I'm a chocolate lover, but there's something so absolutely perfect about vanilla. It totally doesn't deserve its "blah, plain, boring" rep -- not for sex (cough E.L. James!) and not for desserts. Especially not for cupcakes, birthday cakes, frosting -- you name it. Think about it. Who doesn't love a fluffy angel or layer cake with perfectly sweet vanilla icing? Drooool!

That's why a recipe for a Snow White Vanilla Birthday Cake with Angel Feather Icing recently caught my eye. It just sounds straight-up dreamy. Check it out ... 

There's something about Funfetti cake that appeals to the smallest and biggest kids ... aka adults. There's just something about the rainbow sprinkles in the middle of cake that gets us every time. Same thing goes for the supremely sweet cake batter flavor. So it's no wonder all of Pinterest lights up every time a Funfetti and/or cake batter-inspired recipe hits the site. 

One of the most popular: Funfetti Cake Batter Blondies. They're just so cuuuute! And oh yeah, insanely delicious. Baking up a batch is pretty much the easiest decision you've ever made.

Remember when we were kids and somebody in our class at school had a birthday? Remember how that somebody's mom would always send in a truckload of refined sugar and artificial colors and everyone would gather 'round and sing Happy Birthday and then we'd all bounce around the classroom like ping-pong balls on crack and (presumably) our teacher would knock back a few aspirin and count down the days til retirement?

Well, as you are no doubt aware (particularly if you are a mom), the times ... they have a-changed. And if your child happens to be that somebody with a birthday, you can't just show up at his or her classroom with an armful of cupcake happiness, oh no. There are Rules To Be Followed. Many of which, I must say, I appreciate (as the mom of a peanut-allergic kid). But the thing is, more rules = more chances to screw up and prove to your child that you are, in fact, the worst mom ever.

How do you wish the U.S. Army a happy 237th birthday? If you're a bakery you could present them with a giant sheet cake. Or... you could make them a life-sized cupcake tank that shoots real cupcakes. BOOM -- now we're talking!

Georgetown Cupcakes baked 6,500 chocolate cupcakes to present to the Army yesterday, using about 5,000 of them to decorate a 2,500-pound model of an M1 Abrams tank. The tank is covered in camouflage fondant and mocha butter cream. And yes, that tank really shoots cupcakes. Take a look.

If there was any sort of doubt about whether or not Kim Kardashian & Kanye West are the real deal -- the Lamborghini Aventador LP 700-4 she just bought him for his 35th birthday should clear things right up. Because most gals (even super rich and famous ones) don't typically go out and spend $750,000 on a man they aren't totally ga-ga over. (Kris Humphries never got anything that fancy. I'm just sayin'.)

Yep -- Kim definitely seems like she's out to prove to the world that she's serious about having a lasting relationship with Kanye. Well, either that or she figured throwing three-quarters of a million dollars at him would give him more incentive to stay with her for the long haul. (What dude would want to return that kind of gift after a break up?)

Today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day, a day I personally find more important than any other holiday on our calendar. After all, today is the day we celebrate the thing that brings us all together, makes us all human, and keeps us all fed and happy -- chocolate. Yum.

I think it's safe to say that in the ongoing fight between chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ice creams, there is one clear winner. OK, OK, so I know vanilla is usually voted the more popular flavor, but we ALL know chocolate people are so much more interesting.

If you are like me and plan on taking full advantage of this national holiday of great importance, I urge you to shake things up. Here are 7 ways you can "spice" up your chocolate ice cream:

I do it every time a family birthday rolls around: Start digging through my cookbooks for a cake recipe. And because I like variety, I'll end up making the cake from one recipe, the filling from another recipe, and the frosting from yet another cake recipe. Sometimes from different books, even -- or lately from different websites.

But I just came across a thing of beauty that gets the whole cake 411 together in one place. Real Simple's new cookbook, Easy, Delicious Home Cooking, has a "mix-and-match guide to cakes." Ten pages of recipes and ideas all together that will keep me baking different cakes for years without going to three different sources every time.

It should probably go without saying that Victoria Beckham has some serious food issues. David Beckham's wife has said that she thinks she has the average woman's body, and a while back, when she was pregnant with baby Harper, she made headlines for making a special request while dining out with a famous chef. So I guess it's really no surprise that for her birthday this week, when she dined out with Becks and their brood at L.A. eatery Nobu Matsuhia, she totally passed on the birthday cake. Instead, she really went to town on a birthday fruit plate. Um ...

'Course being who she is, she felt it necessary to broadcast this sad excuse for an indulgence along by tweeting a pic of it alongside the caption, "Birthday lunch!!! such a lovely day!!!! X vb." Oh, Victoria. Victoria Victoria.