Cooking the Devils Food

As I have previously mentioned, my better half is not really a cook. While I can and do wax lyrical about her talents, being a domestic goddess is not one of them. Thus we have delineated domestic duties quite well. Therefore, when the anniversary of my birth came along, she wanted to maintain her family tradition of cooking a particular cake. As her mother is American, although now naturalised British, this was an American cake that she wanted to introduce me to.

Having been on the internet for many years now, I know and understand how important these traditions are to American families. Thus while I normally do not celebrate my birthday, its how I have stayed twenty one for all these centuries, I was ready to accept that I would need to allow my better half to have her way. Also as she is rather busy at the moment, it was decided that the cremation, sorry cooking, would happen at my place.

I had no real knowledge of what was to be cooked, but I was willing to help in what ever way possible. Even if it was just going to get the ingredients. However, all instructions I got was did I have, and all bar the icing sugar, I had in already. So I said I would get this when I went to the supermarket on Friday. As I was not going to the supermarket until that afternoon, when I got a call from She who must be obeyed, I was shocked that the cake was a cake mix and could I get a packet.

Well after picking myself up off the floor, I devised a cunning plan. While I had not yet tried the recipe, I had the recipe for Devils Food. A quick search of the ingredients in the cupboard and I only needed to get a couple of items to bake the cake. Therefore when I got back from the supermarket and put the shopping away, I baked the cake. My timing was good as I had just pulled the cakes from the oven to cool on the cooling tray when I had to help my better half from the bus. While I do love her, she needs to learn how to travel light, or at least lighter.

Fortunately the aroma of baking and the sight of the two cake halves did not disappoint her. Phew, as if I had got this wrong, I would have been typing this in my grave. However, I had to accept her recipe for the icing. This we made together. The peace treaty was signed... only joking!

So while we have been able to continue her family tradition, it has become adjusted to meet our needs.

There is though a serious point here, while I have no doubt that the packet mix would have been fine, as I work on the principal that I will not use items in the kitchen that have ingredients that look better placed in a chemistry set, I did not feel comfortable using the mix. Also personally I think my recipe will have tasted better. I am sorry if that sounds big-headed, but I know that when I previously tried packet mixes, years ago, I was getting better results baking from scratch. While I know that not everyone has the time, but cooking or baking from scratch is just so much better than relying upon packets from others chemistry sets.

Another aspect of this tale though, is the delight at sharing foods from other nations, and learning new recipes. The only problem is that I can see that I will have to watch my waistline. Or is that my better half's job?