"Piece of Cake" (WWI-Era), August 6, 2020 Birthday Gift to scfrankles

[gardnerhill]

Title: Piece of Cake
Author: gardnerhill
Form/Wordcount: 221b
Characters/Pairings: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Rating: G
Warnings/Content: G
Summary: Birthdays are better with cake.
Author’s Notes: For the August 6, 2020 birthday of Holmes Minor's esteemed helmsmaiden scfrankles. Many Happy Returns!
Author's Further Note: This story takes place in my Holmes Minor 2020 Monthly Prompt series, all dealing with Watson's return to Sussex after he is blinded in the war.



Of the two of us Holmes always had been the better cook, his lifetime of training in inedible chemistry having made him expert at kitchen craft. Now I was permanently relegated to cook's helper, as so much of cooking is visual: "It wouldn't do for me to measure out three perfect cups of washing powder instead of flour by mistake."

But there was nothing wrong with my arms, and I was happy to help my spouse by whipping the egg whites and then carefully folding them into the rest of the batter in the second bowl. Even in this raw state I could smell vanilla, honey, a whisper of cinnamon in the mix. The pans were ready, already perfectly buttered and papered by me.

The icing followed in the same way; Sherlock measured and I mixed. Judging the amount of icing by the feel against the spoon, I smoothed it over one layer and then the second, settled atop. I knew it must look something like a child's mud-pie, but we didn't care.

Our honey cake was delicious, and graced our teatime that day. I could taste where there was too much icing here and not enough there, a few spots where beaten egg-white was imperfectly blended. We laughed, and Sherlock agreed when I said, "The next one will be better."

Comments

[scfrankles]

This is delicious in all senses - I can almost taste the cake ^_____^ And of course they would have a honey cake! Thank you so much for this - it was so kind of you to think of me ^___^

It was such a touching theme that things don't always have to be perfect to be good and enjoyable, and I love that you ended on such an optimistic "b" word ^____^

[gardnerhill]

Thanks. I got hungry for honey cake myself, writing this! And if these two are making cakes, they may be in Sussex but they still clearly live on a baker's street.

I love to cook, and I call the kitchen "the laboratory where you eat your mistakes." Even a lopsided, lumpy-iced homemade cake tastes better than a store-bought one.

I like the idea of Watson getting a feel for what he can and can't do in the kitchen. (And Holmes just might start putting Braille labels on all the canisters - FLOUR, SUGAR, SALT, etc. - so Watson can expand his abilities.)

[debriswoman]

Nicely done:-)

[gardnerhill]

Thanks. Only trouble is now I want a piece of that honey cake.