The existence of a celebration cake represents an event to be celebrated, but the way in which it is decorated can symbolise something quite specific about that event.
A few weeks ago, myself and a friend–also a keen cook–had the privilege of being asked if we would make the celebration cake for the 100th birthday of a local church community’s gathering place. A wee bit of self-imposed pressure to do it well was amplified by just a wee bit of added pressure on being informed the State Premier would be cutting it in the afternoon tea ceremony…

Creative juices got going about type and flavour, shape and symbolic design and decoration. We wanted to not only make a practical cake that was easy to transport and cut, but also a cake with a difference and decorated with something that spoke of the particular community. Jesus and caring relationships immediately came to mind. Hmm..building blocks, links, people…

Strong foundations, a unique identity, and an emphasis on serving and caring community based in Jesus love finally led to the decision of a ginger cake with a lemon butter cream frosting and decorated with biscuits shaped like hands touching in a circle around the cake, reaching out to be “as Jesus” to others. The practice cakes that both of us cooked were delicious and stayed moist for days. The first batch of hands I made were a fail as the mixture, although tasty, was uneven in the pan and led to uneven shapes. I made another batch of gingerbread that was tasty, not crisp, that cut well and smoothly. Orange butter fondant was cut into hand shapes and stuck on the ginger breads with soft ginger marmalade.

The cake was made in the end by my friend with my tweaked David Lebovitz recipe, and I was more free to cook the desserts for another church function that weekend as well. That may be another post.  We started to ice and decorate it the day before, and finished it on the day of the afternoon tea celebration.
To our sincere relief it looked and tasted great. Sugar and spice. And celebrating with people–all things nice.
People got the symbolism–of a serving community built in the love of Jesus, the servant King who reached His hands out for us.

Ginger Cake

Ing:
115g glace ginger
2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated.
1 cup golden syrup
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 or 3 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 cup water
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 large eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest
Method:
Pre heat oven to 175°  Celsius
Grease and line a 23cm cake pan.
Chop gingers finely.Set aside.
In a large bowl, mix syrup, sugar and oil.
In another bowl mix flour, cinnamon, cloves, ginger powder and lemon zest.
Boil the 1 cup of water, stir in soda. Whisk this into syrup mixture. Add the chopped ginger.
Gradually sift flour mix over syrup mix, whisking to combine.
Add eggs and mix thoroughly.
Pour into prepared tin and bake in oven about 1 hr or until cake springs back when lightly pressed with your finger.
Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan.