She made Cup Cakes, I made Tea Cakes.

Paula is our host for the moment while Fandango recuperates, and has provided us with this picture:
This week’s photo is credited to inactive account – ID 1103997 on Pixabay. It depicts three girls of different ages/heights dressed in pink and blue aprons and bakers’ caps. They are standing behind a table that displays a wedding cake, cupcakes, and various other baked goods.

It was the holidays.
I hated the holidays, especially the long holidays. Cousin Norma came to stay……….. every year.
She and Jez my sister, would gang up on me as I was the youngest.
They’d have secrets, whispering behind my back, dressing up days which excluded me, midnight feasts and many a joke at my expense.
Jez was a Brownie and we were all entering their annual cake baking contest as of course it was in the holidays and Cousin Norma was staying.
For once, I had been encouraged to participate.
Hurrah! Inclusion at last so I made some tea cakes.
They looked terribly homemade……… all different sizes, two or three burnt on the edges and the currants were black.
Jez made cup cakes………. dainty little fairy cakes in pretty cases with coloured frosting,  chocolate buttons and jelly tots.
Cousin Norma’s entry was a big secret. Even Jez wasn’t privy to what she was going to enter, and that had really cheesed her off.

On the big day, the three of us, dressed in chefs hats and aprons, put our efforts on our table to be judged.
Cousin Norma held up Jez’s plate of cup cakes with a smirk then wrinkled her nose at my misshapen tea cakes. She’d made a BIG thing for her entry………a fancy four tier wedding cake with ribbons and bows. Seems she’d been taking classes after school in sugar craft at home.
The judges were making their way towards us so we all stood back waiting for their verdict. I knew two of them from school, but the third, a man, was a stranger. All three had clip boards and asked us a few questions.
Cousin Norma preened in their praise of her creation, Jez smiled politely and I just wanted to die, especially when they picked up one of my most burnt tea cakes, and shared it amongst them before moving on.
‘Well, what do you make of that!’ Cousin Norma pouted with her hands on her hips.

That night, Cousin Norma was packing her case ready to catch the train home the following day. She was not happy. Her cake was in the bin…….. too much sugar and margarine, and it wasn’t cooked in the middle.
Jez and I were lying on the floor sharing a big bag of crisps in front of the TV.
Jez had won second prize, and I’d got a highly commended certificate! Seems the judges had enjoyed their taster and said that was more important than what things looked like.

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