Never underestimate the power of cake.

 

On Friday evening, I made cake. 

I took a 70-cent packet mix, added about 50-cents worth of milk, maybe 10-cents worth of butter, and an egg, beat it to death, baked it and voila cake. 

We iced it with another 5-cents of butter, a splash of milk and a cup of icing sugar and topped it with hundreds & thousands. 

So, let’s call it a dollar fifty? $1.50.

I made the cake for no reason other than it was Friday and everyone was a bit urgh. And I thought well, cake makes everyone happy! 

When that cake was ready, we were taking advantage of the oven being on and pre-heated to cook dinner, which would take about 40 mins. 

So ya know what, we ate cake before dinner. 

Do you know what that does to a family? It was the cheekiest thing we’d done in ages, we felt like we’d broken the rules of the world and boy did we smile about it. 

Dinner came and went; everyone was far more relaxed than they were just an hour or two earlier. We sat at the table and played a board game. Right, I thought, that was worth the buck fifty. That was worth the cake. 

The next day, one of my dearest friends messaged early in the morning to see if she could pop over and help me with anything or just have a cuppa. We sorted that out and she asked if she could pick something up on the way. Oh no I have coffee and cake, all good. 

And so, we sat for nearly an hour, my dearest friend, my darling god daughter, myself, and my son, and we ate that cake, we talked, we smiled, we had a beautiful, sweet treat with our coffee. I watched my goddaughter snap those hundreds & thousands between her teeth, sprinkle cake everywhere and enjoy every last crumb. Right, I thought, that was worth the buck fifty. That was worth the cake.

It’s the weekend, it’s Sunday, we have a stack of work to get done outside that has been put off for a long time. It’s not something that is the most appealing in the middle of winter. I try and brighten the situation by suggesting we break the work up with little breaks inside to get out of the cold, including 11am coffee-time. So, we get to work, the time passes too quickly, and we get a lot done. Each of us reminding the other that there is cake to come at coffee-time, oh yes, there’s cake!

By the time we retreat to the warmth, is closer to lunchtime, we make coffee, rolls and pop the cake on the table too. We sit together, chat, eat, warm up and realise we are too full of lunch to even entertain cake. So, we agree, we’ll finish our work outside as the promise of cake awaits. 

Later that afternoon, we are done. Cold, tired, and ready to warm up inside. We settle into the lounge room with our feet up, a cup of tea and the last slices of that cake that tastes so good after a day of work outside. 

If you asked me how to make a cake, I would offer you a hundred recipes for all different kinds of cake. All made from scratch. A cake mix is not something I normally entertain at all. But after what I’ve experienced this weekend with the power of a cake..I think yes, that is worth the buck fifty. That was worth the cake. Whether it comes out of a packet or not. 

Never underestimate the power of cake.