Brittany’s Baking Stories: Inner Child

January – (Not an) Easy Bake Cake with Raspberry Glaze

Page from the Black Girl Baking Cookbook by Jerrelle Guy with the quote "To every black girl who creates her own power in her own way"
Page from the Black Girl Baking Cookbook by Jerrelle Guy

Like some many young ladies (myself included), Jerelle got an Easy Bake oven when she was a kid. And she was inspired to make a bigger and better tasting version of the Easy Bake chocolate cake with sprinkles. I remember it tasting pretty good, but I’m sure her version of the cake will still be better. I picked this recipe to kick off the series because of the nostalgia. It was so fun mixing up the little Easy Bake cake and I wanted to bring that same energy into a bigger, better cake.

Since baking is so precise and I’m a recovering perfectionist, I had to remind myself to have fun. I gathered all of the ingredients so I could have everything in arms reach. I preheated the oven and tried to relax my way into it. I was thinking about how this is one of the fun parts of being an adult: baking a cake in the middle of the day. My ten-year-old self would be delighted. In the past, I’ve tried to avoid the “what would ten-year-old you think of you today” prompt because being a single mom and a web designer with no published books wasn’t the plan. But I think 10-year-old me would think I’m brave. And that even though I’m old (I’m only 30, but ten-year-old me considered that old), I could still write a book. She would also like my blog and that I got into web design.

Wet chocolate cake mix
Before the oven
Baked chocolate cake in the pan with parchment paper underneath
After the oven

All these lovely cracks mean my oven was too hot. Perhaps I’ll get an oven thermometer after all. I tried to flip the cake to ice the bottom per Jerrelle’s instructions, but it cracked in half so I left it. 

Fresh raspberries in a pot
Fresh raspberries
Fresh raspberries, cane sugar, and lemon zest
Fresh raspberries, cane sugar, lemon zest

I’m not entirely new to mixing cakes and baking them, but this whole glaze thing? A tiny bit of a struggle. Boiling down the raspberries was simple, but straining the berries was not. 

Cooked down raspberries
Cooked down raspberries

I had to strain these cooked down raspberries and I probably needed a sieve instead of a strainer because I believe the sieve’s holes are bigger. It would have been easier to get the jam-like stuff out. I manage to squeeze enough jam after accidentally just squeezing out the juice. I mixed confectioner’s sugar with it and tada – glaze. 

Pink raspberry glaze in orange bowl
Raspberry glaze in an orange bowl

It’s hard to tell in the bowl, but it’s actually pink. 

Chocolate cake with pink raspberry glaze

See? 

Chocolate cake with pink raspberry glaze and rainbow colored star shaped sprinkles

That this was the final product. I think I should have cut a circle out of my parchment paper and let the oil do its thing to slide the cake out. 

But the most important thing was that it was pretty darn good. 

How can I tie this back to writing? Trying to be a perfectionist and craft the perfect story in one sitting takes all the fun out of writing. You just have to make sure you have enough information to start the story and go with it. Worrying about grammar and if the dialogue is flowing will kill the mood. Just write! Like I just needed to start baking instead of trying to perfectly time everything so that as soon as the oven preheated the cake would go in (I mean, that’s probably what needed to happen, but we live and learn). Because while I was trying to perfectly time everything, I wasn’t actually doing anything. Sometimes you just have to start and go with the flow.

If you want to make this cake, get Jerrelle’s book, Black Girl Baking. I’ll only be sharing recipes that she has already published online.

Let me know what you think about my cake and if you’re thinking about trying this recipe.

Happy baking and happy writing!

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