This was a cake that almost didn’t happen.  I knew Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim had out of town guests coming and I wanted to have a surprise cake ready when they were done with dinner.  I knew I only had about 3 hours, but no problem, right?  Wrong!

Since Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim already likes the special gluten free pound cake (recipe graciously shared by Shirley from Gluten Free, Easily) I got started with that.  Only thing, after I was already hands deep in ingredients, I realized I didn’t have enough of Shirleys gluten free flour mix – no problem I thought, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has taught me to use my creativity and come up with a solution.

Ok, I still had just enough of the arrow head gluten free mix , so I mixed away, happily.  When it came to taste testing the dough, I was shocked beyond belief – really!  Shirley’s recipe, that wonderful pound cake recipe, was completely and utterly destroyed by using that purchased flour mix. Seriously!  It had that nasty, tell tale soapy/gritty taste to it that I and most member of my household and friends detest.  (Side note:  must be that the bananas and coconut covered up that nastiness when I made muffins using that mix)

By now, there was no more time left to do something else – again, I thought about Grandmaster Kim’s words of wisdom, “your thoughts create reality”  and “you are creative energy” and first off, I threw in a couple handfuls of blueberries, and a handful of nuts.  Better, but still not what I wanted.

I put the batter into a bundt pan and sent it baking (325 in my convection oven does it best).  Now I went on a treasure hunt in the fridge and pantry.  What to do with this cake to make it a success?

“The power is in you, it is your personal choice what you do in your life” is what Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim tells us, and she is right.  With gusto, I took out 2 8 0z cream cheese, sour cream, some strawberry jam, and instant gluten free pudding mix.  I started by mixing the cream cheese until it was soft, added some sour cream to make it smoother, then added about a cup full of jam – taste test- yum!  I added the pudding mix mostly for stability and now it was really really good.  Done!  For a future version, I am considering adding some “spirits” into this, perhaps something fruity.

When I split the cake, it looked great, but it was slightly dry still.  So I took out some of the inside of the cake to create an internal tunnel, and let it cool off more.  In all honesty, the cake would have been fine with just a layer of filling.  But once the creative bug bites anything can happen.

I had some almost paste on hand, and sliced it thinly and lined the cake “tunnel” with that.  Filled it with the cream cheese mixture and put the lid on, and covered everything with the filling and for good measure, added some sprinkles for color.  I always like colorful creations, because, as Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim points out, colors are important for our energy field and well being.

Then I stuck this beautiful cake into the fridge, until serving time.

I never imagined what happened next – it was the most successful cake I ever made – not just successful gluten free, but successful overall.  It got gobbled up in no time at all and even people that bypass cake for ice cream enjoyed it.

“Expect Success” is what Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim told us at the beginning of the year, and it is true – when you expect it and work towards it – it will come to you!

And thank you Shirley for the awesome recipe that was nice enough to hold up to all the abuse I put it through!  😉