Red velvet cake

I love baking. Especially at christmas. Like I mentioned in my post earlier this week, I started making cakes for Christmas many years ago at my uncle’s farm. I must have have been 8 or 9 at the time.

We moved to Kuwadzana a few months before I turned four. On my fourth birthday, my father took me to town to get a picture. The photographer was a white man with a huge beard and I was scared of him, you can even tell from the picture. This is my earliest memory. Anyway, when we moved to Kuwadzana there was no electricity, the neighbourhood was still fairly new and I believe it was expensive to have electricity in your house. We would use single gas stove plate and paraffin stoves. There was no baking at all for a few years. When we did have electricity my parents didn’t have an oven.

I think we had an oven when I was in grade 5. It was the highlight of that year. My mom had saved for that money participating in a round at work and at the end of the year, she had enough to buy a four plate stove. I have been baking ever since.
It is only now as I write this that I realise how privileged I was, not everyone had the option to learn about cooking at such an early age. Most of what I know about baking has been because my mom encouraged me even though now I realise it must have been inedible. She never complained, she would eat it and show it off to whoever will listen. As a mother now, I understand why she would do that and how she feels about me. Mama worked hard so I can be this person I am, whatever I am – blogger, cook or crafter. I hope I make her proud. I know mama won’t read this but her nieces( vana mainini) will, which is the same thing really. Thank you, mama!

Whew, writing about cakes can be so emotional! Who knew!

I made a red velvet cake. The colours are so appropriate for Christmas! I used a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.