On Cake

Last week, a friend asked me about the origins of Cake Sunday.

The concept is pretty simple: on Sunday, we eat cake.

However, I suppose its meaning is a bit deeper than that. During the spring of last year, I decided to make some positive changes in my life (See: Being Awesome). Somewhere along the lines, I made a cake. I was sitting in church that Sunday morning, and I thought, gosh, I could really go for some cake. That first cake was my rendition of a Black Forest Cake. It's made with a boxed chocolate cake, a can of cherry pie filling, and Cool Whip.

I coerced Adam into coming over with the prospect of cake. We sat and reflected on the past week. I congratulated myself on being awesome.

Let's be frank. I went through a rough patch and wasn't taking care of myself in any of the necessary ways, physically, mentally, emotionally. I was able to pull myself out of that with the help of my dear friends and cake.

I know that I'm putting a great deal of stock into this idea of Cake Sunday, but if you think about it, it's really pretty amazing. All week, you're awesome, and then you celebrate on Sunday with a cake.

Making the cake is an art in and of itself. I use 9" round cake pans. I always make a layer cake. Sometimes, I make it from a box, but I much prefer making my own frosting.

There's something to be said of the whole procedure: cracking the eggs, buttering and flouring the pans, smelling the cakes bake, letting them cool, and my personal favorite: frosting the cake.

Sometimes I get crafty with my cakes. I make a wicked (fake) Boston creme pie (yellow cake, vanilla pudding, chocolate frosting), and of course there's my awesome black forest. I once made a red velvet cake with a cooked frosting (you can't use cream cheese frosting on red velvet. I'm sorry), and a carrot cake (which MUST have cream cheese frosting).

Part of the whole deal is figuring out what to make. Its a process: what am I in the mood for? Should it be fruity? Chocolate? Spicy? Then finding a recipe: do I really want to use carob? No way am I putting applesauce in this chocolate cake? Then finally, buying butter.

Butter is the most key ingredient in cake. I learned this the hard way when I was a vegan. Butter-cream frosting cannot be made with margarine. Margarine-cream just doesn't have the same ring. Unfortunately, my brief flirtation with veganism sort of ruined Cake Sunday.

With all that said, I suppose that Cake Sunday is really a celebration of all of the good that has happened in the past week. The learning, the growth, the awesomeness. Spending time with friends, eating something delicious. I got a piece of cake tattooed on my arm as a reminder of the good things to come and to remember how far I've come.

In closing, an added perk of Cake Sunday is that the leftovers lead into "Cake Week." I lost 30 pounds the first time we did Cake Sundays. Go figure.


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