I Hope There's Cake

Her sparkling princess crown tilted ajar as she dipped her tiny three-year-old finger into the fluffy white icing of her very own fairy princess castle birthday cake. Though she had eaten cake before, this was the first time I noticed how her taste buds savored each sugar crystal as they dissolved on her tiny tongue. She slithered into her chair, her shoulders relaxed and her eyes rolled back into her head as she smiled with sheer delight.

My daughter, Madeline, is now thirteen years old and continues to melt at even the thought of cake. Any cake, chocolate, vanilla, lemon, strawberry, carrot, red velvet, German Chocolate, Boston Cream, apple spice, or cheesecake, she loves them all! There is no food obsession, no eating disorder, no childhood trauma, just sheer passion for really delicious sweet treats. A beautiful cake displayed on the counter is too much of a temptation for a true confection connoisseur, so we must indulge only on special occasions. Madeline attempts to turn each day into a special holiday in hopes she’ll get cake. As I woke her on April 1 with a greeting of “Happy April Fools Day,” she giggled with joy and said, “Oh, I hope there’s cake.” She knows that at any party, picnic, reunion, holiday, or decent grandmother’s house, she stands a great chance of getting a big chunk of the sweet stuff.

I have to admit, the urge to indulge comes from me. It’s completely hereditary and unfortunately a very fattening way to bond. A cake or pie in the face on a TV show or movie will always induce a glance between the two of us (no words are necessary). Some people watching the same show may feel embarrassment for the participants, others just disgust in the mess. Maddie and I just wish it were us scraping the excess from our eyes directly into our mouth. To see someone wipe off creamy icing and sling it on the ground is enough to bring a tear to our eyes. There’s nothing like cuddling on the couch on a cold, rainy Sunday afternoon, reading the paper while watching a “Cake Marathon” on The Food Network. We would choose a winner as well as the one we would love to eat!

The only thing better than a big slice of the perfect cake is a big spoonful of the perfect cake batter, and that’s only equaled to a heaping finger full of sugary icing directly from the bowl. Most of us share memories of licking the batter from the spatula, beaters, or bowl as a child. Not the new, fluffy whipped cream icing that some enjoy because “it’s not too sweet,” but the really heavy butter cream, cream cheese, or chocolate fudge icing that will triple the weight of any six-layer cake. There’s nothing as disappointing as dipping into a cake expecting yummy icing and getting whipped cream. Whipped cream has its place but not at the top of a cake! I remember when you could go to a wedding, shower or birthday party and consistently get a heavenly piece of cake with real icing. New and different isn’t always better, especially when it come to cake.

Every family has that special cake that a grandmother, aunt, or cousin will consistently bring to family gatherings. We can always count on Aunt Gina’s chocolate sheet cake, Louise’s carrot or red velvet cake with the best icing in the world, or my cousin Michelle’s latest masterpiece made completely from scratch. Most families should be lucky enough to have a budding Martha Stewart in their family like my cousin Mandy.

Maddie and I are especially blessed to visit one of the best bakers in all the land each week. My mother, Bunny, is always on the lookout for the perfect recipe, and she knows exactly what we like. Whether it’s a strawberry cake made with frozen strawberries and a whole box of confectioner’s sugar for icing, or a hot fudge cake that needs ice cream just to cut the sweetness, we always know we’ll end a meal with something we will devour. I remember homemade childhood birthday cakes with pink icing for me and blue for my brother and happy birthday spelled out in candy letters. Each child at the party would get a letter, but I would always beg for the biggest flower.

My obvious obsession with cake began early and continued into my teens when I met another sugar lover, Penny. We would drive over to the only Krispy Kreme Doughnuts in town (down from the big chicken in Marietta) hoping to see the HOT sign lit. Our doughnut of choice was the glazed chocolate iced. I once made Penny a birthday cake by stacking glazed doughnuts in a circle, four layers high, topped by the chocolate iced ones. It was simply decadent and easy to pass out and eat. I remember visiting Penny’s grandmother, hoping she had made her famous chocolate fudge cake. She used real Hershey’s Cocoa and granular sugar and poured it on top of a yellow cake just before it hardened into the best fudge on earth. Now that’s cake!

I’ve had many special memories with family and friends, and it’s always sweeter when someone bakes. Whether it’s a holiday, birthday, or a reunion, I’ll use the words of a wise little girl and say, “I hope that there’s cake”!