Dessa R.
Yelp
Usually around birthday time, it is traditional to let one's loved ones psychically guess what kind of cake you want. Doesn't matter how many times you tell Uncle Jake that you hate XYZ cake- he forgets every year, and you just grin through it, not wanting to seem ungrateful. Or maybe you mention ONE time six years ago that you kinda like rum cake, and bam- it becomes your default cake every friggin' year thereafter, since everyone seems to vaguely recall you saying you liked it.
On the other end of things, trying to pick a cake for someone else's tastes is always a stressful endeavor too. I feel panicked by questions like, "Do they hate vanilla? I feel like they're allergic to strawberries or something? Didn't they go vegan recently?" Who ever thought a classic confection like cake could cause so much anxiety and self-doubt?
With my birthday rapidly approaching, I decided to spare my siblings the cake drama by just locating and ordering the cake I really wanted. And what I wanted was..... a chocolate raspberry cake. You know, a chocolate-frosted chocolate layer cake, with a raspberry jam-like filling in between the layers. And as usual, I waited until the very last possible moment to embark on my cake hunt, which was the day before my party. Yes, you read that correctly. One day. Some part of me just knew I was going to end up with a buttercream yellowcake as my punishment for procrastinating.
But Yelp led me to Royal Pastry, and I practically fell over when the girl on the phone casually remarked, "Chocolate raspberry? Sure, we can do that."
me: "seriously?"
her: "yep, what kind of frosting?"
me: "chocolate"
her: "no problem. When do you need it by?"
me: (wincing) "tomorrow?"
her: "Okay. It'll be $16.50. What time you gonna come pick it up?"
me: in utter amazement.
So essentially, I got the EXACT cake I wanted with less than twenty-four hours notice, it cost even less than a bullshit cake from the supermarket, and zero stress for the sibs. But the best part of this story? It was totally delicious. Happy Birthday, me.