Posted by Julie Miller, July 10, 2009 in Entertaining
Lemon Layered Tea Cake and Chocolate Tea Cakeat the home of Houston's legendary party planner Jackson Hicksphotographed by Shelly Strazis
Here in our offices we take the opportunity to gather around a cake as often as we can. We nominate our cake slicers like we choose our hair stylists— only those with a confident hand and a certain discretion will do. But once the cake knife is raised, I can't help but remember a wedding long ago when a friend returned from the cake table with a hefty half-pound wedge—with his eyes on the prize and two hands on the plate to steady it. It was a clumsy but ever-so-generous slice. Always makes me giggle.
Actress Clara Bow and cake
courtesy of Life.com
Perfectly beautiful or messily askew... I have to wonder if there's a way to spoil a lovingly offered cake, by its very nature a sweet gift? The same friend who dragged back that lumbering mass of white icing years ago also happens to be someone who bakes a cake from scratch each year for his stepchildren, going so far as to send them by FedEx now that they're grown. I doubt they arrive intact, but I'm sure they mean all the more for it.
I wish I had photos of some of the more surprising cakes from our office celebrations (a particularly outrageous summer-themed green one comes to mind...), but alas, we always destroy the evidence before a camera can be found. This week we celebrated Alison, and the pretty double chocolate confection was doled out in expert slices by Dawn, who first cut down the center and then made neat little parallel cuts. Like a wedding cake, not like a pizza.
Were I in a baking mood, I'd love to make this coconut cake. My grandmother made the best, though, and she herself would always have just "a tiny sliver."
