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Before I set up
The Editor??s Office, one of my hobbies was cake decoration. As an
entirely self-taught person (apart from Mum showing me how to make the
icing ?? and hence quickly graduated to adding colour and using different
nozzles to get fancy in some of the more intricate styles), it wasn??t
something I did very often, but when I did, some of my results were pretty
good??¦
I baked and
decorated the traditional West Indian family Christmas cakes, I??ve done my
siblings?? birthday cakes (on the rare occasions we threw family
gatherings), my parents?? milestone anniversary cakes and my own personal
favourites, the celebration cakes I created for myself on reaching 30 and
again when me, my younger brother Martin and my cousin Judith (then sans
husband) all graduated in our respected disciplines of law, psychology and
social science in the same academic year ?? one of the best excuses I ever
had to throw the biggest party (so far) on my mum??s side of the family??¦.
In my time, I
have done celebration cakes for very close friends too ?? so much so that
at one point, I truly feared being swamped with work (and could have set
up in business much earlier but let??s face it, a domestic kitchen in a
two-bedroomed flat in south London was never going to be big enough).
The biggest
baking challenge, I think, for any domestic cook worth her (or his, for
that matter) salt, is going to be the wedding cake. And I??ve seen some
wedding cake masterpieces ?? some real works of art. I remember one year,
just past mid-way in my part-time degree course, when me and my then
partner had been invited to one of his friend??s weddings. And the bride
was desperate to have a wedding cake done??¦
My then partner ??
in his wisdom ?? didn??t tell me (and therefore I missed an opportunity to
showcase my decorating skills and earn a little extra money for my
luxuries) that this bride was desperate. By the time she saw me and asked
those questions (because she??d heard I was a dab hand in the baking
department), it was too late for her to cancel her order with a
professional cake caterer??¦
I was ready to
book the time out from work to take on the commission; I had been scouring
the wedding magazines for ideas (and yes, I was hoping to marry this
particular man but didn??t quite pan out), and as a last-minute order, I
would??ve charged a handsome sum that would??ve undercut the professional as
I didn??t have the same level of overheads.
Fast forward: we
went to the wedding; it was a nice ceremony and after the newly-weds cut
the cake, the bride asked me to help her slice it up and distribute it in
those cute little boxes.
I did ?? and
nearly wept. Those potential tears would not have been for my loss (such
as it would have been) but for the poor bride. The wedding cake was one
of the driest cakes I have ever had the misfortune to sample. Anyone who
knows me, knows I appreciate good baking ?? and this poor woman had been
charged an absolute fortune for what I felt was tantamount to sawdust.
How this caterer was able to get away with it, I don??t know, but I
certainly wouldn??t dream of serving my wedding guests dry cake unless it
was saturated with alcohol for sherry trifle. And to compound this
culinary nightmare, the icing was hard enough to give anyone dental
problems.
As much as this
is true, we singletons do take note of these things so when our time comes
(if it ever comes), we imagine we??ll have the most perfect wedding ever
because we??ve learnt from other people??s mistakes. And given that the
wedding cake is one of the key items to be photographed, not only does it
need to look like a masterpiece but for the guests, it needs to taste like
a masterpiece too.
So with that in
mind, I??ll be in charge making that pi??ce de resistance ?? I??m not ready to
poison my ?? sorry ?? our guests with bad baking: the real heart of good
baking, as it is with a lot of things in this life, is to make everything
with love??¦.and weddings are definitely a declaration of that??¦and while
you??re at it, cut me another slice of cake!
?© June 2004 Caroline Lashley, The Editor??s
Office, London. All rights reserved. |
