From Scratch

"A cake is simultaneously refined and down-home, and by its very construction, it towers above all the other desserts. It's no wonder why we put them on pedestals. And it's why cakes- more than cookies, more than pies, more than puddings or cobblers- are the ultimate expression of love and celebration. Cakes mark special occasions. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, grand events. My grandmother made a cake nearly every Saturday. For her, all of life was a special occasion. The process, for anyone who cares to take it on, is still the same. Slow. Deliberate. But the result is always a masterpiece."

One summer between my college years I found myself working 2 jobs and baking cakes. I am not sure how I began to sell the cakes I was baking, but by the end of that summer I had made approximately 50 cakes. 3 kinds to choose from...cream cheese poundcake, lemon poundcake, chocolate poundcake. My dad said I was going to have to buy them a new oven with my money I was making because I was going to wear it out and mom was a little worried about her kitchen aid mixer:) But like all supportive parents they encouraged me all the way as I baked into the late hours of the night after I would get home from work. I learned so much that summer in the kitchen. It became my new classroom. Those poundcakes sparked a desire in me to have a bakery / coffee shop one day. My mom and I would dream about how I could decorate it...coffee mugs from various places. I remember going to one of the pottery shops that summer and looking at the coffee cups and thinking about which ones I would like to have in my shop. Just a few months ago I found a box that had been stored away at my parents filled with bundt pans, a sifter, and a card that said...my poundcake baker. All these items my mom had purchased at antique shops that summer and had given them to me for to use in my bakery one day. Well that has been about 10 years ago now and I have made some poundcakes since then...for birthdays and just everyday celebrations,but I haven't pursued the dream of my bakery. Who knows if I ever will? But it seems that everyone else that I read about started out small with just a desire, an idea, a dream, and then when they least expected it, it became a reality. So I might just have to do a little baking soon. Just to see if I still have it in me!