Beautiful Mistake

I don't know what to call this cake. So for the first time, I'm giving a name to a cake - Beautiful Mistake. Sounds unbelievably cliche, I know, but that's exactly what this cake is.



The initial intention was not to make this. In fact, I wasn't intending to make anything at 10pm after my GP common test and Nando's Extra Hot Peri Chicken which was quite metabolic. (Meat for the first time in months, I'm quite proud of myself!) But then our welfare rep was fretting over a birthday cake to mark the last day of term and our customary birthday month celebrations. So, like Siying said:
"When Fiona sets her mind, don't waste your saliva trying to persuade her otherwise. Just save it for tomorrow."

But the initial idea was a Savarin cake, inspired by the article on French food in Sunday Times. The French's passion for food and life is very alluring, it's a community I would like to be part of. Forget US or UK, if I could, I'll fly to Paris. The chef said, "Once this guy I was dating said, 'Wouldn't it be great if you didn't have to bother with all this eating and you could just take a pill?' I think we broke up after that night." And that's life!

Ok, so I screwed up Savarin really bad, so at 3am, I was at a loss. Like I said, the only thing fionainthekitchen breaks is eggs. So feeling despondent, I said in a phone conversation, (some people just don't sleep),
"I'm just a girl... I'm not the god of baking."
"In Initial D, the guy said' 神也是人，只是神做到人做不到的事，所以才叫神。' You can bake, I can't, so to me, you are the god of baking."

Amazingly, I think I work really well under stress. I wanted a green tea souffle roll, but I forgot the green tea powder, so after panicking for about 0.17683862 seconds, I melted some chocolate and incorporated it into the mixture. In half an hour, my cake was born. Added chocolate chips to the whipped cream and rolled the cake. And the artistic talent I always secretly thought I had, (even though I can't draw to save my life, or even colour for that matter), saved my reputation. Hohoho, at 5am, fiona left the kitchen for bed. And woke up late for school.



But you see my dears, this is what I live for.

At SWAMI, I've been inspired in more ways that I could count. I listen to the stories of the abandoned, people who loved, but whom love forgot. The social worker there told me,

"Until you find something that makes you want to wake up every morning, you'll never be truly happy."

Live to remember, remember to live.

Valentine's Day

This cake had to be created. It came to me a few week ago and it has never left my mind since. Therefore, even though it was the pineapple bakesale, I continued on for another hour or two more to produce this!



If love was to be represented by a fruit, it has to be the strawberry. For the strawberry looks not only like a heart (heart shape or a real human heart), it can be sour and sweet and you'll never know. Strawberries grow in harsh cold climates, and its fragility requires delicate handpicking when ripe. And love, when treated with the right amount of tender care will remain sweet and beautiful.

This is a simple strawberry chocolate sponge cake, with almonds at the side and custard in place of the unhealthy whipping cream. To me, this is my idea of a perfect valentine's day cake, inspired by chocolate and hearts. There is no layering within, just a cake, and the size of this cake, is perfect for 2. When you are with that special someone, eating a homemade cake, I believe that even the simplest of cakes will taste like the best cake you've ever eaten.

Having you in my mind made it easier to make this cake, but once it was done, I wish I never started. Valentine's Day is always tough, and somehow I just made it tougher for myself. Let the cake rot in the fridge. For with all the barriers, I might just never love again.