“A major cause of mankind’s problems began 75 million years ago,” the Times wrote, when the planet Earth, then called Teegeeack, was part of a confederation of ninety planets under the leadership of a despotic ruler named Xenu. “Then, as now, the materials state, the chief problem was overpopulation.” Xenu decided “to take radical measures.” The documents explained that surplus beings were transported to volcanoes on Earth. “The documents state that H-bombs far more powerful than any in existence today were dropped on these volcanoes, destroying the people but freeing their spirits—called thetans—which attached themselves to one another in clusters.” Those spirits were “trapped in a compound of frozen alcohol and glycol,” then “implanted” with “the seed of aberrant behavior.” The Times account concluded, “When people die, these clusters attach to other humans and keep perpetuating themselves.”

I especially enjoyed the description of Paul Haggis’s reaction when he was finally allowed to read this secret text:

Carrying an empty, locked briefcase, Haggis went to the Advanced Organization building in Los Angeles, where the material was held. A supervisor then handed him a folder, which Haggis put in the briefcase. He entered a study room, where he finally got to examine the secret document—a couple of pages, in Hubbard’s bold scrawl. After a few minutes, he returned to the supervisor.

“I don’t understand,” Haggis said.

“Do you know the words?” the supervisor asked.

“I know the words, I just don’t understand.”

“Go back and read it again,” the supervisor suggested.

Haggis did so. In a moment, he returned. “Is this a metaphor?” he asked the supervisor.

“No,” the supervisor responded. “It is what it is. Do the actions that are required.”

Maybe it’s an insanity test, Haggis thought—if you believe it, you’re automatically kicked out. “I sat with that for a while,” he says. But when he read it again he decided, “This is madness.”

Real talk.

Speaking of madness, I have eaten cupcakes two days in a row at work and I can tell that they were made from a mix and you know what? I don’t care. I am saying it right here, right now, sometimes canned frosting is delicious. Praise Xenu!

Emily Gould is perhaps best known for her notorious New York Times Magazine piece on blogging for Gawker and going through an epic breakup. Her story received 1216 comments, most of them indignant. Gould now hosts a cooking/book show (she interviews authors and they make a dish together). What a great concept! You know, I like Gould’s honesty about life. I like the questions she has for the authors. Maybe I’ll read her book And the Heart Says Whatever sometime. Whatever.

Here is Jennifer Egan making macaroons with Emily Gould. I’ve never made macaroons but now I’m tempted to try.

Source

King Cake

I baked this cake for a book group. They were reading A Lesson Before Dying. A king cake is meant to have a little baby Jesus figurine in it, but I chose to use an orange wedge instead. No choking!

This was a chocolate cake for a group of soccer-playing children and their parents.

This was a birthday cake I whipped up for my sister-in-law’s birthday. No frills or borders, but I sort of like this one best out of anything I’ve made.

This was a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting and tiny flowers (for an Easter celebration).

A cake for a poet and her philosophy grad student friends. View from the top:

Heh.

A mocha cake for Mother’s Day.

A chocolate cake with chocolate shavings. Honestly, I don’t even remember making this cake. I hope it was tasty!

Certainly, the best part of the last year has been watching my daughter grow. Here she is with her two great grandmothers, playing with a cake ring toy from my dear friend:

And so I will try and blog more, with updates of anything interesting I have baked, books I have read, places I have traveled… you get the picture.

xx

Q: What is better than a freshly baked cookie and a glass of milk?

A: Nothing.

Here are the current batches available:

Chocolate Chip

Ginger-Molasses

Champagne

Cake

Melodrama

And so what could be better than scarfing down a champagne cake while watching the Oscars telecast?

This was a fun cake to make. With six egg whites and cup of champagne, it came out fluffy and very nearly fizzy. I topped it with buttercream frosting with a daffodil detail (spring is just about here).

I wanted Meryl Streep to win the Oscar, but other than that, the night was delicious!

I thought the finished product looked fine, but was nervous about how it would taste, as I am with any new cake that I make. Here is the email I received from the customer the next day:

Hi Molly
Well here is the deal on the cake. The cake was moist and the texture was excellent, the icing was just perfect.  l could not ask for a better cake, so thanks for an excellent job.
Dave

I am only slightly embarrassed to admit that this email made me jump up and down and clap my hands.

A birthday cake (vanilla cake with chocolate frosting):

And a chocolate cake with buttercream frosting and strawberries:

By the end, I was pretty tired (and covered in confectioner’s sugar):

And Beatrix had mastered her jumpy seat:

Image

I was talking to a friend today about cakes and childhood. She said that she started baking cakes when she was a young girl. One of her favorite literary heroines—Harriet the Spy—ate cake every day. My friend’s parents did not bake, and so she taught herself how to make her own cakes. I like to imagine her tiny self standing on a stool stirring a giant bowl of batter.

Here is Harriet the Spy walking home to eat her cake and milk:

I remember my mother reading Little Women aloud to me when I was about eight or nine. Throughout the book the girls ate stale cakes, cold cakes, and finally toward the end, a cake with pink and white ice cream, fruit, and “distracting French bonbons.”

I became a serious devotee of the 1994 film version of Little Women (let’s just say I was a slightly nerdy teenager) . The scene where Meg and Jo bicker about Meg’s engagement, all while Meg makes a Christmas cake, has always stayed with me.

Here it is (skip to 7:15 and watch until 8:20):

I love how the cake is the nucleus in this scene, holding the family together. I remember watching Meg dusting sugar, making a simple cake suddenly beautiful, and I thought, “I want to do that.”

What cakes do you remember from childhood books and films?

This has been the snowiest winter on record in Charlottesville. I’m starting to see little tufts of green grass through the snow and envisioning walks that Beatrix and I will be able to go on . . . someday.

This weekend I made a birthday cake for a friend and decorated it with sugared violets. They looked hopeful on top of the frosting. And they taste the way the color violet should taste—like spring.

To order a cake, please see my “Ordering Info” page.