birthday cake from the past
1. Open first cookbook, entitled, “Baking,” and search for chocolate cake recipe.
2. Realize that there is not, in fact, any specific recipe for chocolate cake — there are, however, 15 recipes related to chocolate cake as a topographal category: flourless chocolate cake, chocolate mousse cake, sour cherry chocolate cake, hazelnut chocolate torte, chocolate and ice box cake . . . . Quit reading and try to remember what the original idea was again.
3. Read through four more cookbooks, not finding a cake recipe worth making.
4. Pull out the Fine Cooking Chocolate magazine special and identify the recipe to attempt today. Sigh with relief until discovering there are 14,836 steps to creating said cake. Go for it anyway, since it’s the best bet.
5. Push self on office chair over to pantry and reach up to acquire 16-pound container of flour. Sift 3 cups into bowl and add other dry ingredients.
6. Make wet chocolate mixture, spilling some on container of homemade pasta, and realizing that it is out of reach, choose to leave it there, because at least it smells nice.
7. Whip butter and sugar together in mixer, becoming quickly aware that there is something already in the bowl. Turn off mixer, look in bowl and see small pieces of homemade pasta. Curse out loud that now you need more room temperature butter.
8. Spill some of butter-sugar mixture on on boxer shorts, which are the fashion around the house these days. Admire how the boxer short ribbing nicely holds things like flour, sugar, and butter.
9. Re-mix, in clean bowl, more butter and sugar, and add flour and wet mixture to bowl. Slop wet mixture up onto the kitchen ceiling, 8 feet above and understand that from a seated position, getting it off the ceiling is next to impossible. Continue with cake baking.
10. Curse again as it is evidenced that there is no parchment or wax paper. Grease and flour all three cake pans, crossing fingers that the cakes will come out of them after baking.
11. Get cakes in oven and then crutch over to couch to rest while they fuse to the cake pans.
12. Hear alarm go off much earlier than reconstructed knee would like, and take cakes out to cool.
13. Carefully take out one cake, grumbling at the one spot that has glued itself to the pan.
14. Repeat Step 13 twice more.
15. Grind up 6 ounces of chocolate in food processor and become dimly aware that it is not actually plugged into the wall. Take stock that said wall is at least one foot beyond reach from seated position in office chair.
16. Melt 6 ounces of unground chocolate on stove top in double boiler, being able to see only 2 square inches of the pan surface. Stir constantly, assuming the rest of the pan surface looks like the part that is viewable, making assumptions based on sampling size and overall population.
17. Watch as stirring arm falls off body. Consider cost to benefit ratio of having surgery again, this time to replace arm.
18. Mix melted chocolate into other ingredients for frosting and whip with mixer.
19. Layer crumbly cake layers with frosting, teetering one-of-a-kind and irreplaceable cake stand on thigh. Watch as cake slides off cake stand onto floor.
20. Kidding. Finish crumb layer and put cake into fridge for quick cool down before the cake target comes home from work.
21. Remove cake from fridge and finish frosting. Crutch back to couch and thank reconstructed knee for cooperating.
22. Nap.
Trans/plant/portation 
Awh- I felt like I was there – very clear, concise steps. Maybe you should publish a cookbook with recipes achieved from a sitting position. Which of the Kitchen Aid Artisan duo gets a twirl on such an occasion? Do you have rules and guidelines – Betty for breads – Purpley (?) for desserts? I don’t think I got their names right. Forgive me. Eat Cake.
Cake target?
“Cake target,” as in the one for whom the cake is being prepared.
Ah, my interpretation was so much more entertaining.
I would never, never, throw a cake at Susanne if I wanted to live in the next minute.