Cake that Takes Forever to Cook

         The home schooling is flailing, but in fairness it is the last week before half term and in my experience of working within a school setting, it’s normal that children and staff tend to be non-productive in this week. Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it. The girls protest at my every suggestion of any form of schoolwork, the most I get out of them is half an hour on PurpleMash. Child One has mostly been compliant but he’s reluctant today as well. I am conscious that I attempted baking with the girls in the form of muffins and he hasn’t had the opportunity to cook. A friend has sent a simple cake recipe to me so I tell Child One if he completes an English work sheet we can cook. He is delighted, the girls, like the ugly sisters in Cinderella immediately kick off with wails of not fair etc. I can’t even been bothered to defend the situation so offer my standard response that no, life isn’t fair. Please don’t grow up thinking that it is, because it really isn’t.

         Child One makes the cake mix, he can do it pretty much independently. I allow him the delight of tasting the butter creamed with sugar, there really is something delicious about that mix, but it’s so rich you can’t stomach much. His little eyes light up! I tell him to make the most of it because once the eggs and flour go in, it’s not so nice. As recipes go, it’s pretty easy, even by my standards. The bit that trips me up is the cooking of it. I do the time it states but it’s nowhere near cooked properly in the middle. So, I keep adding five minutes and before I know it the time has doubled, and I think it must be cooked by now. Attempt to take it out, but it immediately droops and falls in the middle. Try and rescue it to shove back in the oven but it’s looking a bit battered and wouldn’t win anything on The British Bake Off. I’m almost in tears and sending my friend a pathetic self-loathing message about how useless I am in a kitchen. Eventually it’s cooked enough to be classed as edible, a little over cooked on top but we manage to disguise that with a bit of icing sugar (I question how old the icing sugar is but decide to ignore that thought and use it anyway). It’s not much to look at but it tastes nice, very sweet, just the way the happy little people like their cake!