Chocolate Tar and Good Intentions

I'm in the mood for cake, chocolate cake.  Anybody out there got a good recipe you could share???  I'm bored with the ones I've got and ready for something new, maybe something with sour cream.   MMMM!!  just thinking about it makes me want to get the milk ready!  We're a true southern family around here, despite J's upbringing.  We celebrate with cake. We not only celebrate with cake, we see just about any reason a good enough one for a good cake.  If someone has surgery, take them a cake, baby arrives? Time for cake!  Birthday, anniversary, end of school, pass your drivers test, pass your eye test, go all day without stubbing your toe?  It all calls for cake! 

I remember one Valentines day J and the boys thought it would be sweet to back me a heart shaped chocolate cake.  J does nothing half way so this was not to be simply a cake from a box, but a real life, from scratch, mess up the whole kitchen, cake.  What you must remember is, all this took place while I was out somewhere.  I don't remember where and, I guess, it doesn't really matter (probably hiding from my children, if the truth be known! lol).  While an amazing engineer J is less than a star in the kitchen.  Let's just say, if I ever want water burned I know who to call! lol  He has come a long way since then.  One thing he has learned that he didn't know at the time was how to tell the difference between flour and powdered sugar when they are in unmarked canisters.  So, when I got home I was met with a dirty kitchen, 4 smiling boys, 1 chagrined husband, and a heart shaped cake pan filled with sweet chocolate tar!  After I confiscated the spoons from the boys as they all stood around having a cup of cake I wondered if I needed to give them insulin shots! lol  It's the thought that counts, right?  that and the fact that he cleaned up the mess for me!

It's true that things would have been much easier if J and the boys had used a box of cake mix.  It would probably have turned out much better, for sure, but then I wouldn't have this sweet memory! (pun intended!)  I wouldn't trade that unique sweet treat, as uneatable as it was, for any box mix anywhere.  Why? You ask?  Because, as "different" as it was, it was made with love.  It was a one of a kind.

Have you ever thought about how unique we all are?  We are like that sweet treat made so many years ago by my men folk.  Each one of us is different.  We've all had cake from a box.  I'm not knocking it, I've certainly made my share.  It's quick, it's easy and it's a step above buying the ready made ones in the freezer section, but they're all the same really.  I'll bet if I put a piece of cake made from a cake mix and a piece of home made cake in front of you, you could tell the difference.  Why?  Because we've all had the box mix before and it always taste pretty much the same.  You could make 1000 boxes and they would all taste pretty much the same.  It's different when you make a homemade cake.  There's always that little difference.  It's never exactly the same as it was the last time you made it. 

I've got news for you.  God doesn't use box mixes either!  He didn't sit up in heaven and mass produce 100 Susans to spread around the world. Then 200 Daniels to scatter over the earth. Nope, He took the time to create each one of us from scratch!  No shortcuts here, only the real thing.  We are like a bakery's display window, filled with many different treats, each one slightly different than the next.  This one has frosting, this one doesn't.  This one is round and this one is square.  This one is made with nuts and.......  well, I know quite a few of us who are nuts so we'll leave that one alone! lol 

My point is this. Don't envy the donut beside you or wish you were like the nutty fudge down the way.  Be proud of how God made you!  If you have sprinkles, share your sprinkles with the world!  God delights in each and every one of us.  It doesn't matter if we think we are the sweetest treat in the window or not.  He made you, from scratch, and he sings over you!  He desires to consume us in His love.  How wonderful does that sound??? 

So spread your sweetest to those around you.  Be proud of your pink icing, your powdered sugar glaze or your sprinkling of pecans!  There's not another cookie like you and that's just how the master baker wants it!

Meanwhile, I'll be here, craving chocolate cake and trying to keep J out of the kitchen!  Feel free to drop on by, especially if you're carrying cake!