The Cure, by Ginger Andrews

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I’m not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she’s just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it’s snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn’t been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She’s been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn’t do it, put on a red dress.

Greased pan, dusted with cocoa powder (so my chocolate cake wont be covered in flour)

Trusty flying fish whisk

Still in my gym clothes, getting ready to have cake (and ice cream!) for dinner.

This was my first successful bundt cake. I tried making an apple cider cake last year, and didn’t grease the pan well enough. I had to dig it out and destroyed it. This time, I flipped over the pan, and when my cake didn’t fall right out my heart sunk a little, but then I loosened the edges with a tiny spatula, and tried again. Success! This recipe was from Joy the Baker. I like her writing style. She talks all about how she gets the Sunday Panics, which sound a lot like the mulleygrubs to me. I read that poem in a collection of poetry called Good Poems for Hard Times, gathered together by Garrison Keillor, and it really resonated with me. Because I get those. Sort of often. And getting up always helps. 

One thing I forgot to do was put chocolate chips in my cake batter, which was sad because I walked to the grocery store specifically for them before I started baking. Afterwards it was less sad, because I used them to make the chocolate ganache from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I added almond extract and coffee extract to the ganache, and poured it all over my cake. I had some leftover and didn’t know what to do with such a small amount, but Austin suggested I mix it with peanut butter and put it on toast or bagels. My boyfriend is a smart guy.

2 more finals to go, one down, and I’m meeting up with friends to study in a few hours. As for now, I’m going to have a slice of cake.