Everybody likes cake.

Another dinner party last night — our friends Bob and Robin came over to see the new garden. Since my chi is still a little low, I made the same dinner that I cooked for Patrick and the Nice Girlfriend the other night — but I made a cake. People think making a cake is a really big deal, but it’s not. I made the Buttermilk Cocoa Cake out of Laurie Colwin’s fabulous book More Home Cooking. It could hardly be easier — in a bowl you mix together flour, cocoa, sugar, a little salt and baking soda, then add buttermilk (although since I didn’t have any buttermilk, I used yogurt and milk mixed together), half a cup of vegetable oil, and some vanilla. Mix, pour into a cake pan, bake for half an hour. This is a great cake because it’s not too sweet, and it has a nice cakey texture. I just sprinkled it with some powdered sugar so it looked festive, then served it with local Wilcoxin’s Ice Cream, and a little chocolate sauce dribbled over (heat cream in microwave, add chocolate chips, stir until it gets all runny and glossy). Everyone was happy and I felt very Nigella Lawson about it all. Something yummy, that wasn’t hard, and made everyone smile.