God bless cake

by Death By Chocolate

My idea of cooking usually involves a bag of pasta, a Lloyd Grossman sauce and some sundried tomatoes and olives thrown in if I’m feeling adventurous.  Fortunately for me, all of the girls I’ve dated have been culinary geniuses and most of my friends are equally talented in that department, meaning I have been pretty well fed over the years (aside from one Thai green chicken curry incident that Ms Falconer would probably rather I didn’t mention).  I had come to accept that I was never going to be able to sweep a girl off her feet with a romantic dinner that I had whipped up from scratch.  That was fine – I could take her to Coq d’Argent instead.

However, last weekend one of my closest friends celebrated her thirtieth birthday, and for some reason I convinced myself that it was a perfectly good idea to bake her a cake.  What better way to demonstrate how much I value her friendship than spending hours labouring over a hot oven and carving white chocolate decorative curls?  I never actually expected it to turn out well, but I told myself it was the thought that counted.  She would appreciate the gesture, even if she did end up binning the cake.

So you can imagine my surprise when, after an initial blip during which I had to call upon my mother to explain the concept of ‘folding’ cake mixture, it turned out pretty successfully.  I waited nervously as it was wheeled out at the garden party, and then tried to conceal my simultaneous shock (people thought it tasted great) and offence (my friends did a double take when the identity of the baker was revealed).  When those hardcore few revellers that remained the following day were still asking for seconds despite post-party hangovers from hell, I assured myself that it hadn’t been the vodka/champagne/martini numbing the taste buds the previous evening that were responsible its popularity.

Result!  From now on I have a new seduction technique: cake.  For even better than the ego boosting compliments or the lightness of the sponge and the butter soft icing, were the number of women who approached me to ask for the recipe and exchange baking tips.  A whole new experience, and one which I most definitely plan on repeating.  God bless cake.

I suppose it would be a little selfish of me to keep the secret of my success to myself.  For those of you looking to impress with your (possibly lax) baking skills, follow the link below to uncover a full recipe for the orange and white chocolate sponge that I so lovingly crafted.  It’s not too difficult, even for the culinary-retarded girls like myself out there.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5524/orange-and-white-chocolate-sponge