My favorite cake

Cakes mean different things to different people. The word may bring up an image of a chocolate cake in some people’s minds, where as it might make some people think of Chinese moon cakes.  According to the Oxford dictionary, a cake is an item of soft sweet food made from a mixture of flour, fat, eggs, sugar, and other ingredients, baked and sometimes iced or decorated.

According to me, a cake is the same thing. But a cake is not only an object that fills the stomach; it is also something that carries meaning and memories. White icing and stacked cakes conjure up images of weddings, their extravagance, and happy couples. Chocolate cakes bring to my mind Sacha-Torten, birthday parties, and fancy restaurants.

Cakes are a platform for creativity. Pretty much any combination of ingredients can be put into a cake, and in various different ratios. Ok, the combinations of ingredients that can be put into a cake are limited; I am not sure whether chicken or oysters would make a good cake! Then again, they might just.

As much as a cake depends on an individual’s choice of ingredients, an individual’s taste also dictates what cakes that person will like. Some people love strawberry cakes, with lots of cream and sugar, whereas others prefer solid flavors like vanilla, or chocolate. How can one ever decide what the best cake is?

German bakeries or Baeckereien are filled with wonderful arrays of delicious cakes. In summer months, the fruits take a dominant role in what is baked. Zwetschgendatschi, Aprikosen Kuchen, Himber Torten, and Erdbeer Kuchen are just some of the fruit cakes that make summers marvelous. In the winter and autumn, other cakes become dominant. Each season has its own specialty. The sweet scents of delicious baked goods that waft out of Baeckereien and into streets make you feel happy, and make your mouth water.

Personally, I do not think that I have a favorite cake. It all depends on my mood, time of year, and where I am. At certain moments, I get cravings for chocolate cakes, but then at other moments, all I can think of is delicious light summery tarts. Each of these cakes brings different images to my minds.

When I think of apple crumble or apple cake, images of rainy days come to my mind; the reason being that the local apple season coincided with the rainy season. My mother is an excellent baker, if I say so myself. I was lucky enough to be spoilt with delicious cakes as a child. I would sit in the kitchen and watch her break eggs, weigh flour, weigh and melt butter, weigh sugar, and then mix all of the ingredients, step-by-step, into a big bowl.

Then my mother would take out a baking pan, swiftly grease it, and pour the mix in. The next 30 minutes or so (depending on how long it would take for the cake to bake) would be torture. I would occupy myself doing some sort of work while the sweet scent of a delicious cake would make my mouth water. The moment the cake came out of the oven, I would stand there and welcome it into the world.

Then there was another period of waiting. I was told “hot cakes give children stomach aches.” I do not know if that is actually true, but I diligently listened to my mother, and waited for the cake to cool. Sometimes I would nibble are the rim, testing it, and mentally critiquing it.

Once enough time had passed, and the cake was cool, I could finally have a slice! Most of the time, cake was accompanied by tea. I do not remember every single cake my mother baked for me, yet all of the cakes, together, have created warm memories. Some stick out, like the first time I tried an apple cake (which soon became a favorite), or a strawberry tart with a gelatin glaze. The gelatin glaze on top of the sponge cake was red, and filled with strawberries. I found the cake fascinating, the way the gelatin glaze magically balanced on top of the sponge cake and most of all, the strawberries that floated in the sea of red gelatin.

             

          Cake is wonderful, as it means different things to individuals. It can bring up memories, happy or sad, it comes in different tastes and flavors, and, of course, it fills the stomach.

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