I try to stay away from controversy on my little baking blog.
I have a philosophy… it’s silly I know. But I believe that we can all unite over cake. No matter your beliefs or views or politics, we can all come together and celebrate with a beautiful and delicious cake.
When I heard that there was a controversy over a Cheerios commercial, I was deeply saddened.
After seeing the commercial, I literally had no idea what the controversy even was! In case you are as blissfully naive as I am, the issue was race.
Some people were upset that the husband was black and the wife was white and that they had an interracial child.
Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
I don’t want to be a part of the appalling silence anymore.
After reading some of the awful comments people have made, it’s clear to see that their minds are not going to be changed through some brief internet interactions. I am never going to argue someone into seeing my perspective.
Instead, what I do want to focus on is solutions.
This cake is simple. Overly simple some might say, but that was intentional.
I feel like the solution is simple.
Teach love.
I can certainly make sure that I am raising intelligent, well-mannered and considerate young people who understand that our inherent value is not based on appearance.
Simple.
I can model the behavior that I want to see in them. I hope that my children will see in me a love for others, regardless of physical appearance. I hope that they will remain blissfully ignorant of the pain and destruction caused by prejudice and racism for many, many more years.
Maybe we can all make a simple cake for someone you love!
Now. Do you want to know how I really feel about segregation?
Ahem.
Just in case you want to make your own Cheerios Cake here is what I did:
Make the perfect white cake in two 8-in rounds and the best chocolate cake in two 8-in rounds.
I then whipped up a batch of chocolate buttercream to cover the cake. There is no frosting between the layers.
Using Chocolate Cheerios, I spelled out the word “love”. For the individual slice, I just poured some more Chocolate Cheerios over the top to add some texture and depth of flavor.
I want to sincerely thank you for your post. It brought tears to my eyes. I hadn’t seen the commercial, but did here the controversy over it. I am from in interracial family and my daughter is too. I actually feel sad for the individuals who have negative comments regarding interracial families or any other kind of family. They miss out on so much. Some things we have to take a stand on. We raise our daughter to love and share and interact with PEOPLE. My daughter turned 11 yesterday, she still doesn’t see colour. If I ask her who a certain child is in class, she describes the colour if their PE team shirt, not their skin colour. I love your “protest” with the Cheerios cake! We always buy Cheerios and I will make this cake. Thank you so much again for speaking out.
This is amazing! The words you’ve written, the cake you baked–thank you for a thought-provoking, inspiring post!
YOU are awesome!
And you make wicked cool cakes too!! 😉
Thank you for speaking up, Amanda. Let’s all be part of the solution, not the problem!
This is beautiful, Amanda. I can’t understand the cruelty that some people afford to others simply because of melanin. xo
Was just thinking about you. Miss you! Hope all is well!
Amanda, this is amazing. As a mixed race family, all I can say is THANK YOU. 🙂
I LOVE LOVE this commercial!! The precious little girl reminds my family of my husbands cousin daughter. They are an interracial family and so is ours. My husband is white and I am spanish and jewish. Sadly, my husbands grandmother did not want an interracial mix in her family and truth be known all of her grandchildren married someone of a different race.
ALL the great grandchildren are beautifully interracial and softened her heart to the point she realized her unfortunate thoughts were wrong. Praise God for these beautiful blessings!
I don’t purchase Cheerios for other reasons, but this sure is a silly thing to get upset about. I sometimes forget how judgmental people are.
I’m white, and my almost husband is black. He has two black daughters, and we’re hoping to have a couple more kids, who (duh) would be half black/white.
I love seeing mixed race families! It shouldn’t be a challenge, but it is. We have differences, and we love them. We embrace learning about each others’ race. Especially with kids, the dialogue is open and honest that not everyone thinks the way that we do.
The more common mixed-race families become, the more they will seep into the core of the public’s thought processes. This commercial is a great way to show it!
Beautiful. You’re always on the ball with the best things to say at just the right moment 🙂