The Poppyseed Production

I must confess:  I make the world's best poppyseed cake.  Even my mom admits in her cookbook, "All our family loves poppyseed cake, but it is Teresa's specialty."  While I make this lovely cake on a fairly regular basis, I go a bit crazy during the Christmas season.

It all started back in the 1980s when I was putting Baird thru grad school while working at a law firm.  I wanted to do something for the people in my department, but we were poor as church mice.  I decided the cheapest easiest thing to do would be to bake poppyseed cakes in mini-bundt pans, wrap them up in colorful plastic wrap, make a cute little tag for them, and call it a gift.  I think I made half a dozen that first year.

Baird liked the idea so much that when he started working at Allstate, he asked me to bake a few for him to hand out.  When Kelsey started at Irving, she asked me to make a few.  Now, with three kids in three schools and a hubby who's worked at the same place for more than a decade, this "little project" has grown into a major production.  Baird's list alone is starting to push three dozen.  Drew wanted 18 for the teachers at Irving.  Erin needed another eight; Kelsey just asked for one big loaf.  I needed ten mini-loaves as thank-you gifts for the directors of the various AWANA clubs.  At this point, the count's up to seven batches, and I haven't even thrown in friends and neighbors!

Normally when I make my poppyseed cake, I throw it in a loaf pan.  The recipe's big enough that I can get a regular-sized loaf plus a couple of mini-loaves out of one batch.  It's a pretty straightforward process but it's a little time consuming.  I usually don't mind the process, but this time of year, it completely takes over my kitchen, all those mini-bundt cakes and mini-loaves hanging around.

Since Monday, my kitchen table's looked like this:

My countertops have been covered like this:

And my kitchen floor is covered in boxes that look like this:

I love my family.  I love poppyseed cake, and I love baking it.  I have, however, completely hit my limit this year.  I'm ready for this "little project" to be over.  Seven batches in two-and-a-half days?  Enough already!