Wholesome: Let them eat cake. Picture: ulterior epicure

Four weeks after having spinal surgery my daughter baked a chocolate cake.

It wasn’t easy – she needed me and some industrial pain killers – but bake she did.

Some people find their passion early in life; my daughter found cake. In fact some of her first words were “yummy yums”.

I remember dropping her at her grandparents when she was three.  It was my birthday and I was off shopping. I returned later to find two shattered grandparents, a triumphant child and a magnificently decorated birthday cake.

I was told later she started organising her vision the moment I left.  Her grandparents just got swept up in the almighty tide of her will to bake her mother a cake.

My daughter was born with the understanding of how to create celebration and pleasure in daily life. I resisted her passion and worried about sugar and fat and too much cake.

In time I learnt to stock the pantry with pure, organic ingredients and just let her go for it. If what goes in is wholesome than the cake is not to be feared.

I now understand that cake can be eaten with as much joy as it is baked and life is so much the richer for it.