The Bee Well Buzz/ honey cake
Baking was never my thing. I did not bake my first anything until I was 28! So when my boyfriends’ mom sent me a recipe for a honey cake I was determined to bake it and send it to her. I thought "baking, how hard can it be?" Well 3 attempts later I finally had an edible honey cake.
The recipe card I was to use did not give much detail, and there were no step by step by instructions. I did not even know what some of the ingredients were. Shortening? What is that? When I got to the grocery store and realized what shortening was I was glad I had never used it before. Right then and there I decided to not mess around and took this recipe straight to the health food store. I found a shortening made from pine oil, as well as everything else I needed. I got home, set out all my ingredients and was happy my cake was going to be all natural and mostly organic.
With The Who’s Quadrophenia rocking out loud in the background, and me in my bee apron I began my first attempt at the honey cake.
I followed the directions exactly, but got a little confused. The recipe called for orange grinds and the next item on the list was coffee, so I just thought coffee
grinds. My cake came out dark black and tasted like burnt…I don’t know what. It looked sad. My first honey cake went to the compost.
I wanted to bake my friend a honey cake. This 2nd try did not go much better. I don’t know if it was the Pearl Jam music blasting in the back, or
thinking of things to do that day, but I was set on making a delicious honey cake. I did make cookies just in case and its a good thing I did!!
So my third crack at it was a good one! I got up early on my day off and was ready to bake. I decided to listen to Erykah Badu, she rocks my
world. The beats, her voice, the lyrics are all so good! I tied my apron, turned the music up and began to bake honey cake #3. I had enough experience with
cooking to know how to alter recipes to make them "my way" so this is what I did this time. I had picked up a few tips through my mistakes and put
them all to the test. "I am in love with a bumble bee" sings Erykah and I sing along, sifting, dancing, mixing, stirring, shaking my booty, pouring.."honey…
you’re so sweet" we both belt out. I am feeling good! I pour the cake into the greased pan and know this is it! An hour later I pulled the cake out of the oven,
sprinkled some powdered sugar over the top(which was my idea) and stuck my fork in the soft, brown cake and tried it. This one was good enough to send to my man’s mom!!!!
This got me buzzing…life is like baking. There are instructions, some more detailed than others. I think if you stick to the guide lines but do things your own way you can live a delicious life!
Song lyrics from Erykah Badu’s Honey from her album Amerykah 2006
This article was written for the Healthy Hippie Magazine. april/may. www.healthyhippie.net