As we always do during this annual beach vacation, we will today celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. The real thing isn't until Monday, but here she is surrounded by her sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, a rare event.

Each year, I make her cake. Three years ago, it was strawberry; the next chocolate; and last June, an old-fashioned yellow cake with an amazing chocolate caramel ganache frosting.

In an attempt to keep mixing things up, I this year chose to make a homemade funfetti cake. I'd seen the recipe for and photograph of Molly Yeh's version on Food52 and was drawn to its whimsical nature. Yeh, who writes the blog My Name is Yeh, is an incredible baker whose desserts are always beautiful.

My mother-in-law likes festive things, and this cake is like a party of primary colors blitzed with butter, sugar and eggs. As it calls for imitation vanilla and the fakest sprinkles ever, it's quite possibly the most artificial thing I've ever made. But it is from scratch, so there's that. And I hope my MIL loves it.