Love and Dining: A Valentine’s Retrospective

The food industry thrives on occasions, because what is a celebration of an occasion without food? Good food, that is.

The memories of many weddings seem to rest on the quantity and quality of the food provided by the hosts.

In essence, if the food was bad, your wedding sucked. Sad, but that seems to be how we gauge events and gatherings.

This then leads to brides and grooms alike spending a fortune feeding and entertaining people, sometimes at exaggerated costs.

This phenomenon is not limited to Africans, lest you think so.

I have an Italian friend whom I visited sometime in his homeland, and he went on to narrate how his family still talks about his cousin’s wedding from four years prior that didn’t have enough food. Apparently they served seven courses and not nine. Yep! He was also quite apologetic about the lack of food at his daughter’s birthday party which I had attended.

For context, they had seven courses and by number three I was out!

The past week saw many restaurants being booked out, with very few tables available at the ‘hot spots’, on Valentine’s night.

I guess if you are going to dine out once in the year, it might as well be Valentine’s, right? Forget your birthday, that should be enjoyed at home with as many of those you love as possible.

Valentine’s menus flooded social media, with each spot vying for patronage and fighting for the few Namibian dollars that survived the onslaught of January debt. Some succeeded in following through on their plans with their loved ones, having a grand time out, I hope.

Others, however, dropped the ball.

See, I really don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. I confess I am one of the cheesy, corny ‘Everyday should be Valentine’s Day’ dudes.

To those that celebrate love on the 14th, good for you! I wish you all the best. To those that don’t, celebrate it whenever you feel like it, no pressure. To those that do, but didn’t, this week’s recipe is a must.

I’d suggest you get yourself to the store, grab the few ingredients to make this banger dessert, and watch that smile grow from ear to ear.

In all honesty, if you are one of those that was supposed to do something but didn’t, then I feel for you. Making up for Valentine’s Day may be harder and more expensive than celebrating on the day itself. If you have some making up to do, then I’m here to rescue you, in the best way possible.

The Lover’s Bake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cups castor sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food colouring

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Buttercream frosting:

250g butter

250g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp milk

Pinch of salt

Instructions

Cake:

n Preheat oven to 180°C. In a medium bowl, sift flour, salt and baking soda. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter on medium speed.

n Add in sugar and mix on medium until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add eggs in one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in vanilla.

n Sift cocoa powder into butter mixture and beat until combined.

n In a cup, mix buttermilk, vinegar and red food colouring.

n Add half of the flour mixture followed by half of the buttermilk mixture to the mixing bowl, beating only until combined. Repeat with the remaining flour and buttermilk.

n Place batter in pans. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the centres are springy to the touch. When done, let them cool in their pans for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frosting:

n Beat butter and sugar until well combined.

n Add milk to loosen frosting and add more until desired consistency is reached. Add one tablespoon at a time.

n Add vanilla and mix well and finish off with salt.

n Decorate as desired and enjoy.

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