My mom was a most excellent baker. Her pies always had wonderful flaky, golden,
tender crusts; her breads were never heavy; pastries a heavenly confection.
Pudy’s cakes never failed to be moist, light and melt in your mouth. All that is, with one exception, our birthday
cakes! For some reason, she seemed to
have problems in that area, try as she may, Judy simply put, had the Curse of
Flop.
One year, my younger sister asked
for an Angel Food cake. Now any baker
knows this is one difficult task, as it really does take great skill to do
without having them collapse into a heavy pile.
My mom had it mastered they were always perfect, however with the
Birthday curse in force… Pudy started
baking early in the morning. The first
cake came out of the oven with a lovely gilded dome. It was flawless… Half an hour later there was a most dreadful
sound, that of a cake fallen out of a pan inverted over the requisite pop
bottle. It was a flop. Disappointed but not surprised, mother began
the ritual again. Thrice, the results
were the same as above. Out of patience,
time and eggs, mom gave up. Accompanied
by the traditional song, my sister was presented with a beautiful and delightful
Strawberry Banana Jello, Angel Cake, and cool whip dessert, candles and all!
German Chocolate was the choice of
one year for my older sister. Experience
and the host of anticipated guests had Judy up bright and early once again. It really is incredible how such a gorgeous well
risen sweet can sink to within a half inch in the center. Saddened but not flabbergasted, again she
began the task of love. Thrice more the creations
suffered dessert devastation. With New
Year’s Eve football reverberating in the background, off key voices raised in
celebration in the foreground, my sister was delivered an astonishing Stadium
cake complete with green dyed coconut icing field, and miniature people in the
stands!
The Lemon Pound cake she baked for
me for my 39th birthday was the most memorable. It was a tangy culinary creation, the epitome
of perfection. If you are thinking that mom had somehow beaten the Curse of
Flop, you would be mistaken. Indeed,
there was a most prevalent canyon running around the top of the ring cake. What makes this cake so special is that it
was the last Birthday Cake Judy Pudy ever baked. My mom had developed a vigorously invasive
form of cancer and we lost her the following April, however, I can still feel
the love that she baked in every one of the victims of the Curse of Flop.
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