Help me. Cake.

It must be a conspiracy. All my favorite food blogs and food writers are making interesting dishes and creating fun videos that I can't stop watching. The first thing in my mind as I am watching the videos is, "Do I have these ingredients?" Given the state of my pantry, fridge, and freezer, the answer is all too often, "Yes!"

Help me.

Yesterday, a lovely young woman on Food 52 made a simple cake adorned with a strawberry topping and whipped cream. It looked like a happy little cake. I was bored so bring out the flour and sugar.

This cake is super easy. No butter so the prep time is minutes. I cut the recipe in half and it turned out beautifully.

While the recipe suggests a fresh strawberry topping, I thought, no. Strawberries at this time of year are awful. In my pantry was a new jar of strawberry jam. Plopped a generous couple of tablespoons into a saucepan, added teaspoon or two of Framboise and let the jam melt and simmer - just a bit so that it was pourable. I beat some heavy cream. This little square of the cake was delicious and said "Spring!" with every bite.

More than half the cake is in the freezer. The bakery is closed until further notice.