The Shoveller: Lucille, God gave me a gift. I shovel well. I shovel very well.
Lucille: Honey, you shovel better than any man I've ever known, but that does not make you a superhero.
Mystery Men
With a group as large as the regulars who come over for games every week, it feels like there's a birthday all the time right now. It's high birthday season from December to March. Making cakes and birthday dinners is kind of my thing. It makes sense, as I have the most limited diet by necessity. I'm willing to put in the extra research and work to keep myself on an even digestive keel.
Some times I just buy a cake mix from the grocery store, and I'm working my way to a clear favorite of the available gluten free mixes. (Pamela's is in the lead for chocolate, but Namaste has a pretty good spice cake.)
Some times I make cakes from scratch, and I'm not 100% great at choosing recipes that won't fail off Pinterest. Today I fiddled with an angel food recipe for the Mr's birthday, swapping out 1/4 cup of gluten-free flour that is primarily rice-based for an equal amount of arrowroot. I thought maybe it would make a softer cake. Yeah, it did, but it was also wetter. That might have been a failure of folding the flour into the egg whites. Or I didn't let it cook long enough. Hard to say without making another one in quick succession.
Last week, my foster daughter wanted a lemon cake. Together we agreed on a recipe that used almond flour, and she wanted a cream cheese frosting. My set of springform pans is 3 different sizes, so I spent the whole afternoon making two copies of the cake, one after another, so I could layer them and have the sides line up. I dug through a drawer to find I had a star tip for decorating, and I kind of half-assed stars all over the cake. Even having chilled the frosting, by the time I was at the end I was tired and the heat of my hands was making the frosting come out like yellow Hershey's kisses. I was still proud of my creation. I took pictures last week, but didn't show them off at the time.
I doubt I'll ever find myself on one of those baking competition shows, and not just because I only ever bake gluten free. I don't have the stomach for that sort of stress, and my back gets so tired I have to take frequent breaks to stretch it out. Even so, I'm proud of the tradition I am building. I think they know I do this because I care. None of us needs a whole lot of new material things for our birthdays. All of us needs to know we are loved and wanted. This is my way of reminding them of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment