How We Do It - Part II in an ongoing series

I'm a baker, not a candlestick maker. I bake cakes and cupcakes and sell them to people or give them away. I do it for the money and I do it for the pleasure of the sweet -- the feel of the batter, the flow of the icing, the pleasure of the perfect meringue, the gloss of the chocolate, the tender crumb. I have to be able to bake in the midst of it all, though, measure the flour and remember the sugar, count the eggs and remember the baking soda or was it powder? Is that Sophie who just made that bang or was it the boys? I put the tins in the oven and put Sophie's shoes on and while the timer ticks, I take her around the block, tire her out so that she can sit in her wheelchair, gladly, while I mix the frosting and pull the pans out of the oven and leave them there to cool and her to rest.

This is how we do it.

And when Sophie is up and wandering in her room, aimlessly, bumping into the closet door, seeking sensation and flirting with danger, the mixer is on in the kitchen and I feel tense, straining to hear over the whir, I call on the boys, the ever-patient boys, the boys whose lives I try to protect, try to shield, ever balancing the reality of the situation she is disabled and she is your sister and they have their own lives to live and will not be responsible, too responsible, they answer yes, mom and I ask them to watch her, watch her while I put this in the oven, watch her please make sure she doesn't fall off the couch, let her watch you, let her be with you, pay attention to her, please watch her just for a minute, just a sec.


That is how we do it.

Lavender, Vanilla and Coconut Cupcakes
(not pictured - Intense Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cupcakes)

How We Do It - Part I HERE.

Perspective

One of my dearest and nearest blogger friends ordered a wedding cake as a present for a friend of hers who was getting married at 10:00 AM on Independence Day (that was yesterday). I was thrilled and honored to make one, and we decided that a vanilla cake with strawberry cream cheese filling and frosting would be perfect. We also decided that the cake would be picked up late on Saturday night, after my blogger friend/client had finished an insanely busy day.

And that's what happened. I worked all day on the cake, happily, as the kids ran in and out of the house. I was immersed in it, the baking the stacking, the frosting and filling and cutting and careful planting of tiny yellow fondant flowers and daisies. I had extra batter and frosting and made a tiny cake for us. It came out just right, I thought. Not bad for the old girl.


My friend arrived at nearly 11:00 that night, and I had the pleasure of meeting not just her very handsome husband but her adorable daughter. My sons were enchanted by this little girl, despite the hour, and our two families just enjoyed each other's company for a few minutes before the cake was carefully handed to the husband who then placed it in the back of the minivan for their fairly long trip back home. My friend exclaimed that she wanted to hold the box in her lap but I told her no, it'll be fine in the back; it's too heavy to hold all that way! We hugged good-bye and I turned around and went back inside, happy that I was able to do this, grateful for the order, the money, the support.

Well, you know what's coming.

Look again:

Cake wreck.

I received a very agitated email later that night from my friend, and I just about died. I, in fact, cried a little. We still don't know what happened. The cake literally slid apart. Was it bumped in the car? Should I have stabilized it better in the box? Should my friend have held it? Should I have filled it with something other than strawberry cream cheese? Should I kill myself?

From a professional standpoint, this is a freaking nightmare, and despite my generous friend's admonitions not to worry, that she'd think of something to do before the next morning's wedding and my own protestations that I'd get in the car in the morning and attempt to patch the cake before the wedding and her protests that no, that would be silly and it's not repairable anyway and my rising feelings of panic and feeling terrible for her and her assuring me that it was the story of her life and then finally we both went to bed.

I tossed and turned all night. I felt sick in the morning. I lost perspective and even my sense of humor which is generally dogged, to say the least.

Perspective. Yes, this post was supposed to be about perspective -- and my blogger friend pulled her perspective, seemingly out of a hat, and showed me, again, what it means. My blogger friend has a child with Down Syndrome. This child was also born with cancer, had infantile spasms and a stroke. She is now that enchanting four year old that my children and I fell in love with the night they came to pick up the cake.

I'm still struggling with the wrecked cake and my friend's generosity. Yes, it's a story that she'll tell over and over, I'm sure, and I'll show these photos and feel a cringe, a sense memory.  And I'll try to have some perspective or remember perspective, that pinpoint of something walking away, sliding out of view.I just wish that it wasn't a sliding into the side of a box --

Cake

Yellow Cake with Vanilla Frosting

Fondant Flowers

Well, of course it is -- Friday the 13th --

Sophie is home from school and I've got two million cakes to make and finish for clients. Oliver is having a birthday party tonight and I locked myself out of the house when the FedEx guy delivered the diapers and the dog squeezed through the door and the wind blew it shut. Blogger was down for two days and lost two of my posts -- one of which highlighted my new mug and mantra:

So that's what I'm doing. Eating cake (although I'm still on The Cleanse and doing well!) and moving on. Sophie is now awake. The cakes are all but finished, and I'm going to get the house ready for an army of boys.

Last day of work chocolate cupcakes with chocolate and regular cream cheese icing

White Cake with Raspberry Filling and Vanilla Frosting

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Another photo because I'm pleased with these

Chocolate Extravaganza Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Filling
and Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Cake

Yellow Cake with Lemon Zest
Lemon Curd Cream Filling
Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
White Chocolate Curls

Heavenly Cakes Needs a Domain

I need your help.

I am working on a website to complement my new, old cake-baking and decorating business. Heavenly Cakes is the name of my little company, but it's already taken as a domain name, so I have to come up with something different. The name must be easily remembered -- and simple to type. I'd prefer it to have my name and be clean and simple.

Do you like

Elizabeththebaker.com?

or:

BakerElizabeth.com?

My friend Moye, who shares my dark sense of humor, has responded to my request to come up with something quick, off the top of your head came up with these:

OffWithYourHeadCake.com


and


OutofYourHeadCake.com


She also suggested my two favorites:

I'minOverMyHeadCake.com


and


ScuseMeWhileIStickMyHeadintheOven.com


Seriously, do you have any suggestions or do you like either of the first two? If I choose your name as The One, I'll either make you a cake or think up something that I can send you.