The next week or so Virginia is sharing a few posts from her archives (before she learned about things like “tagging.”) Here’s one from her first month of blogging (11 July 2011.)

Last weekend I experienced a bad case of upside-down pineapple cake blues. After checking the baking progress of a carefully constructed pineapple upside-down cake, it looked done (according to the recipe time, it should have been and then some!)

A more recent stay-at-home vegan apple upside-down cake (that turned out okay!)

Inverting it upside-down on a cake plate, however, hot brown sugar syrup splattered all over the counter. A bit dismayed dodging the scalding, sticky mess, I unclasped the spring-form pan and took the top off (very carefully) to find an alarmingly large sinking crater of liquid batter in the middle of the cake.

TOTAL CAKE DISASTER!!

Major-league upside-down pineapple cake blues ensued. What to do? With busy pots on burners bubbling away for a special celebratory dinner, there was no time to procure a cake or bake another one. Contemplating the demise of all those yummy ingredients also increased the blues factor.

Frazzled, yet suddenly dazzled with possibility, I quickly upside-downed the ruined cake back into the pan, and (with a prayer) put it in the oven for a second round of baking.

While tending busy dinner pots, a food flash of inspiration hit (this also required a bit of faith that everything would pan out okay.)

Why not make more brown sugar syrup to replace the sticky mess scrubbed off the counter? After 30 more baking minutes, the crispier cratered cake was once again upside-downed, poked, drizzled with new syrup, and later served after dinner with a bit of faith and whipped cream. (Note: turned upside-down no one could see the crater underneath!)

Rescued upside-down pineapple cake (no crumbs left!)

My brother, the feted one who chose the cake, said it was “the best pineapple cake he ever ate.”  There were no crumbs left on anyone’s plates (mine inclusive!)

Washing up with a grateful heart, I got to thinking. Hmmm, God, maybe there’s a lesson here? Sometimes our lives get messy with upside-down blues when things don’t turn out as we expect and look disastrous – like crashing craters of cake and carefully crafted brown sugar syrup that splatters everywhere.

We get befuddled and muddled by craters and splatters – how we’ve mixed things up, our failures and (seemingly) wasted efforts, and maybe what we’ve splattered on others?

But God has given us good ingredients: grace, mercy, wisdom, peace, patience, and joy mixed in divine batter of Everlasting Love for us. If we by faith persevere, God is good in the divine restoration department and second chances are what God is all about.

Don’t give up. Try again…

No crumbs left.

grace, peace & upside-down cake faith

Virginia : )