…But sometimes it’s fun to share parts of my life that are not about writing, productivity, or general life perspective.
This past Saturday, I made this:
The recipe is from the Zingerman’s Bakery cookbook, humorously called the “Hunka Burnin’ Love” cake. It looks rather unadorned (I’m a good baker, but decorating is definitely not in my wheelhouse yet) but it has an extremely complex, rich chocolate flavor. I looked forward to baking it all week, and it did not disappoint. It was rather labor intensive (compared to my usual Duncan Hines cake mix and homemade buttercream), but worth it.
In my mind, baking is one of the most prescribed forms of creativity, in that the creator never feels obligated to start completely from scratch. There is a recipe to guide her. There are measurements and specific cooking instruments and ingredients; there are sometimes pictures of each stage to help guide the process. Baking from a good recipe is like copying the words of a great writer, or tracing the brushstrokes of a great artist; it may not be your original work, but you can still put passion and joy into it, and as long as the original recipe is strong, you can be assured that it will (probably) turn out well.
I did make a few mistakes along the way (I mis-read the butter content of the icing and had to add more at the end; the sea salt I used wasn’t finely ground enough) but it still turned out great:
It was even better the second day, after the frosting had set in the fridge.
What’s your favorite way to create lately?
I love reading what you write. It’s wholesome and from the heart. I feel like I know you so much better now than when we worked in the same building.! Could you post the recipe? I want to give it a go some time. Do you have a good recipe for coffee cake?
I don’t know, that looks pretty attractive! I’m sure it was delicious, too. And I love the comparison of copying others’ writing with using a recipe. Sometimes it’s great to have that boost of inspiration.