Over the years I have dutifully baked birthday cakes that usually come out flat and cupcakes for cake sales that usually taste of nothing.
But last weekend we were invited to a wedding ( I'm not really one for weddings either) and instead of a traditional wedding cake that most people don't eat, the bride and groom asked all their guests to bring a cake.
It was an inspired idea.
A Great Wedding Bake-off.
And we all rose to the challenge.
It's not just the baking, it's the time spent searching out the best recipe, the hours spent pouring over pictures to find the right decorations, the days spent deciding what shape it should be.
We even did an uncharacteristic and disastrous practice run, boiling rose petals, simmering cream.
" Tastes like grass and vegetables," said Mia, pulling a face.
And she was right, more like rabbit food than wedding fayre.
So we returned to the recipe books and started again.
The night before the wedding found us weighing and stirring and whisking and pouring.
And it was fun.
It made us feel as though we were part of the preparations for the big day.
As though by pouring our heart and soul into a cake, we could pour love and happiness into the marriage of our friends.
In the end we stopped trying to be clever and went for simple.
A rose-flavoured sponge ring covered in multi-coloured hundreds and thousands, the centre filled with a bunch of white roses and tiny edible roses circling the edge.
It wasn't sophisticated or perfect but it was so much better than anything Mia or I have ever baked before that we were bursting with creative pride.
The hardest thing was getting it to the wedding without dropping it.
But amazingly, we managed.
Breathing a sigh of relief, we handed it over to be added to the table, already groaning under the weight of mango pavlova, kitkat special, chocolate dream, butterscotch wonder, death-by-chocolate-brownies, flapjack royale, rainbow surprise and more sugar, icing and sweets than a dentist's worst nightmare.
When all the first and main courses had been eaten, when all the loving speeches had been made and the embarrassing stories shared, it was time for the cake eating to begin.
And we guests took our task seriously, piling plates with as many cakes as possible, sharing on tables so that nothing went untasted.
By the end of the evening, just the thought of cake was turning us all green.
And our creation didn't win.
The engraved cut-glass plate for the best tasting cake went to the mango pavlova and the plate for the bride and groom's favourite went to our neighbour, Gill, for her chocolate and flower covered letters C and D ( Caroline and Dez- the bride and groom ).
And when the dancing was over and the happy couple well and truly married, we climbed into a taxi home.
Sitting in the back, Gill clutched her plate close to her heart.
" I never thought I'd win," she sighed.
I looked at Mia and smiled
Because the best thing about this Great Wedding Bake Off is that the right person won.
And anti-weddinger though I am, it truly was a beautiful day, full of love and happiness and warmth and joy.... and a tableful of colourful cakes and delicious dreams.
So Caroline and Dez, may your life together be full of love and laughter and lots and lots of chocolate cake.
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