Friday, July 26, 2013

Remember when I made that cake...


I still remember the first cake I made all by myself.  I was probably 12?  It was my mom's birthday, and she was at work.  I was the "babysitter" for my three siblings at the time.  I remember thinking what a surprise it would be if I made her a birthday cake to surprise her with when she got home.  I had made frosting with my mother's help before, and I'd seen her make cakes.  Of course, this was before cake mixes and canned icings were available, or at least not in our household.
The cake turned out...interesting.  When I think back on it, it was kind of a disaster, but I remember it as not only funny, but a bit of a creative problem-solving event.  For some reason, I really didn't see it as a disaster.  It was a "go with the flow", "one mistake after another" type of project.  I'm so glad it happened.
Wish Mom was still around today...I'd love to make her another birthday cake!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She won't be home for hours.
There's time to bake a cake.
It'll be the best surprise,
And not too hard to make.

Just get out some ingredients-
No "packaged cake mix" days-
Some sugar, flour and water;
Sure measure always pays.

Grease pan and heat the oven,
Pour mixture, scrape the sides;
Then put it in the oven
And watch it start to rise.

The sweet smell fills the kitchen
As it sets out to cool.
Begin to make the frosting
But it ends up a pool.

The yellow lumps of butter
Can't hide in chocolate soup
The icing must be poured on
It's more like icky goop.

Tip pan to get the cake out,
Oh, no!  It broke in two!
It makes it worse to fix it,
It's turning into stew!

Quickly arrange the cake clumps,
Pour chocolate butter lumps,
Yell "Happy Birthday, Mom!"
And add surprise-y jumps!

Those mountain cakey mounds
With chocolate soup for icing
Must still have been to my mom 
Just a bit enticing.

I wish I had a picture
Of Mom's birthday mis-cake
And her loving over-look
Of my multiple mistakes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wishing everyone an ever-loving, over-looking mom!

Check out more poetry links at Sherry's place Semicolon .  Thanks for hosting this week's Poetry Friday!

15 comments:

  1. As long as it tastes good, it doesn't matter what it looks like, right?

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    Replies
    1. You are right! It was still yummy, despite it's appearance.

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  2. I love this. Narrative poetry is always a favorite of mine. Your mom must have loved that cake!

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    Replies
    1. She was a sweetheart of a mom. I'll bet I left her the mess to clean up!

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  3. Hmm...sometimes my cakes still turn out that way! I like "mis-cake" :-)

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    Replies
    1. I've made a few more mis-cakes since that day, too!

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  4. What a great memory and your poem is delightful! Vivid imagery. I can just see that little girl working so hard, and things going so wrong. : )
    I know your mom loved that cake no matter what it looked like. I love the "mis-cake", so clever!

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    Replies
    1. I had a plan...
      The plan just had other ideas!
      But we still had fun, and it did make such a nice memory for us all.

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  5. What a wonderful memory, Donna! I remember the first cake I ever made from scratch. It was lemon chiffon that was about an inch high! We do learn from our mistakes, don't we? I'm sure your mother loved her mis-cake!
    Catherine

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    1. Quite a "chiffon"! Not so light and fluffy, perhaps? I've never tried making one. There have been a few cake flops in my life, and they all have lessons learned!

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  6. Love that 'mis-cake', of which I've had a few. Loving memory of how sweet your mom was, & how thoughtful you already were Donna. Haven't seen you in a while-hope you've had a good July!

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    1. Hi, Linda! Spending time with my daughter and grandson this past week and next week. Energy packed little almost two year old boy sure can keep you on your toes! Had some physical therapy for minor problems and seem to be mending nicely now. Getting my brain back after the hot, muggy days!

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  7. What a sweet remember-when poem this was.

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  8. I love that last stanza! The whole thing really, but endings are so hard and you nailed it...er...baked it?

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