....MORE SONGS ABOUT BUILDINGS AND FOOD.........

  ......" the discipline of Architecture is a minor branch of cake decoration  "........Bertold Lubetkin, on receiving a gold medal from the RIBA.........

.......A most excellent quotation, I thought , to introduce the current posting and the question of ' The Cake ' . My mother's ninetieth birthday looms, and given that the family are all getting together , a cake was required . Your standard ' Happy Birthday / Candles / Ribbon ' affair just wouldn't cut it - something special is required here , so lets see ........construction - fruit cake or sponge ? hhhmmm , opinion seems divided ...........and what should it look like ? what are her interests ?............well , she has always enjoyed walking. Ok, then , a fruit / sponge cake with a walking theme...............

...........and here it is , courtesy of Kirsty at the Sweetie Pie Bakery in Macclesfield - a most excellent cake that should taste as good as it looks . Kirsty has made over five hundred cakes since she started up three years ago and is now in the nice position to be able to turn away work she doesn't like - specifically wedding cakes , which she finds too stressful and don't give her the room to relax, create and enjoy.

This posting is not just about cakes - it's about the return to hand made / hand crafted products that through the interaction of eye and hand result in a degree of satisfaction for the creator that is not achievable through sitting at a keyboard. Designing via a computer interface is all well and good , but to me it's a bit like doing all your cooking via a microwave; it will produce what is required but hardly provides the same sense of physical well being that actually making something with your hands does. We are increasingly insulated from the physical earth beneath us by rubber tyres , rubber soles - we are becoming increasingly insulated from the physical process of creation via the increasing capabilities of the electronic world and the keyboard .

Sorry - rant over.....................and the cake did taste as good as it looked..........wonder if she can do a cake in the shape of a drawing board for my next birthday ....!