Let them eat cake and learn from mistakes

A friend of mine came over yesterday for gossip and chocolate cake. As I served her a piece of my devil’s food chocolate cake with whipped cream, strawberries and cream cheese and chocolate frosting, she said, “I wish I could cook.”

I used to say that a lot too. And living in the dorms for two years only made it easier to put off learning to cook. At school, I had Gresham Food Court. At home, I had Mom. And, as Carrie Bradshaw would say, “I’ve never made anything in the kitchen except a mess ... and a few small fires.”

But when I moved into my apartment junior year, suddenly I was the only one feeding myself. My pre-apartment cooking experience was minimal. I had helped my mom make dinner, but I had never made anything by myself, save for a few birthday cakes.
I started slow. Chicken and pasta were the easiest options, but the more I cooked, the more I was willing to experiment. I bought different spices and vegetables, carefully trying out new recipes.

Like any other skill, cooking takes time, patience and a willingness to make mistakes. If I hadn’t tried to make roast chicken with carrots and potatoes, I wouldn’t have learned that potatoes take about four times as long to make as skinless chicken breasts, and if you cook them together, the chicken will end up dry and stringy and the potatoes will still be hard.

Cooking mistakes don’t taste good, but they do always teach you something.
I’m more comfortable in the kitchen now than when I started cooking, but I still force myself to try new things. The other night I tried to make fried plantains. Well, my plantains were still soft and under-cooked. Another failure, another chance to learn something.

Luckily, I still have another plantain in my fridge and another chance for a perfect meal.

Recipe of the Week
Chocolate cake:
Ingredients:
­— Devil’s food cake mix
— Strawberries (about 2 cups)
— Whipped cream
— Cream cheese (2 oz.)
— Whipping cream or half-and-half (1/2 a cup)
— Chocolate chips (about a cup)

1) Make the devil’s food cake according to the instructions on the box. You’ll probably need two cake pans for this.
2) Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven (and out of the cake pans) and wait for it to cool. If you have a wire rack, place the cakes on it while they chill.
3) Set one of the cakes on a plate.
4) Frost the cake with whipped cream.
5) Cut up a cup of strawberries and place them on top of the whipped cream.
6) To make the frosting, combine the cream cheese, whipping cream/half-and-half and chocolate chips in a saucepan on medium. Cook until the cream cheese and chocolate chips have melted and are mixed together.
7) Wait for mixture to cool, about 15 minutes.
8) Drizzle chocolate frosting on top of the strawberries.
9) Place the other cake on top of the one that’s done. Repeat steps 4, 5 and 8 for second cake.
10) Place in the fridge and wait for the frosting to harden.
11) Serve and enjoy.