Zeb called me on my cell while I was out: Hi, Mom.
Me, clearly not talking on my cell while driving: Hey babe. What’s up?
Zeb: I wanna make a cake. Is that okay?
Me: When is cake making not okay?
Zeb: I mean, we have all the ingredients and stuff?
M: Dude. Who’s mom am I? Of course.
Z: Okay, good. I’m not sure what kind of cake, though. I’m looking in the chocolate cookbook.
M: We have a chocolate cookbook? That sounds yummy.
Z: Uh. Yeah. The one on the counter? But I think I’m going to make my own. What’s in a cake?
M: [listed any cake ingredients I can think of]
Z: Okay, thanks Mom. Bye.
I got home to this: My 9 year old liberally adding a litany of ingredients, taste-testing then adding more. No recipe. No real measurements. Pure experimentation.
He brought his creation to park day the next day to share with friends (after saving a piece for Dad and Gramma). His verdict: The icing was great but melted quickly out of the fridge. The cake was more like a bread or biscuit – sweet enough but more dense that he had hoped. It was all still very yummy and quickly gobbled up.
He plans to make another one for the next park day. He wants to add more baking powder to the mix to get it to rise more and he’ll experiment with the measurements to try and get a “less sticky batter”.
Yummy!
[P.S. Be on the look out for an awesome giveaway this week. 
]
I'm Tara Wagner, life coach and creator of the Digging Deep process, where I coach women out of survival mode to recreate their lives and families.
That’s cool! I want some of Z’s cake…
THAT is just about the coolest thing EVER. and now I want cake.
How cool is Zeb? I can’t even make a cake with a recipe. And his icing looks yum!
yum! cake!
That is very groovy. I especially love the lack of recipe and mad-scientist experimentation, lol.
ha ha this is awesome! you are so cool. i woulda been like, uh no. ha ha
Oh, yum! That is my kind of experiement
that’s great.. a true inventor and so creative.
.. like ‘drawing outside the lines’.. maybe we should all loosen up.. deviate from the recipes and try a little experimentation… inspiring!!
This is truly great!!!
That is sooo awesome! There is so much to overcome in our own upbringing. For me, it is the immediate reaction to say “no” and obsession with having everything in place and reading the directions first. Blech! I want to wriggle out of that old skin….
“Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation.”
~Jane Austen