“This might be your best cake yet.”
“Way better than her goat cake…that had boxed frosting.” [insert eye roll from obnoxious eight year old]
“Hey, I loved my goat cake!”
“Is this Dawn’s cake?”
“Yup.”
“Who’s Dawn?”
“Mom’s bff.”
This was the conversation around our kitchen table two nights ago, as my parents and brother joined us for a pre birthday celebration for my mom’s birthday. It’s been kind of hard to know how to celebrate occasions that we want to acknowledge, but in a way that feels safe for everyone. We’re really looking forward to warmer weather and all of the celebrations that can occur outdoors.
But…back to the cake.
Back in February, we were in the same pickle, trying to figure out how to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My friend Dawn, had just been talking about the cake that her daughter made for her own birthday, days before. Her daughter Megan had visions of how the cake should look. Dawn shared how she spent a lot of time spinning the plate for Megan, so she could obtain the smooth frosted look she was after. “The cake is soooo good,” Dawn said. “We will fight for the leftovers in the fridge tonight.”
I asked Dawn to share the recipe. Maybe this was the “celebration” I was looking for. Dawn is a giver, so of course she had no problems sharing the cake that has been her family’s birthday cake for the last 20 years. That night she texted me a photo of a well loved handwritten recipe. “Don’t use the almond extract,” she warned.
I printed out my own copy.
As we prepared this cake for the second time for my mom’s birthday, I looked up at a sign we have in our kitchen, a sign I bought for my husband years ago. “The secret ingredient is always love.”
As I frosted the cake, I thought of all the love that it held. Love for family, love for friends, love for traditions and celebrations.
“Your family tradition is becoming our family tradition,” I texted Dawn that night as I shared a picture of our cake.
Where There's Joy 
There have been some very good things that have come out of this very hard year! I think one of them is all of the new traditions, including a whole lot of baking!
LikeLike
Looks great. I miss hearing the celebrations you are planning for the family birthdays. Always so thoughtful. We’ve still got the ice cream maker going strong!
LikeLike
You beautifully captured so much love in this post! Thank you for sharing this lovely connection between baking, family, and friends. 💛
LikeLike
This is great, old traditions and new traditions all stirred together. Just wondering what a goat cake is. That sounds like a very unusual ingredient.
LikeLike
Adi is goat obsessed. She saw a baby goat at a fair about 3 years ago and it was love at first sight. Last year, her cake had to be in the shape of a goat. She’s already planning for how to improve this year’s goat cake…we need to find gray sprinkles.
LikeLiked by 1 person
YUM!! You capture the love that goes into homemade anything — which I’ll take any day over store bought!! So happy that the love and traditions are spreading!!
LikeLike
It so difficult to know how to celebrate right now. I do think/hope new traditions will emerge from the pandemic – some more homemade, creative and focused on being together. It looks delicious!
LikeLike
I love the dialogue at the beginning of this slice and the growing traditions.
LikeLike
What a ‘sweet’ family tradition. A delicious cake alone, what a treat, but when a shared by a friend, and now becomes party of your family’s celebrations, priceless.
LikeLike
I love that we are going slow enough to ask follow up questions like, “Can you send me your family traditions?” That is a positive of the pandemic I think. I want to keep that when all of this is over.
LikeLike
Such a pretty cake. I love baking slices 🙂
LikeLike