As I Recall: I suppose you could say I take the cake!

One of my earliest memories of cakes is looking through the window of the bakery at what I called "Downtown Little Stores," where my mother made her weekly shopping trip each Wednesday, which was "double stamp" day, when shoppers received twice as many S&H green stamps for the same purchases which would have been made on any other shopping days. Universally, for most all grocery stores which offered trading stamps, Wednesday was "double stamp" day, whether it was S&H, Top Value, or K-Savers. In any case, the bakery featured many attractively decorated cakes, although probably not as elaborate as those now presented on many of the television baking competitions. My most vivid recollection is of the cake that I spied for weeks before my 4th birthday. The cake was decorated with a plastic miniature carousel, and from the few trips that I had made to the local carnival, I was fascinated with what otherwise I referred to as the "merry-go-round." I am sure that I dropped many not-so-subtle hints that I wanted that particular cake for my birthday, and so when the time came, my mother exceeded the weekly grocery budget in order to make the wishes of a newly turned 4-year-old come true. The television commercials for cake mixes were well crafted for that era. For cakes, as well as many of its other products, Pillsbury had a catchy jingle "Nothing says lovin' like something from the oven, and Pillsbury says it best." Duncan Hines touted its cakes as part of "adventures in good eating," which corresponded to the title of the culinary guidebooks published by the gentlemen for whom the cake mix brand was named. While I cannot recall any particular details of Betty Crocker commercials, just the product name itself, in conjunction with the logo of the name featured on the end of a red spoon, was sufficient to create an impression. I think that at one time or the other my mother purchased all of the major brands. My memories of her cake baking include her stirring the mix by hand, before she ever acquired an electric mixer, and then being permitted to lick the bowl, which of course is now not recommended for health and safety concerns. [An aside, with no criticism intended toward those who have legitimate concerns that safe practices are observed...based on many caveats now decreed, it is truly a miracle that most of us survived beyond our childhood years!] After the batter was poured into the pans and placed into the oven, we had our orders to step lightly, lest our romping should cause the cake to fall. Perhaps there is some justification to that admonition, but I also wonder if it was also a way to encourage just a bit of peace and quiet for a few minutes? There was a brief period of time in the 1970's when Betty Crocker marketed its "Snackin' Cakes" [a product that I would love to see return, along with Jello 1-2-3, but I digress]. This product was advertised as being quick and easy, with a pre-baking preparation time of two minutes, and requiring only a fork, spoon and a pan [and the pan was even provided in the box.] With a process so simple, I am sure that I used the product several times when it was available. After its unfortunate removal from the grocery store shelves, I do not remember any involvement with baking cakes until my son joined the cub scouts. As I had not been in scouts, I did not realize that one of the annual projects was a cake judging, with the cake to be produced as a joint father/son effort. While most of the manual labor fell to me, the creative aspect was my son's and his imagination. Sometimes he devised in his mind some designs which were not exactly feasible, at least with my limited abilities, and that led to some "creative differences" such that my wife preferred not to be present during the process. Nevertheless, we endured, and finally after several years, in his last year in cub scouts, we produced a cake which placed...victory/redemption at last! A few years later, as our daughter's birthday was approaching, my wife was ill and unable to make a birthday cake, so I volunteered for the job which I have had, willingly, ever since. My attempts at creativity have not been so much with decoration, for I do not perceive that I inherited any artistic talent, but in thinking just a bit "outside the box," pun intended, of course, with some flavors. In my opinion, some years have been very successful, and others not so much, but what matters to me is that our daughter has always been pleased. So, I need no blue ribbon or gold medal! ••• Mike Baker is a local author.