It is still widely agreed upon that ladies should be wed, alongside a package consisting of a baby with rattles and such, to be delivered to their homes shortly after sealing their union with the man of choice. No longer de rigueur to learn how to cook a stunning but labor-intensive meal or fold a shirt with precision; our duties as Egyptian women now heavily rely on birthing and the future social success of our offspring.
But what of not becoming a mother upon choosing to be part of said union? Surely this is unnatural. What of a woman willingly opting to be a stepmother on her first stab at marriage and curbing her feminine powers of baby-making for a longer time than expected — or in mean words, necessary? How unsound!
Welcome to a cross-section of my life.
Living abroad, we are like many married couples, weighing our options and consciously deliberating the impact a child would have on our lives. So what if it’s taking three years?
Back home this changes, thus allowing me to realize that “abroad” is an alternate reality, where thoughts and feelings existing “there” don’t count; they are invisible. You are in Egypt now and you shall be governed by the babymakers. But the babymakers are murmuring in hushed voices that you are their new barren-ness. Pardon the pun.
As if by chance, this is when my heart lunges at chocolate — the magical food that usually leaves humans satiated and forgetful of their woes, lasting from minutes to hours and largely dependant on the quantity consumed. “Who cares what they think?” I declare as I tuck into a soft, thick slice of chocolate cake. I sit there, fuming at being criticized for my choices in between big bites until the fuming subsides and in comes a warm sense of safety and calm.
This, by many of us, becomes a feeling that we crave through time, barely realizing that chocolate merely stimulates the release of endorphins and helps to produce serotonin, the happy chemical. Taking it for granted, little do we think about the precious cocoa bean and that it has served many purposes: as currency, as an antioxidant and more popularly as an aphrodisiac.
Chocolate found its way on to the pages of history and literature through its intoxicating power of awakening the senses. The Marquis de Sade used it to disguise poisons that were later fed to unsuspecting guests while Casanova would couple it with champagne to seduce the gullible ladies who would fall prey to his charm. It was advised that Madame de Pompadour use chocolate with ambergris to stimulate her desire for Louis XV. Even Marie Antoinette, arrived at Louis XVI’s court with her personal chocolate maker, who was at the time, human.
For those reasons alone, everyone should be armed with an everyday chocolate cake recipe. Not one that comes from a box, but one that you take the time to make, that you take your loathing and lust out on — alone, with your significant other, with your kids or step-kids. It’s good to have that bit of guaranteed calm in your life, away from the sinister scene that society can present, where you can sit, with a plate of chocolate cake and linger over nothing but the smooth richness and ambrosial energy that chocolate brings.
Everyday Chocolate Cake
You’ll need:
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1 cup of packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 additional egg yolk, at room temperature
1/2 cup of low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup of milk
1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cups of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Smashed chocolate bits to scatter on top (Dark chocolate is preferable).
Preheat the oven to 160°C. Butter and lightly flour a loaf pan. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and additional egg yolk — beat well— then the milk, yogurt and vanilla. Don’t worry if the batter looks a little uneven. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt together right into your wet ingredients. Stir together with a spoon until well blended but do not over-mix. Scrape down the batter in the bowl, making sure the ingredients are well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Spread out your broken chocolate bits onto the top to get that amazingly uneven, melted texture. Bake for 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. It might take a little longer. Cool in pan on a rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, at which point you can cool it the rest of the way out of the pan.
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