Icing on the Cake

Baking has always been my picker-upper. No matter how heavy the workload, how daunting the task at hand, how long the day (or week) had been, how blistering hot the weather outside, how helpless and directionless I am with anything and everything, I bake. In baking, I know I'm calling the shot, confidently and I know I won't screw up. I know if I follow the recipe and instruction, I'll end up with a kitchen permeated with the aroma of a freshly baked cake, and a lovely cake on the table. I know I'm good at it, good at baking.

Work has been driving crazy lately. It has been hectic lately at work. Unfortunately it'll remain hectic for the few weeks. I've been running around like a headless chicken and will be a headless chicken for the next couple of weeks too. It has taken its toll on me, as I haven't been sleeping well, stressing out over work. (I know that's really lame and I'm such a loser.)

So naturally I turned to baking. Last weekend I made a carrot cake. After all these while I managed to get all the ingredients and utensils to put one together. I was elated looking at the batter rising into golden brown goodness slowly and steadily in the oven. Oh it turned out beyond delightful, soft and spongy texture contrasting nicely with a crunch of walnut, the carrot sweetness with a hint of the cinnamon fragrance.

Then I realized I should have made cream cheese icing to go with it. Oh well it was too late. But it still was good. Really good.

I shared the cake with a friend. She was first surprised, more like skeptical actually, seeing what I offered her. Then she was surprised, pleasantly at how tasty the cake was. "It was the best carrot cake I've ever tasted in years." She said.

Now that's my icing on the cake.