The Bush Family Birthday Cake Curse

While much of Cursed! is drawn from my family life, I have said we’ve never been cursed. This, I now remember, is not true. I grew up in a family unable to make birthday cakes that both looked and tasted good.

We had many attempts – chocolate cakes that collapsed into ruin but were delicious, a purchased cake that looked beautiful but tasted like sawdust.

When I had kids, the curse continued. Somehow, I managed to convince my husband I shouldn’t ever bake birthday cakes, and he and the kids took on the task. With little kids decorating, there’s no pressure for perfection.

Today, I forgot the curse and baked a cake – an old recipe for butter cake with saskatoon berries we froze this summer. It’s delicious, straight out of the pan, no icing. Perhaps that’s the key – focus on flavour, don’t worry about anything else. And don’t, ever, think of it as a birthday cake.

Maureen