BLOGPOST #36

January 31, 2021

Layer Cake

Layer Cake,

By Mariko Brenner

When I was very little, I had a birthday party. Somewhere there still exists a faded Polaroid from that event. The photo shows me standing gleefully over a Seven Layer Cake. The cake is nearly as large as my torso. If you have never been to a Jewish bakery, a Seven Layer Cake is a large yellow cake shaped into a plank and sliced into seven thin slices. Each layer is covered with rich chocolate buttercream. On top of the cake is one final layer of heavy dark chocolate ganache. Visually the cake looks a little something like this: 

chocolate *

cake

butter cream

cake

butter cream

cake

butter cream

cake

butter cream

cake

butter cream

cake

butter cream

cake

The resulting cake is sickeningly sweet and wonderful; I still, to this day, have difficulty eating an entire slice at one sitting. Looking back, I recall my mother could always finish her slice, working methodically from the bottom up with a fork. My dad used a rounded butter knife to cut his slice into smaller and smaller sized cubes, which he then offered to anyone within earshot. Nobody wanted his cake cubes. I loved to eat my slice carefully, savoring one layer at a time. 

My work has always had lots to do with my love of people and noticing little things. Being an artist, healer or coach is about connecting the dots, seeing small things no one else notices, making connections, allowing the intangible to become tangible. Being the whole layer cake and eating it too! Happy almost 37h Birthday, little one,

Love Mariko