Hey Baby Cakes

Ever since I was a child, I was introduced to cakes of one sort or another. As a toddler, I was taught to play patty-cakes with my mom, Sybil Beck and sometimes with my grandmother Rebecca Miner. I was small enough to be held on a lap and their hands cupped mine and I was taught to clap my hands together in the nursery rhyme, “Patt-a-cake, patt-a-cake, bakers man…”

I can remember coming inside our house after playing in the dirt and mud and hearing my mom yell, “Get back outside and clean off. You’re caked in mud.” This was okay with me because there was a small stream that flowed in our backyard. I could stay outside for a few minutes longer and play in the water.

Each year as I grew, my mom would bake the traditional birthday cake. My choice would often change from year to year, but my brother Ken always wanted angel food cake drizzled with chocolate glaze. My sister Kathy was either chocolate or vanilla.

There were always the paper muffin tin liners in case mom decided to whip up some cupcakes for lunches. But they rarely lasted long enough and were eaten quickly.

In the refrigerator were cakes of yeast for baking bread. Those cakes have now been replaced with foil envelopes of dried yeast. If the cakes of yeast were unattended for a bit, they would dry out and end up being flushed to help with the septic system.

I can remember the penetrating aroma of moth balls. At one time the crystals of naphthalene were compressed and shaped around a wire hanger. Te moth cake would hand in closets on the clothing rod to ward off moths. The smell was often strong enough to ward off vampires and evil spirits.

And who can forget the cakes of soap used to wash hands and to wash out mouths that said cuss words. In “The Christmas Story” the soap was Lifebuoy for Ralphie’s indiscretion.

Then there was the slang, “baby Cakes.” It was a term of endearment, letting someone know that you loved them and was used by a guy for his sweetheart.

My cakes today are limited to pancakes or buckwheat cakes and if I’m not too cheap maybe some crab cakes at a local restaurant. A few Christmases ago, I did get a really wonderful fruitcake from some friends in Texas. It was wonderful and filled with pecans. Hint, hint.