Saturday, February 23, 2008

Tonight I have made for myself a chocolate cake

...with two layers and dark chocolate frosting.

I baked the two layers and let them cool completely in the oven so the tops wouldn't crack.
I turned each out onto a plate, and evened the top of the second layer, so it would fit with the first.


I frosted the entire thing with a crumb layer, which I let set before putting on the final layer. I was sure to use the flat side of the knife when making the swirls, so they wouldn't have the lines from the serrated knife edge.

I put it on my best china, and cleaned the frosting dabs off the plate. Then i took a picture, because i thought it a beautiful cake.

It is not birthday cake, or graduation cake, or celebration cake. It is not for Thanksgiving dinner or the Fourth of July cookout, or for anyone else but me to eat. Once in a while, it is lovely and right that we should make for ourselves something that has as much care put into it as if it were for someone else. I don't make myself cake often, but I make myself plenty of other foods, and usually i don't bother much with presentation. I cook "good enough" food, throw it on a plate, and scarf it down while watching a tv program, or checking on a website. Lots of people do this with their knitting, too. They make socks and scarves and baby blankets for everyone they know, then feel a bit guilty when picking up a long-ago started cardigan that they just loved.

So here's to sometimes saving the nicest things for only ourselves. Not to be selfish, but to remind ourselves that we are worth the niceties we reserve for others.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

where have you been B? i miss your writing! Hope you're doing well!