Raspberry Chocolate Layer Cake

I’ll never forget the day I was in the store, at the deli, and someone from across the room shouted, “Hey – it’s the Cake Lady!”. I turned around because, while I was confused and taken aback, I somehow knew they were yelling for me. A woman I didn’t recognize approached with an enthusiastic excitement that made me step back into the deli case. I was pinned. She said, “You used to make those amazing cakes! Remember the one you made for Amy’s birthday party – the Black Forest Cake?! I still dream about that cake….” Her eyes glazed over as if she was recalling the flavor of rich Ganache gently melting in a pool of bing cherry cream. The mention of my friend Amy’s name jogged my memory, and I briefly recalled the Black Forest Cake, a birthday party eons ago, and the face of the woman vaguely came back to me.

We got to talking and it turns out she just loved that cake, and even recalled several others I had made over the years for various birthdays or holiday gatherings with friends. I was amazed at her detail in describing the assorted layers, fillings and frostings of each concoction, not to mention the decorating techniques I had used to make each cake unique.

I walked away from that experience realizing that food really touches people. It is a deep connection, for which our taste and experience provide a memory that lodges in our brains (or arteries for that matter) and cannot be forgotten. Although I can’t recall her name, or even half the cakes I’ve made in my day, I’m humbled to know that she is probably still dreaming about the one that made her remember me as the “Cake Lady”.