Best Lickin’ Ever

/ rothpoetry

Licking the mixing bowl when my mom baked cakes was so much fun. The mixer was set up on the kitchen table. I pulled out a chair and climbed up on it, sitting on my knees, and watched the spinning bowl. The rich chocolate batter flowed smoothly through the beaters as the bowl rotated hypnotically round and round. She used a wooden handled rubber spatula to clean the crumbs of mix off the outer edges of the bowl.

When all was blended, she poured the mix into a 9 x 12 glass cake pan. Now it was my turn. She loosened the beaters and gave them to me one at a time to lick off. It was wonderful to run my tongue up and down each of the tine, getting chocolate from ear to ear.

Then it was time for the bowl. She left little streaks of chocolate decorating the inside of the bowl. I licked both sides of the spatula; then used it to scrape out every bit of chocolate batter that I could get. It was a wonderful time to bake with mom when I was six!

Waiting anxiously

Chocolate lava oozes through

Mixing bowl is mine

Photo: Family Album – the house where I was born

Today at d’Verse, Lillian asked us to take time to reflect and take note of memories from our childhood that are not from photos or family stories. We are to write a Haibun sharing what we conjured up from the depths!

Join us at: https://dversepoets.com then click Mr. Linkey and read more!

94 thoughts on “Best Lickin’ Ever”

  4. This is so funny! And familiar too. Brought back memories. My mother used to give me the bowl whenever it was emptied of some delicious food, be it custard or ice cream or some curry. It would be a wild flurry of finger scraping, licking till the bowl shone before being put in for washing. I was a greedy child and my mom used to say the I cleaned the bowl so well and made the washing of the bowl a much easier job for her 😊

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  8. Aww, this is such a lovely and beautiful memory! Such happiness here, almost being drowned in that moment and how fun it is. Isn’t that the best part of cooking? Tasting the unfinished product to make sure it’s just right before it goes into the oven? 😉 I am now craving a chocolate cake, thank you.

    When reading, it kind of reminds me how much I loved cookies when I was a child. My mom made some and while my parents were on the phone with my grandmother, I snuck some from the fridge and went under their master bed to eat the goods. Yes, the perfect hiding spot. Never said I was bright, Dwight.

    My mom, appalled, said I could have just asked for the cookies, not go into hiding. 😀 Your fun memory reminded me of something long-forgotten.

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  9. Your piece of work reminds me of my sister 😹 she’d rather prefer to sleep late when mom is baking cakes just so she can lick the whole bowl. Sometimes she even begs her to pour the batter into the baking tray with respect so as to leave a fair share for her in the bowl😹

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  14. Oh yes, licking the mixing bowl! What a great memory! My grandson does it when my daughter bakes. Your description of your mother baking a chocolate cake has my mouth watering, Dwight.

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  21. LOVE LOVE LOVE this memory! Especially the specific little details like the wood handled spatula and your tongue running up and down the beaters and it still getting on your face!
    I must admit, as an adult in my seventies, I make Julia Child’s chocolate mousse every Christmas. My husband and I both enjoy licking the bowl and the beaters….and we still end up with chocolate on our faces! 🙂

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  23. Warrn and wonderful memry. Of course now it would be verboten because the batter had raw egg in it! Once the children are grown and gone, it’s the cook who gets to lick the beater!!,.

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  24. This is a perfect blog post. Evocative, mouth-watering AND inspiring so many happy memories which are then shared in peoples’ comments. And hurrah for 50+ year old mixers which still help to make delicious cake batter! ps: I also remember the sound our mixer made while blending cake batter…

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    • It was a wonderful memory that came to the surface as I rode the old trails of my mind! It really did seem to resonate with many others. Thank you Will for sharing your comments and thoughts on this.

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