I dunno if it’s seasonal, being 44, or having a snuggly husband, but at 3:10 a.m. I was awake. After scrunching my eyes shut and begging sleep to resume, I gave up, and did what anyone would do – headed to the kitchen to bake a cake. Normal people do that, right? Don’t answer that.

Before I launch into my early morning cake baking experience, I would like to make the following very clear. I will write it in italics to emphasize: I do not take requests. This is a one-time only deal. I am NOT a food DJ.

Friend, cold-remedy provider from a few posts ago, and reader of my blog, Ken, forwarded an e-mail to me titled: Recipe For You. It was sent to a distribution list of people with the disclaimer that the originator of the e-mail hadn’t actually tried it herself, but it was a hit at a book club meeting and alleged foodies were raving about it. Ken then suggests, not even hints, but suggests: “Thought you might like to try it, and post the results on your blog, or, bring in a piece for me”, followed by a winking emoticon.

So, this brings us to early this morning, and me in the kitchen putting together a cake.

The cake is titled: Easy Blueberry Cake. Sounds easy. I jotted down the ingredients on a scrap piece of paper, and headed to the kitchen to give it a whirl. To me, “easy” implies that it would involve one bowl a few cursory twirls of the wooden spoon, plopping batter in a pan, and drinking coffee while I wait for it to bake.

Nuh-uh. Remember, by this time it’s 3:30 a.m., and I am in no particular mood to print the recipe, and the whole point of this is that the recipe is labeled “EASY”, so I figure all I need to do is jot down key ingredients. I’ve baked a few cakes in my day, and know the order of things. Or so I thought. I put the butter in the bowl. I added an egg. I added milk. I poured in some vanilla. I stirred. I got a lumpy mess. I shrugged, and in a separate bowl, I added my flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and whisked together.

Then I remembered, you ALWAYS cream the butter and sugar. D’oh! But in actuality, by now it was 3:45 a.m. and I really didn’t care. By now I was calling it a science experiment. Remember, the title of this blog is Walsh Cooks, not Walsh Bakes.

I brought out the handy-dandy hand mixer, and whirred up the gloopy , egg, butter, vanilla, milk mixture. Added the dry ingredients and gently folded it together. The result – no cake batter I’ve ever dealt with before. It was thick and quite stiff (said the actress to the bishop, aye aye!). It was muffin batter.

I tossed in a cup full of blueberries, spackled it inside a springform pan, added a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon on the top, tossed on a few more blueberries, and put it in the oven. I’m here now writing this post whilst it bakes the recommended 50 minutes.

DING! There goes the buzzer. I will leave you hanging in suspense while I pull it out of the oven….

I’m back and report success! Looks like a Blueberry Cake to me:

Was it easy? I suppose for a person who bakes at a more appropriate time of day and who follows instructions it would be. But in the wee hours of the morning, three bowls, three stirring implements, one electronic mixing device and copied instructions that omits the directions… not so easy.