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ONCE UPON A TIME a cake was baked by Cara Ovens (yes that is my real surname!) I feel like I was born to bake. My grandmother recently told me that my great aunt was a confectioner, I couldn’t quite believe it! It seems my passion for baking indeed has been in my family although I never knew about it until very recently. 

The ingredients were as follows: (this was for 4 layers of an 8-inch cake) – the recipe was from Cupcake Jemma on YouTube but I amended it slightly for the size of the cake.

Lemon sponge 

600g Butter  

600g Caster Sugar 

600g Self Raising Flour  

9 eggs  

7 tbsp lemon juice  

The Zest of 6 Lemons 

Lemon Curd 

Zest of 1 Lemon  

65g Caster Sugar  

65ml Lemon Juice  

3 Egg Yolks  

1 Whole Egg  

50g Cold Chopped Butter 

Lemon swiss meringue buttercream 

9 large egg whites 

600g granulated sugar 

680g unsalted butter (softened but still a bit firm to the touch) 

The 'story' behind this bake goes a little something like this... 

I have always baked; however I haven’t always been good at it! During lockdown I created a Facebook group for my local community, and I started baking for neighbours. The extra time I’ve had at home has allowed me to really practice all things baking. From new recipes, to exciting fillings and even cartoon fondant figures! All of the practice I’ve had can be seen in this cake. I would normally stick to vanilla or chocolate but I can now confidently bake something with a little more flair! 6 months ago, a cake like this would have taken a full day from morning to night, but I managed to complete this in half a day. 

Baking is very therapeutic for me, and it can make time absolutely whizz by. I have anxiety and it has taken a lot of practice for me to calm my mind, and concentrating on a recipe or hand sculpting a sugar model has been a wonderful and tasty way to take my mind off the scary things in the world, this has been especially invaluable during this pandemic. 

I don’t have a personal relationship with ME/CFS, however I can sympathise with suffering in silence. I did this for many years before I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I think education and raising awareness is absolutely key and when I saw a baking challenge to help raise awareness I jumped at the chance! This isn’t something I had ever heard of before, which is why I wanted to be part of it and help spread the word through the power of social media, and cake.

Once upon a time Carolyne Sibley baked a rather sublime take on the traditional Red Velvet! 

“I try to bake my cakes gluten-free and dairy free, because it keeps the inflammation down in the body."

Let us begin the story with the three sponge layers?

"The flour is ground almond and coconut. There are four free range eggs. Coconut oil and olive oil. Maple syrup and unrefined sugar. Vanilla essence.”

Yummy. Tell us more!

“Red food colouring to make it look like a red velvet cake, because my daughter doesn’t like beetroot (but I didn’t put enough it so it was more of a baby pink)”

One of our Judges (Jennie Jacques) is a fiend for Red Velvet – although the last cake she tasted was more like a cream cheese sandwich (Husband’s baking!)

“The filling and topping: white chocolate ganache with a shot of brandy (warms the cockles. No, there is no seafood here)” 

Well now our mouths are watering! 

“Also in between the layers are sliced fresh nectarines (that’s the healthy bit). Dark chocolate is melted and dropped and drizzled over the top of the cake (and in my mouth by this stage) with slices of nectarines also dipped in the dark chocolate and arranged on top around truffles made by my amazing chocolatier friend, Isabelle @melangechocolate (I had to buy double as they needed sampling before putting on the cake)”

Every person needs a chocolatier friend! 

“I feel a massive sense of achievement when I manage to bake a cake. It takes days of planning (so as to take as much stress away from it as possible and it’s therefore not too fatiguing), making sure all the ingredients are there, and if not my hubby has to fulfil his marital duty by making sure the shopping is topped up.”

Please keep reading to understand why baking a cake requires more planning and energy for our baker Carolyne than most healthy people…

“I had to order the truffles from Isabelle’s, making sure that there isn’t much time between making the cake and them staring at me saying ‘eat me now’ (so I order extra just in case).”

Forward thinking is key!

“I plan how I’m going to bake by breaking it down into manageable bits. I try to make a cake within two days if I can. Baking one day and decorating the next.”

For a person with ME/CFS this is called ‘pacing.’ Carolyne was only able to exert the energy required to bake for certain periods of time.

“It often looks a bit like a dog’s dinner in the middle of this process, but that’s part of the fun of turning it around and making it look as gorgeous as I can.”

And may we interrupt to say, gorgeous it looked!

“This is where I love to add edible glitter, and in this case, gold. The bonus with the gold spray is that the kitchen air becomes all sparkly (and that’s without sampling the brandy). My family are very good and hiding their wry smiles at the presentation of my cake efforts as they often taste pretty darn good! This makes me feel like I’m contributing to their happiness and I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, that I’m not invisible (being the one tucked away often bed and house bound with ME/CFS), and it brings a smile to all of us.”

Some people with ME/CFS are sadly never well enough to bake - for others it takes a lot of detailed preparation.

“I’m not able to bake like this often, as it takes a lot of pacing and planning, but when there’s a good excuse, such as a birthday, then I get very excited by the thought of making them one of my cakes and being creative.”

Carolyne was diagnosed with ME in February 2005 and has spent most of her time since, bed bound and house bound. 

Doing the simplest things like talking to a friend (or attempting to bake a cake) is not always within reach. 

But Carolyne said this…

“I still know that I can beat it. I never give up. This is temporary.”

Perhaps that’s the principled message of the story. 

“This too shall pass.”

Here is a tipple of brandy to all those suffering with chronic pain and post-viral illness, ME/CFS for months and/or years.

We never know what’s hiding just around the corner. 

Here’s to a cure.

The End

Once upon a time a young actor called Hector Bateman heard about ME/CFS from Jennie Jacques...

"She told me what a horrible affect it can have on peoples lives when they have it. It must be so awful to feel so bad for such a long time and not knowing when it will end. I did some research and read some really sad stories about those suffering.  

I wanted to bake a cake to raise awareness of ME/CFS so other children could hear about it and I would be able to tell my friends. 

I also wanted to help raise funds for the research into finding a cure so people feel better quicker.  

I am vegan, so I wanted to show people vegan cakes can be delicious too, and not all vegan food tastes like beetroots and cabbages! I knew Miranda Hart was going to be a judge, and she said she liked chocolate in her programme, so I made it a chocolate one! I made a chocolate buttercream for the middle with raspberries and jam, because if it has fruit it’s a bit healthy isn’t it? Then I covered it in vanilla buttercream.  

I made the cake during lockdown when lots of people are feeling sad and I decided to have a 'Happiness Cake' to make people smile with things that make me and my family smile.

 I used lots of little rainbows as lots of little hugs of thanks for NHS staff who worked so hard in lockdown. It has been difficult for them to work and keep safe and I am thankful for that. 

I had started the Big Butterfly count before I made the cake, and the butterflies I saw were pretty, colourful and cheery, so I used some ricepaper butterflies, lots of them so they looked like they were fluttering over the cake in a rainbow of colour. 

I hope it made people smile!

It was fun to take part and I’ve enjoyed seeing all the amazing cakes and so much skill! 

I hope it helps get the message about ME/CFS out there and helps towards research.

Hector aged 10.