When Life give you Lemons, Make Lemon Cake

It's been awhile since I added something here. It wasn't merely from lack of inspiration but something that does resemble a recipe: take one part of feeling-like-I-have-nothing-good-to-write-about, a spoonful of it's-more-fun-to-browse-through-Facebook, a heaping cup of having-a-new-puppy-to-housebreak (not having a lot of success there by the way), and a good measure of what's-good-on-TV-right-now. Combine all ingredients, let the mixture sit and steep and before you know it, a couple of months have gone by.

Anyway...

I have been itching to make a cake for some time now and finally I got around to doing it. A friend's Facebook post (yes that's right you can also get inspiration from it!) gave me the needed push and the extra willpower to quiet down that teeny voice inside that says cake goes straight to the hips. I've been having visions of making an ooey-gooey chocolate cake, a scrumptious ube cake or a moist carrot cake laden with plump raisins. Actually I did try to make the carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Easter but I miscalculated the baking time as well as the cooling time before I put on the frosting. The result was an overdone carrot cake with sloppy cream cheese frosting sliding down the sides. I dumped the evidence before the Easter Bunny came to take away all my chocolates for ruining his special day.

My friend mentioned this simply decadent caramel cake from a bakeshop in Manila and yes, that alone gave me drool-worthy visions of a heavenly dessert. Funny how food has the ability to do that. It can transport you through time and space, instantly connect you with the people who have shared it with you one way or another, and yes, even give you that needed stimulus to create something (at least in my case).  And when all else fails, good food (making it, eating it or sharing it) does have the ability to soothe and comfort one's soul.

I'd like to say that this is a creation of a sweet genius but it isn't. More like a simple homage to some simply awesome things in life: Spring, lemons, sugar, butter, vanilla. And yes, good friends and good life.

Whoever said it got it all wrong. Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.