The blind leading the blind

Translated from Japanese, it reads: My stupid boyfriend!
Not sure when that ever became a term of endearment.
Underlined with heart-shaped marshmallows littered with white chocolate.
Chocolate rice chips around the rim lend a nice finishing touch to the white flowers.

My niece wanted to bake a chocolate cake to surprise her boyfriend this weekend. I decided to practise Eli's Jewish chocolate cake recipe again. I bought all the ingredients but she did everything else. She is the epitome of an extra virgin baker. She would consider spreading butter on bread as a major culinary feat. She can't make instant noodles to save her own life but here she was, braving all the kitchen elements in the name of love. Youth - gotta love 'em. 

Separating the eggs was stressful for her. This was after measuring out
all the different ingredients. I think she did a good job on the eggs.

Even sieving flour is new to her.

Boiling whipping cream to prepare the ganache

Piping for the first time with a ready-made tube

Such intensity!

Her hands trembled so much but she still managed many good flowers.

Overall, tremendous effort by my dear niece. Her boyfriend better appreciate this!

For me, it's been a strange sort of day helping the children kidney patients to cook in school and helping my niece with this cake, conscious all the time that just less than 6 months ago, I could not cook or bake a thing. 

Now I think it's unacceptable not to be able to do some basic cooking in life. It's a life skill that every human being should acquire. And it's an activity we should make time for in our lives. To me, a half-baked cake made at home is better than one out of the factory. I am certainly going to make more time to learn to cook in the kitchen.