Baking A Cake = Living Life

The smell of a freshly-baked cake has brought a smile to my face for as long as I can remember. I started trying my hand at baking in my childhood itself but I didn’t crack the art & science till COVID made me stay home.

Earlier, I would dump all the ingredients together & mix them. Or use ingredients straight out of the refrigerator. Or over bake.

Then I would wonder why my cakes would turn out dry. As I slowed down & delved into baking, I recognized its therapeutic value.

While I baked, I felt immensely positive. As is my habit, I mulled over how baking a cake was similar to living a life.

Using Fresh Ingredients

In life, if we let stale memories & people remain, they eat away into us.

Mixing Dry & Wet Ingredients Separately

In life, we begin by thinking we can do & have it all. With experience, we realize we can’t & that we need to achieve a balance.

So, we start to compartmentalize our time. We stop making one priority consume the other.

Allowing Oven to Preheat

We often skip the preparation phase & jump right into execution. And that, at times, costs us dear! Nowadays, when I blog, I get my research, images, thoughts etc. in place & then begin to write.

But, of course, too much planning & too little execution are disastrous too!

Using Ingredients at Room Temperature

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt from life – Right Place & Right Time!!

Following Steps Sequentially

While baking a cake, it’s always tempting to take shortcuts. But the outcome then is less than desirous. So it is with life!

Letting Cake Rest in Pan

We’re so eager to reach the destination. So eager to see the result. Eager to upload about our victories on social media.

But we forget the grace we need to give ourselves & to our laurels!

Using Substitutes

I’ve always baked with eggs. But during COVID19, I baked egg-less cakes too & they came out better than I expected.

In life, there are always options. There’s always a Plan B. We just need to keep the faith!

Not Over-mixing Batter

We’ve begun to subject ourselves to ‘too much’. Too much work. Too much keeping up with the Joneses. Too much social media. Too much stimulation. Our bodies & minds are over-mixed & overheated.

Only when we mix the cake batter just as needed, do we get the perfect cake.

I’m not an expert of any kind but I do feel I’ve learnt a few things by experience & observation. One of these things is the ‘art of slowing down’.

All the people I know who have achieved some kind of slowing down are some of the most contented people around.

And if you need to learn the art of slowing down, go bake a cake!