Cake in Progress

“Look at this cake. It’s a mess.”

Hannah’s accusing finger pointed at the two sections of angel food resting on the cooling rack. The one with brown edges was the perfect shape, but the golden one bulged in strange places.

“It’s fine. We’ll just put the big piece on top and cover the weird parts with frosting.”

My best friend glared at me, and I shrugged. As imperfect as it was, the cake couldn’t be unbaked and redone. I put the slightly burnt layer on a plate and spread a thin coating of icing across.

The next layer was more difficult than expected. No matter how high I piled the chocolate, it just sat on top of the lumps. I kept my eyes on my work, swirling the frosting around to give her the impression that I was making progress.

Hannah cleared her throat. “Any more brilliant ideas?”

I looked up and met her teasing smile with a smirk of my own. “Yeah. I bet it tastes delicious.” I stabbed into the cake and removed a small piece, then ate it straight from the knife. She wrinkled her nose, so I did it again. And again. Aside from the brown parts, it wasn’t that bad.

“I will shove your face in that cake if you don’t stop eating it!”

She could barely finish her sentence before she started laughing. I passed her the knife. Flicking her hair behind her shoulder with an exaggerated sigh, she cut herself a slice.

Once the sugar rush faded, we went to the store for a new box of cake mix.