Ms. Dorothea Blooms' Plain Cake!

watercolor by ana traina

Ms. Dorothea Blooms never made it to Lady Flora Bedds’ last Sunday because when she crossed the valley on her way to the infamous garden tea party, she came upon an interesting Dahlia, known as Tenjikubotan (天竺牡丹).  After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Ms. Dorothea Blooms was surprised to learn that Tenji-kubo-tan, literally means “Peony of India.”  They became fast friends, whittling away the hours with such stirring conversation on important topics like; petal philosophy, turkish coffee and some recipes they had newly discovered.  Moreover, they mainly spoke about how much they liked Plain Cake.  However, they both had to agree just how plain, Plain Cake can be!  

Ms. Dorothea Blooms was delighted when the Dahlia let slip the most secret of secret recipes from the Cakeafairian’s Society most sought after cake cookbook.  With her ears perked, she listened extra carefully as the Dahlia spoke, making a mental note of all the modest ingredients for --

"VERY PLAIN CAKE!”

4 tablespoons or 1/2 stick of butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, separated

1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

1 1/2 cups of sifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup of milk

baking tin, 8 inches x 1 1/4 inches, lightly greased and dusted with flour

“Now you must remember to heat the oven to 325 degrees,” the Dahlia warned, “as a cold oven simply won’t do!” She then went on to say, “In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, making sure there is not a lump in sight, till its light and creamy.  Adding the sugar ever so gradually while mixing is the thing to do. Then beat it hard. Now, it’s time to whip the egg yolk and vanilla extract in. Oh, and please don’t forget to sift the flour, baking powder, and salt all together, they especially like that.  You may gently stir into mix a little flour and then some milk, now again beating very hard after each additional ingredient.  Take time to whip the tricky egg white till it will hold a stiff peak when the beater is lifted from the bowl.  Folding the beaten egg white into the batter is very important, and it must be done lightly and thoroughly.  Now, let the spooning begin! Carefully splash the batter into a prepared cake tin! Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and dry.”  The Dahlia went silent and pale before adding the most secret ingredient of them all, “A sprig of Thyme placed upon the top, makes the very plainest, Plain Cake of them all.

...and lastly they spoke on the etiquette of flowers.  However, Ms. Dorothea Blooms was so brimming with inspiration she could hardly wait to write it all down, so with a curt, “ta-ta-ta,” she spun right around on her tippy-toes, headed home, and forgot all about Lady Flora Bedds’ garden tea party.  Which later that evening she completely regretted, when Lady Flora Bedds telephoned, to scold and remind her that she was the one who responsible for bringing the rose hips for the tea.  Before Ms. Dorothea Blooms could utter a sound, Lady Flora Bedds promptly hung up the phone with a pound!

Stunned for a moment but quick on her feet, she thought, “Surly, Lady Flora Bedds will forgive me if I bake her a cake!”  So Guiltily Ms. Dorothea Blooms baked, all through the night, Plain Cake after Plain Cake, till she simply got it, right.  But just as she was leaving her home on that windy Monday morn, she bumped straight into Nastia Grooper who told her all about Mademoiselle Amelia’s misfortune, how she became so daffodilly- silly and upsidedownia when trying to remember Mr. Lear’s tutelage of the nonsense botany... “was it howlia barkaloudia or barkia howlaloudia... and was it tinkelia jingettlia or jinglia tinkettlia,” that she completely forgot to take care when applying her lip-shade.  Ms. Dorothea Blooms was so distress for her shy friend Mademoiselle Amelia that without even a ta-ta-ta, she spun about on her tippy-toes, headed back inside her house and sat for a very long time thinking on the Dahlia helpful hints on floral etiquette before deciding to write a book...

To be continued!