My First Cake Day

It was 6:30 a.m. when I started baking. After a restless night, I finally gave up hope of sleeping and decided to put my time to good use. Today was an excellent day for Cake Day, because I needed to celebrate: I submitted my first research paper. Granted, it still needs to be reviewed and accepted and published, but entering my 4th year of grad school with one first-author manuscript submitted is an accomplishment to be celebrated. Additionally, I was nervous--putting your work out there to be judged by the scientific world is nerve wracking, and I'd been informed by the boss that if I wasn't confident it was ready to go, we wouldn't submit. Hence the lack of sleep. But baking is soothing for the soul--gathering ingredients, measuring, and following instruction requires focus, mixing and beating relieve tension, and the sweet nostalgia of the smell of butter and sugar and the sound of the hand mixer is overwhelming; for an hour, I can imagine I am a child again, helping my mom bake cookies or my grandma make her special mock-angelfood cake.


This week's recipe is the "Perfect Chocolate Cake," so named because "it is chocolate and it is perfect." Scientists name things logically. When the cakes finished, I wrapped them carefully to cool while I went to work--to submit that paper, which was sadly anticlimactic. I spent the rest of the day dreaming about frosting and the chocolate goodness waiting for me at home. It's amazing how simple things can brighten the day. Especially lately, I find my work environment somewhat oppressive--the competitive atmosphere and windowless rooms can be tiring for one's spirit. But chocolate cake and a good, hard run promised a sea of pleasant endorphins was waiting to fill my evening, and made getting through the day just that much easier.

I confess I've never been good at frosting cakes--I don't often tackle the baking of cakes because they never come out looking "pretty," and while taste is much higher on my priority list, I never feel completely satisfied presenting a cake that looks like it just got back from a rough night of tequila shots. So I was a little apprehensive heading into the frosting portion of today's cake adventure. But, by some miracle, it turned out beautifully. The prettiest cake I've ever made. I credit the instructions, partly--you can see the influence of the scientist as the instructions are particularly clear and descriptive. But perhaps I am developing some skill as well. Goodness knows by the end of this little journey I ought to be a professional!


Celebration and cake are best shared, I think (and what would I do with a whole cake myself, anyway?), so I contained my desire to devour a large piece until after the run, so that my running partner could partake (our motto is: we run so we can eat). Delicious. Truth be told, I don't particularly like chocolate cake, or chocolate frosting. But the cake is excellent and this is the best chocolate frosting I've ever tasted. I think the title "perfect" is well deserved.

The Perfect Chocolate Cake was more than just pastry perfection, however. It was the perfect start to my cake adventure: simple, classic, delicious. It was the perfect complement to my paper submission, easing my nerves before and rewarding me after. In this chapter, the author states, "Our only hope of being happy in this world is to find joy in small things while we are working toward big things." I think this statement applies today, my first Cake Day. Tomorrow, I will go back to waiting for the next step with this first paper, and to planning and executing the next big experiment to start working toward a second paper so I can start working toward graduation. But tonight, my only responsibility was to enjoy good conversation over great cake, to pause and take in a moment of pure, simple, chocolatey happiness.