There are some things children inherit that surprise you, and some that make complete sense. My daughter’s love of cake falls firmly into the second category.
I love cakes. Proper cakes. The soft, spongy kind that somehow make an ordinary afternoon feel like an event. My favourites are Victoria sponge and lemon cake. There is something about a light sponge with cream and jam or a bright lemony slice with tea that feels comforting in a very specific way. Chocolate cake is respectable and I’ll happily eat it, but if a fluffy sponge is sitting beside it, the sponge wins every time.
Apparently, humans have loved cake for a very long time. Ancient Egyptians are thought to have made some of the earliest sweet baked creations after discovering techniques for bread-making. They were more like sweetened breads than birthday cakes as we know them today. Over centuries, cakes slowly evolved through honey, fruits, butter, sugar, and all sorts of experimentation until someone, somewhere, eventually thought: what if we made this softer, lighter, fluffier?
To that person, wherever they are in history, thank you. And I suspect my daughter would agree.
I also like imagining the first person to accidentally create a sponge cake. Maybe they whisked too much, added the wrong amount of something, and discovered pure joy by mistake.
Some inventions change the world. Some just make tea time better. And long night shifts are duly rewarded with a yummy cake!
What cake could you never say no to?