29 | June | 2019 | Eat. Drink. Share.

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The creative side in me loves a good cake recipe — because not only do you get to think creatively about what flavors to bring together (strawberries and champagne? lemon and elderflower?), but you also get to be inventive with how you assemble and design your cake (six layers? sprinkles of nuts and shaved chocolate in between? fruit on top?). And while often times cakes are eaten to celebrate a special occasion — birthdays, bridal showers, babies — they are also lovely on their own.

Growing up in a family of five, we definitely rotated through our fair share of cakes, with each of us having our particular taste preferences: Mum likes the lighter, simpler cakes; while Pops and I have the sweet tooth; Justin (wasn’t) a big fruit-on-cake person; and Megs is a wildcard. While we had a lot of pretty simple sheet cakes growing up (and I wouldn’t have traded those for the world), in our later ages, we’ve grown more creative with our cake-making skills — largely inspired by my Mum, who is known to travel across town to find edible flowers for a cake recipe.

Whenever I’m in the assembly stage of making a cake, I always think the kitchen ends up looking like an artist’s studio — an array of colors, textures, tools, and pieces, all spread out across the kitchen counter. Because baking itself is such a science, with precise measurements of eggs, flour, sugar, etc., oven temperatures, and baking times, I love that the assembly stage allows you to veer outside of precision. Want to add sprinkles? Go for it. Like blueberries on your cake? Add ’em. Feel like drawing a big red heart in the center? Go wild.

I’m always a big proponent of making food homemade; not only because you know exactly what ingredients are going into what you produce, but also because it shows the love (sometimes blood, sweat, and tears) that a person puts into it. Even when following a recipe, it’s rare that two people will produce a cake that looks the same.