It was Summer 2019, Stella, Ruby and I were all playing out in the street, the blistering hot pavement burning our bare feet as we ran back into the house. Slowly, we cracked open the door and slipped through so as not to let the dog escape, the chill air hitting us in an instant wave of relief. Instinctively, we all made our way to the kitchen. Baking had always been a big thing among the three of us, but had never really turned out all that well. Nevertheless, we persisted. Stella went into the cabinets, scouring for inspiration somewhere in the shelves; our next masterpiece. Triumphantly, she revealed a box of Betty Crocker Rainbow Bit Cake Mix. We all knew what this meant.
Together, we prepared the dish. Ruby, being the oldest, would do the measuring while Stella and I took turns pouring and mixing our 4 ingredient concoction, then spending endless minutes trying to distribute the batter into the 2 cake pans perfectly evenly.
We opened the preheated oven, a blast of hot air burning our faces as we leaned over to watch Ruby proudly feed the cake into the oven. This was going to be the best cake we ever tasted.
The cake had taken on a slightly charred look by the time we remembered to take it out; about 10 minutes too late. It’s okay, we thought, it will still taste amazing! Immediately, we took the cake out of the pan and cut it in half. Huh. Who knew cakes crumbled and fell apart when you handle them still hot. Whatever, looks don't matter, it will still be tasty. Ruby, Stella and I got to work on frosting the cake with pink, green, white and brown icing. That's right, we were each going to make a slice of a watermelon! Ruby got one half while Stella and I tackled the other. Another mistake: we failed to realize that cakes fresh out of the oven tend to melt any icing you put on it... That and we forgot how watermelons work, putting the green icing, meant for the rind on the inside of the melon as well as the outer parts. Yikes. Okay, so the cakes weren’t very pretty, I'll admit, but they were still going to be delicious!
Oh. They tasted like soggy, burnt eggs. That’s alright! We’ll bake something great next time!
And that we did. Every summer after, one random day in the summer heat, Stella, Ruby and I would run back inside for an hour to create a new watermelon cake, always a little better than the year before. It stopped being a store bought Betty Crocker Cake Mix a long time ago, it was completely, and uniquely ours; something that belonged to us, no matter how many friend groups we joined and left together, no matter how many fights we endured through the year leading up to summer, the watermelon cake was a constant. As we grew up and matured, so did the cakes. Dare I say they were actually edible the second or third time around. It's a part of the summer months I can’t imagine skipping, and not because of the cake, but because of the time I get to spend in nostalgia with my best friends.
Together, we prepared the dish. Ruby, being the oldest, would do the measuring while Stella and I took turns pouring and mixing our 4 ingredient concoction, then spending endless minutes trying to distribute the batter into the 2 cake pans perfectly evenly.
We opened the preheated oven, a blast of hot air burning our faces as we leaned over to watch Ruby proudly feed the cake into the oven. This was going to be the best cake we ever tasted.
The cake had taken on a slightly charred look by the time we remembered to take it out; about 10 minutes too late. It’s okay, we thought, it will still taste amazing! Immediately, we took the cake out of the pan and cut it in half. Huh. Who knew cakes crumbled and fell apart when you handle them still hot. Whatever, looks don't matter, it will still be tasty. Ruby, Stella and I got to work on frosting the cake with pink, green, white and brown icing. That's right, we were each going to make a slice of a watermelon! Ruby got one half while Stella and I tackled the other. Another mistake: we failed to realize that cakes fresh out of the oven tend to melt any icing you put on it... That and we forgot how watermelons work, putting the green icing, meant for the rind on the inside of the melon as well as the outer parts. Yikes. Okay, so the cakes weren’t very pretty, I'll admit, but they were still going to be delicious!
Oh. They tasted like soggy, burnt eggs. That’s alright! We’ll bake something great next time!
And that we did. Every summer after, one random day in the summer heat, Stella, Ruby and I would run back inside for an hour to create a new watermelon cake, always a little better than the year before. It stopped being a store bought Betty Crocker Cake Mix a long time ago, it was completely, and uniquely ours; something that belonged to us, no matter how many friend groups we joined and left together, no matter how many fights we endured through the year leading up to summer, the watermelon cake was a constant. As we grew up and matured, so did the cakes. Dare I say they were actually edible the second or third time around. It's a part of the summer months I can’t imagine skipping, and not because of the cake, but because of the time I get to spend in nostalgia with my best friends.
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