Cooking 9/10ths of the time

In the beginning there was the Baker and the Baker said "Let there be cake". And there was cake. And when the Baker said that he/she was surely referring to the rainbow cake. Six multicoloured layers, each one held together with a meringue icing and then completely covered. A towering monument with a smashing reveal, the most secretive and party stopping cake I have ever made. It was Gabe's birthday again.  It appears to be rolling around with worrying frequency at this rate he'll be 20 and I'll be.... I'll be... GAH! Gabe saw a picture of the cake and his enormous brown eyes grew by another magnitude, his voice grew breathy and he gripped my arm uncomfortably tightly with his precious little pink fingers. "I want that for my birthday. Will you make that? Please? Please? Please" He made that request 8 months before his actual birthday. I said yes because I knew that he, much like a capricious wind, could change at any moment. But no. He never

I occasionally attempt ambitious cooking projects. This occurs because I have been  lured by keywords "rich, indulgent, silky" etc or by pictures. I am very susceptible to pictures. So when I saw this... I mean. Come on. I am helpless in the face of this. Raspberry and meringue and white plates and scattered fresh raspberries. I was lucky not to eat the computer. As it turned out it was my turn for bookclub and in a totally inadvisable move I decided to make two BRAND NEW dishes. One dish could be seen as clever, two is simply showy and ostentatious and that is why my second one failed. Not miserably, but sort of in a melancholy way - a regretful, half hopeful manner. I wish it had been miserably, then I could have thrown them away. As it was I ended up serving them. I also made a hedgehog slice with dark chocolate and prunes soaked in Cointreau - they were freaking excellent. Very decided. Forceful. Like a naval officer returning for one night and then heading out to