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TITLE: Spiced Ginger Cakes | Previous Challenge Entry
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10/19/08
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Spiced Ginger Cakes

When did Christmas become such a chore?! These crowds are crazy and the drivers on the roads are setting me off like a rocket. My mind is racing. I have too many stops to make before dinner and it is already after three o’clock. I need to pick up the Christmas costumes at the dry cleaner, go to the craft store to purchase the halos for the angles, stop at the post office for stamps….Oh what is that I smell? How delicious!

Odd, I don’t remember a bakery being here on this side of the parking lot. I had to give pause to the undeniable aroma of Christmas. Entering the bakery I found glass cases filled with fruit cakes and pumpkin torte, pecan shortbread cookies and gingerbread men in elf hats, pies of all design lined the bottom of the case, while a display of ornamental star shaped sugar cookies were set out for sampling. This was the indulgence I needed to calm my chaotic day. Memories of Christmas Day began to fill my thoughts as the familiar smells of the season lingered in the air.

Spiced Ginger Cakes were the favorite at our house during the Christmas season. Several days before Christmas, trips would be made to the grocery for the selection of only the freshest ingredients. Bulk packaged flour, sugars, and dates were purchased. The traditional Spiced Ginger Cake family recipe called for fresh ginger root; the family said using dried ground ginger was an insult to the recipe. Fresh ginger root gave the cakes their rich reddish-brown color. Hours of preparation were spent following the baking instructions.

Energy filled the house as these special treats were made. Fussing in the kitchen was as much a tradition as the Spiced Ginger Cakes. Each cook thought their way represented the ‘right way’ to prepare the cakes. Short episodes of the fussing were followed by lengthy rounds of laughter and cheer.

Wafting into the sitting room, the aroma of the Spiced Ginger Cakes awakened my senses. I closed my eyes as I took in the full fragrance produced by these cakes. Memories of the clock loudly ticking, announcing each passing second, taunted me as I waited for indication from the oven that the baking cycle was complete. No other has made cakes like these.

Removing the cakes from the oven to cool signaled it was time for a fresh cream sauce drizzle to be made. The cake’s velvety texture spurred the greedy desire for more. The covetous desire equaled that of Edmond as he longed for the Turkish Delight presented to him by the White Witch in Narnia. These treats came only once a year, illness from overindulgence was to be expected.

Disappointment began to seep into my heart as I realized how routine Christmas had become. The simple joys of baking the Spiced Ginger Cakes had slipped away. I cannot say the exact time the tradition stopped, just that it had. Those Christmas baking days were the most love filled days of the year for everyone. With the knowledge of what I had allowed Christmas to become, the renewed tradition of the cakes was impending.

Dinner will be late this evening. I am off to the grocery.

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