the great cake metaphor

baking a cake seems like a simple enough thing.

billions of people all over the world, young and old, in all kinds of places, with all kinds of equipment and all sorts of ingredients do it all the time under any number of conditions with great success. cakes of all shapes and sizes and colours and flavours abound, regardless of the culture or climate or country.

there are endless books and articles and resources available to take you through the process step-by-step, traditions that are passed down through generations, videos to watch and how-to instructions to follow and classes to take, millions of tips and suggestions from countless experts promising to tell you exactly what you need to know in order to bake a perfect cake of your own.

but sometimes, despite the ubiquity of cake baking over the centuries and the infinite amount of cakes churned out every day, baking one isn’t necessarily easy. it can be a delicate process, where all manner of variables are at play that can influence the outcome.

there are the ingredients themselves. sometimes, you have everything you need and you can follow the recipe exactly, down to the tiniest micro-ounce of flour or single chocolate chip. it’s straightforward and clear and everything is poured into the pan exactly as it should be. sometimes, though, you don’t quite have all the components in place, so you improvise and hope for the best, because maybe pecans will be just as good as walnuts, and maybe the cake will be fine if you leave out that extra half-teaspoon of almond extract.

there’s also the equipment. is your mixer strong enough? if not, should you use a hand-held? just a giant spatula? can you eyeball measurements if you’ve misplaced your measuring spoons? will an 8” square pan be just as good as a 9”x11”? and what about your oven? is it hot enough? did you remember to preheat properly? is the timer set so that you don’t leave your cake in too long, or take it out too soon? so much to consider before you slide that cake in and wait for it to bake.

then you have to deal with environmental factors that are out of your control but that will nonetheless affect your cake. where are you? because humidity and temperature and altitude can influence how your cake will turn out. is the air too dry, or the water too hard, or the location of your oven 7000 feet above sea level? you might have to adjust your recipe accordingly to suit your environment, and add a little more of this or a little less of that or wait a little longer for the baking to finish.

and, most importantly, there’s you, the baker. what do you bring to the table? are you skilled? are you a novice? do you have any clue what you’re doing? are you enthusiastic? do you love baking? how many cakes have you baked before and how did they taste? do you follow recipes or wing it, and does it matter? are you patient enough to wait for the edges to get to be just the right shade of golden brown, and are you gentle when you take the soufflé out to put it on the counter? above all else, do you care about that cake you’re making?

so many variables.

so much that can go wrong.

so much that can seem daunting or scary or way too difficult.

so much to make you think, “it’ll be easier to do nothing and have pie instead.”

but...

such tremendous amounts of potential for great things if you just dive in anyway.

sure, you might have the wrong ingredients or an oven that won’t go above 350º, and you might not be able to follow a recipe to save your life, and you might be baking your thousandth cake or your first, but you’ll never know whether you can do it, or what kind of cake you'll get, if you never make the attempt.

maybe it won’t be graceful, and maybe your cake will be lopsided, and maybe you’ll make mistakes, and maybe you’ll have overdone the raspberry filling, but waiting for everything to be perfect might mean you wait forever, and that cake will always remain just a dream. remember: plenty of beginners turn out unexpectedly fabulous creations, and a slew of expert bakers still wind up with one confectionary disaster after another. there’s no way to tell how a cake will turn out unless you try. and you should try.

because when you try, you learn. and when you learn, you grow. and when you grow, your world opens up a little more... and so do you.

and even if you’ve already burned your way through a dozen misfires before, or you fear you’re never going to be able to bake a thing, who knows what wonderful creation will emerge if you simply believe in yourself, wrap your apron around your waist, mix your ingredients together, pour them into your dented bundt pan, slip it all into your oven and hope for the best.

it could be amazing.