A Slice of Cake Never Made Anybody Fat

I didn’t write this, but I wish I did.  And I don’t know who needs to hear this, but I definitely did.

“Cakes have gotten a bad rap.  People equate virtue with turning down dessert.

There is always one person at the table who holds up her hand when I serve the cake.  ‘No really, I shouldn’t,’ she says, and then gives her flat stomach a conspiratorial little pat.

Everyone who is pressing a fork into that first tender layer looks at the person who declined the plate, and they all think, ‘That person is better than I am.  That person has discipline.’

But that isn’t a person with discipline, that is a person who has completely lost touch with joy.

A slice of cake never made anybody fat.

You don’t eat the whole cake.
You don’t eat a cake every day of your life.
You take the cake when it is offered because the cake is delicious.

You have a slice of cake and what it reminds you of is someplace that’s safe, uncomplicated, without stress.

A cake is a party, a birthday, a wedding.

A cake is what’s served on the happiest days of your life.”

~ Jeanne Ray,  Eat Cake

“Guilt and stress do more damage to your body than chocolate cake ever will.”

~ Jessica Silsby

I don’t know who needs to hear this,
but if someone offers you a piece of cake this week,
and if you are not allergic and the ingredients won’t send you into shock,
and especially if the person who offers you the cake
is also the person who baked the cake,
and if they say, “I made this for you,”

Eat the Cake.

p. s. I recently reread – and loved all over again – the book Eat Cake by Jeanne Ray.  Incidentally, or maybe coincidentally, she’s also mom to Ann Patchett, one of my favorite authors.  Which ultimately can only mean that Jeanne Ray makes good writers, good books, and good cakes.  So basically, she’s bringing all the best things into the world.