How To Make a Cake

This last week has been a crazy one.

A good friend’s mom is in the hospital after 2 heart attacks. Another friend has just had surgery to remove a cancerous brain tumor, and another has said the final goodbye to her mom as Jesus took her home in her daughter’s arms.

For me, grieving and baking are intertwined, so I thought I would share one of my favorite recipes for chocolate cake (with no cholesterol I might add!), and some of the steps I’ve learned in the grieving process.

1. Grieving is ok, it is not a dumb, weak or selfish thing to do.
2. Crying is ok.
3. Figure out how you let your stress and grief out, and allow yourself time to do it.
4. Find someone you can talk with about your grief, whether a good friend or a counselor. Sometimes it’s necessary to talk with someone outside of the situation, as they can have insights into things you would never see.
5. Remember, grieving takes time, don’t expect to just “OK” a few days, or a month, or even a year or years.
6. Most importantly, spend time with Jesus. Pray openly and honestly. Read your Bible, as cliché as that sounds. If it’s too much to read, ask someone to read to you.

I really wanted to try and intertwine cake and grief, but it just didn’t work in words. I will say this though, as I’m typing, a low-fat chocolate cake sits on the table next to me.

Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/3 cup Hershey’s cocoa
6 tablespoons extra-light corn oil spread
1 cup Skim milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 8-inch round pans with cooking spray. In bowl, stir flour, cocoa and baking soda. In saucepan, melt corn oil spread; stir in sugar. Remove from heat. Add milk, vinegar and vanilla to mixture in saucepan, stir. Add dry ingredients, whisk until well blended. Pour evenly into pans. Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted comes out clean. Cool.