Giggled Beginnings

There was a fourteen year old boy. Over the preceding few weeks he had seen the little town of Llangollen getting ready for it's annual Garden Show. The excitement was building as everyone was getting prepared for the festivities! There were competitions for flowers, vegetables, arts and crafts and foods of all varieties.  He had tried his hand at growing vegetables but had gotten dismayed when his lettuces suddenly shot up to around two foot and became quite inedible. He had watched his little sister proudly construct a scarecrow of Harry Potter out of marigolds, balloons, Papier-mâché and large sheets of black cloth; but that wasn't for him. There had to be some way for him to get involved!

Looking down the list of competitions there didn't seem to be very much left that he could enter with only a few days to go. Whilst on the brink of admitting defeat he suddenly noticed a category that didn't require weeks of planning or months of growing. Could this be the competition for him? It was the competition for the 'Best fruit cake'. He hadn't really baked very much before but decided that if he wanted to enter the competition he would just have to give it a go.

That night he sat pouring over his mother's cook books until he came across a fruit cake that he liked the look (and name) of; a Giggle Cake! He didn't know whether it would be any good but the name was enough to spur him on to try it out. After a few hours of soaking fruit, lining tins and licking the spoon he stood back and looked at his creation. It was beautiful. What an incredible thing that fruit, flour, butter and eggs could all be combined to make such a thing of beauty. He was hooked.

The day of the competition came and he headed to the Town Hall to enter his creation. 'Come back at four o'clock' stated the elderly lady who accepted his cake. Before heading off, he had a sneaky look at the other entries. There were five other fruit cakes of various shapes and sizes. Two octogenarians were proudly placing their fruit creations on the table. His heart sank as he realised that these women had at least sixty years more baking experience that he did. 'Never mind' he thought; he had thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would be sure to break out his whisk again in the future.

Four o'clock came and he set off back to the town hall to pick up his mother's plate and congratulate the winner. He looked across at the table to see to which of the kindly old lady he should be directing his praise. He soon spotted the blue ribbon... 'No... Surely not... it is!' The blue ribbon had been placed next to his Giggle cake. A beaming smile crept across his young face; his creation had beaten all of the other ladies cakes to win the prize! He picked up the knife next to the cake like a triumphant knight on the field of battle, cut himself a slice and had his first bite of his prize winning cake. It was delicious! 

And from that very first bite my love of baking has grown and grown. Not very much unlike those damned lettuces from all those years ago.