By Brayden is six weeks old. He has started to smile in response to faces this week — small intentional smiles, not the gas-smiles of the first weeks but actual social smiles directed at me and Dustin and at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror when I hold him near it. The smiles have rearranged my emotional center of gravity. Mama has been visiting via FaceTime three times a day — morning, mid-afternoon, and evening — for ten or fifteen minutes each, holding the phone up and talking to Brayden through the screen and watching his expressions. He recognizes her voice now.
The cafe’s second month of service is going well. Cody has hired a second line cook (a TCC graduate from his cohort named Trevor) and is now running the kitchen with a two-cook line plus Mama running front of house. The lunch service is selling out four days a week. The Tulsa World wrote a follow-up review in mid-April calling the cafe “the best small-town lunch counter in northeastern Oklahoma.”
Sunday I made sunny flower cake because Mama had requested it on FaceTime Saturday afternoon as her sympathy-comfort gift to me — the cake is from Carol’s box, dated 1973, with the title “Sunny Flower — Spring.” Carol had made the cake for Mama’s ninth birthday in April of 1973. Mama wanted me to bake it for myself this Sunday because she couldn’t physically bake it for me. The parallel-cooking ritual continues.
The technique: two nine-inch round cake pans buttered and floured. The batter: two and a half cups of cake flour, two and a half teaspoons of baking powder, a half-teaspoon of salt — whisked. Half a cup of softened butter creamed with one and a half cups of sugar for three full minutes until pale and fluffy. Three large eggs added one at a time. Two teaspoons of vanilla. The dry alternated with one cup of whole milk into the wet mixture.
Divided between the two pans. Baked at three-fifty for twenty-five minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely.
The buttercream: two sticks of softened butter creamed with four cups of powdered sugar, two teaspoons of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and three tablespoons of milk for four minutes until fluffy.
The sunflower decoration: tint a half-cup of buttercream with a few drops of yellow food coloring for the sunflower “petals.” Toast a cup of sweetened shredded coconut in a dry skillet for five minutes until golden for the “center.”
The assembly: stack the two cake layers with white buttercream between. Frost the outside with a thin crumb coat, then refrigerate fifteen minutes. Frost again with a generous final coat. Pipe the yellow buttercream petals around the perimeter in eight overlapping arcs to form the sunflower. Mound the toasted coconut in the center.
The cake reads cheerful. I FaceTimed Mama at four PM Sunday with the cake on the apartment counter. She held up an empty plate to the camera and pretended to take a slice. We both laughed. Brayden smiled at the screen.
Yellow layer cake. Tinted yellow buttercream petals. Toasted coconut center. Carol's 1973 card. Here’s the build.
Sunny Flower Cake
Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 box (15.25 oz) yellow cake mix
- 1 can (21 oz) lemon pie filling
- 1 can (15 oz) mandarin oranges, drained
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, for dusting
- Nonstick cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat — and prep the pan. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9x13-inch baking dish generously with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Mix the base. In a large bowl, whisk together the cake mix, eggs, sour cream, melted butter, and vanilla extract until a thick, smooth batter forms, about 1–2 minutes. Do not overmix.
- Layer the filling. Spread the lemon pie filling evenly across the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Scatter the drained mandarin orange segments over the lemon layer in a single even layer.
- Top with batter. Dollop the cake batter over the fruit filling and gently spread it to the edges using a spatula, covering the fruit as evenly as possible.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 33–37 minutes, or until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake layer comes out clean.
- Cool and finish. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. Dust generously with powdered sugar just before slicing and serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 48g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 310mg