Happy Birthday, Lovely Man

(5/10) The Stinky is taking a break from being a rockstar on the East coast and today is his birthday. I'll be picking him up from the airport later tonight and I thought I'd surprise him with a little birthday cake.

May 10, 2007
Name of cake: Stinky's Birthday Cakeys
Occasion: Stinky Is Coming To See Me In The Middle Of The Night Again
Constituents: RLB's Chocolate Bread

He likes his cakes to be loaf-like, dense, and sneakily healthy. He likes things like zucchini bread and carrot cake. I am making him RLB's chocolate bread with whole wheat pastry flour and golden baker's sugar, and let me tell you the batter smelled AWESOME--like vanilla, deep chocolate, and the flowery molasses smell that only golden baker's sugar gives.

I made this cake once before for the Stinky, but that time my WWPF was rancid. I now keep my WWPF in the freezer.

I decided to bake up the chocolate bread in the flower cakelette pan Cookie gave me for Christmas many years ago. I have a fantasy of bringing a little cakelette to the airport with a little candle, and when he comes out of the security area he can see me, looking all fabulous and sweet holding a little chocolate cake with a lighted candle waiting to greet him. Nice fantasy, huh?

We haven't seen each other since October; this past winter has been quite a rollercoaster of emotions: confusion, longing, anger, lonliness, love and pain. In a nutshell. But we can't seem to shake each other, for what it's worth, and we are looking forward to seeing each other and spending some time together.

The cake mixed up fine, with no real problems. Well, the butter got a little melty instead of soft--it was sitting on top of the warm stove--but it wasn't too bad and I wasn't worried. The batter was lovely, as I have mentioned, and I ate about 1/2 a cup of it while the cakelettes baked.

I didn't set the timer--no idea why--so I just wandered over there when I could start to smell them. They weren't quite done yet, so I came back in a little bit and they were overdone a bit. Not too bad though, I wasn't worried, but as they cooled the middles sunk! Say what?

I have no idea why. The baking powder is a month old, the ingredients were at room temperature, the oven temperature is fairly accurate. WWPF has never affected a cake I've baked like this. Golden Baker's Sugar has never made a cake fall.

My roommate looked at them and she said, "I would think they were gluten-free!"

But they're not! What happened?

I guess I'll have to eat one before I go to the airport tonight.

(5/12) I did eat one, and they were a little dense and undercooked in the middle. Maybe the oven temperature was too high and I didn't notice...they still tasted awesome.

I didn't bring a cakelette into the airport with me, but I did have it waiting in the car with a candle and a match. We didn't light it then, actually, we didn't light it until we got to Olympia on Friday evening. Then, with his two best friends, we lit his birthday cakelette and sang him Happy Birthday.

It is wonderful to see him. I can tell he's different somehow--he summed it up by exclaiming as we drove through downtown Olmypia--"Nothing's really changed--I recognise all these people! It's only been 6 months but I feel like I've lived two years in that time." Its true--it shows in his face, his demeanor, and his energy. However we fell into each other like no time had passed, and it is good. It feels right. It feels like, in a way, all the puzzle pieces are put back in the puzzle again and the picture is complete.

Happy birthday, Stinky Monkeypuzzle. May this birthday year be filled with love, music, and new adventures.