sister noticed something was missing. “You can’t have a cake without frosting,” she said.

Our foolproof plan was flawed – she was right, we couldn’t have cake without frosting. But sweet frosting on a well-done steak? It just wouldn’t taste right.

Then, my dad had an epiphany. “What if we used mashed potatoes for the frosting?” Another genius idea.

We whipped up a batch of mashed potatoes, and were about to spread them across the surface of the meat, when we realized something was off. It didn’t look like frosting – it looked like mashed potatoes. So, we did what anyone would’ve done: turned the potatoes light pink with food dye.

What else says “Happy Birthday!” like a succulent, seasoned, sirloin steak … with pink mashed potato frosting?

Needless to say, it was a birthday my mom will never forget.