Pressure that is. A cackling persistent request for more cake by a rowdy dozen or so girls…how can I not make their wish my command. But at first a check in with myself. You got this, it’s your signature cake, i.e. your only cake you ever attempt. A few affirmations into the mirror and off I went, whipping up a cake whilst delightful girls came in and out of the pop-up bakery in my home with a plethora of other requests one at a time. My usual self, distracted with attending to minor grievances as could be imagine with mostly girls and a handful of boys all in the single digits and keeping up with tidying the galley space for the sake of creating more vittles for the hungry pack. It’s a challenge to split my brain up with fragmented and disruptive discussion and creating a precise scientific experiment, combining the reactions of chemistry, the processes of biology and the laws of physics or what most call baking right on the spot. Yet what happens when I create under pressure as I maintain composure…well what came out was beyond expectations. Thank you, girls, for cracking the whip. You know it was a hit when ravished from four hours of play, the remaining bunch tore into the velvety moist cake for round two without even waiting for cool down to top it with my signature tahini swirled buttercream frosting. You know you made your best cake yet, when your protégé who has been scarfing it down for years at annual celebrations, says “it’s so moist.” Better than expected for us all.