Strawberry Ricotta Olive Oil Cake (Gluten-Free) + BEAUTY AS A WAY IN
Could this be my favorite cake yet?
With pockets of juicy strawberries, a whisper of cinnamon and cardamom, and a sweet strawberry-cardamom glaze, this is the cake of my dreams. Ricotta gives it a light and fluffy texture while olive oil and almond flour ensure it stays supremely moist. It’s also gluten-free, as always (but nobody will know).
Hello my dears,
Before we dive into today’s cake (this one makes me very happy), there’s something I’ve been grappling with all week.
BEAUTY.
(Stick with me.)
In my podcast conversation this week with Zaynab Issa, we talk about the power of beauty. Zaynab describes how beauty, in terms of cookbook design and food styling, is often the way in for readers—it’s what captures their attention and draws them in. She explains that beauty can also communicate a message, describing how she deliberately styled the photos in her book to convey the stories behind the recipes.
More generally, our aesthetic choices communicate something about us to the outer world, whether it’s in the clothes we wear, or the artwork on our walls, or the way we wear our hair. (Of course, this isn’t always the case. I’m writing this after getting home from the grocery store wearing sweatpants with unwashed hair in a bun. My outfit today was not an intentional reflection of my style… Buuuuut, I did put on my favorite earrings and swiped on mascara… So there’s that.)
Beauty draws people in, and it can be a wonderful way to enrich our lives.
But it’s also a tricky thing, living in this culture of ours, which so often equates beauty for worth. We valorize celebrities because of the way their faces look. We dress to impress others rather than choosing clothes that bring us joy. We start to believe that if our lives don’t look like the beautiful portrayals we see on social media, we’re lacking.
It’s a slippery notion, beauty, and one that can easily slide into a sense of lacking or perfectionism.
Here’s what I’ve been grappling with this week: What if beauty was meant to be a private thing?
Beauty as a way in
I’ve been experimenting with how beauty makes me feel all week, and I’ve found that there’s a big a big distinction between finding something aesthetically pleasing and finding something beautiful. When something is aesthetically pleasing, it feels mental. It’s pleasing and can be inspiring, but the action happens in my brain.
Beauty, on the other hand, makes my heart tickle. It quiets my mind and drops me into a state of awe (even if just for a split second). Beauty feels reverent and spacious. Sometimes it feels like tears that prick my eyes and sometimes it feels like giddy bubbles in my belly. But it always feels HERE, NOW. It’s present and personal.
What if we decided that beauty was for us alone? Instead of beauty being an outward-facing endeavor, what if beauty was a private pathway to connect to our inner selves?
Open to it
Zaynab and I discussed how a beautiful plate of food enriches the experience of eating and sharing it. It feels good to present a beautiful cake to a loved one as an offering of our care. But—hang with me here—when our focus is solely on making a cake that looks beautiful, it becomes a mental game (that can easily slip into ego or performance).
What if, instead of trying to make a beautiful cake, we decided to make a cake in a state of beauty.
How do we get into a state of beauty? We just open to it. We invite it. As I’ve been experimenting this week, I’ve found that when I set an intention to look for beauty it’s like I put on life-enhancing goggles. Suddenly I can see beauty in the most mundane things—in the sweet smell of ruby strawberries (can beauty be a smell? I think so); in the flicker of flour as it pours into a bowl, catching the light of my kitchen window; in the steam from a mug of tea, made with care just for me.
I guess what I’m trying to say, my little love bugs (if you’ve stuck with me this far, you’re amazing), is that instead of making this cake with a desire to make it beautiful, make it with an intention to open to beauty. Set up your space to allow for ease (gathering all the ingredients beforehand really does help). You can put on music if you’d like, or say a little prayer, or do a little dance, but invite beauty to show herself during the process. Drop into your senses. Notice your capable hands (oh how beautiful they are). Where will beauty find you? Can you feel it?
This, I think, is the point of Life (capital L). Life is lived in the present moment. Beauty drops us into the present, becoming a gateway to our inner selves (and possibly something deeper). Beauty isn’t something to achieve, it’s something that arises, when we’re open to it.
The irony of all of this is that when we cook with our full presence, we actually become better cooks. Even more, our dishes become infused with far more care (can you taste it? I think so).
This stuff matters
Don’t be fooled into thinking that this is trivial work, opening to beauty. Oh no my dears, this is where we find freedom. This is how we escape from the tangled web of conditioning that tries to tell us what beauty should look like. This is when we create our lives, fully present and sovereign.
So this week, give yourself the gift of beauty. Not for anybody else or for a projected outcome, but because beauty can be the entryway to your heart, dropping you out of your mind and into a moment of awe and presence. These moments are so important, reminding us that no matter how fu-ed up the world out there seems, it can’t take beauty from us. Beauty is always within.
Beauty, in its way, can be a gateway to our personal power. And damn, that tickle in my heart feels so good.
A quick favor! If you’re appreciating today’s newsletter would you mind clicking the heart in the upper left corner (or bottom left corner, if you’re on mobile)? It helps others find this newsletter, but more importantly, it lets me know you’re there, a real human on the other side, forging a web of connection. ❤️
Strawberry Ricotta Cake
I have a problem where every cake I develop becomes my new favorite cake. But this cake. This cake. It stole my heart. So for this moment at least, it’s my favorite cake.
The recipe was inspired from a dear subscriber (hi Sheena!), who sent me a message telling me how much she loved this Cranberry Ricotta Cake and was wondering if strawberries would work. (Did you know that as a paid subscriber you can request recipes?). I loved the idea and started testing. To be honest, the recipe didn’t need too much tinkering, but the thing that takes it over the top is the bright pink strawberry glaze, which is a cinch to make and gets its color from pureed berries.
Below the paywall you’ll find:
A text, jpeg and printable version of the Strawberry Ricotta Olive Oil Cake recipe, with tips for foolproof results
My favorite Mother’s Day recipes, including the menu I chose this year ❤️
The recipe
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Mind, Body, Spirit, FOOD to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.