The Unfortunate Damage of a Homemade Blueberry Cake

Sometimes life has a way of adding a sprinkle of unpredictability to our best-laid plans. Such was the case for Sherilyn, who found herself caught in the whirlwind of a cake catastrophe that she never saw coming.

Sherilyn was recently commissioned by her aunt who resides in England to bake a cake for her grandaunt’s birthday.  Despite her bustling schedule of work and dance classes, Sherilyn accepted the job and was determined to rise to the occasion. She decided to bake a blueberry genoise cake. With three punnets of fresh blueberries, the finest whipping cream, and her heart full of dedication, she embarked on this baking project.  

Sherilyn spared every available moment to craft a cake that would be remembered and enjoyed by her grandaunt. She meticulously sourced fresh blueberries and quality whipping cream for the cake. She made a luscious blueberry compote and the genoise cake a day earlier.  On the morning of delivering the cake to her grand-aunt, she woke up early to meticulously decorate the cake before leaving for work.

The beautiful blueberry cake before disaster struck.

As the final strokes of creativity were laid upon the cake, Sherilyn was ready to present her masterpiece to her grandaunt. In a twist of fate, however, the universe had a different plan. Entrusting her colleague, a part-time delivery driver with the responsibility of transporting the delicate creation to its destination turned out to be the turning point of this tale.

In an unfortunate turn of events, the cake's top layer succumbed to gravity's pull, resulting in a heartbreaking collapse. The news of the mishap reached Sherilyn through her delivery driver friend, leaving her with a mix of frustration and sorrow. The cake, a labor of love and dedication, lay in ruins, unable to be salvaged.

The damaged cake :(

While it was evident that the mishap occurred due to the unintended actions of the delivery driver (he may have driven too fast or dropped the cake), Sherilyn found herself in a challenging position. The delivery driver is her friend and this made it difficult for her to place blame and to express her disappointment, despite the financial loss and frustration she had to bear. 

After disaster struck, Sherilyn only remembered that his friend's car's air-conditioner was not working! It was truly a lack of foresight on both parties.

Sherilyn transformed the cake scraps, extra cream and blueberry compote into a yummilicious Cake Crumb Trifle.

To add to the complexity, the cake had spent too much time outside the fridge, rendering it unfit for consumption. Sherilyn thought that she could still salvage the cake for our own consumption but the cake had turned bad.

Despite the setback, Sherilyn showed remarkable maturity by swiftly arranging an alternative solution – she asked her delivery driver friend to purchase a cake from a nearby bakery as she had earlier informed her grandaunt that she was sending a cake to her. How could she tell her grandaunt now that the cake is damaged? 

It's a lesson learned to never underestimate the fragility of transporting a cake, even when it's in the hands of a well-meaning friend.  And even with the best of intentions, can sometimes result in disappointment and setbacks.

My advice to Sherilyn is to never send a fragile cake to anyone again using express delivery service.  We should instead deliver the cake ourselves or get the recipient to collect it from us. And if both parties are too busy to make a drive, then send something that's not fragile to the recipient.

I also found out after the incident that one of the items that will not be delivered by Grab Express is fragile items like cakes, although her friend is not attached to Grab.