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.
Beautiful post! I couldn’t have said it better! 🙂
such a cute cake! love the post by the way 🙂
thank you for your lovely post – i will be making this cake soon (have to get to the store to buy some Cheerios) and when my kids ask why they’re getting a delicious dessert, i will have another opportunity to teach love and acceptance.
Wonderful post and a lovely cake!! 🙂
Thank you……I could not have said it better and I’m headed out the door to buy some boxes of Cheerios !
LOVE your post and and comments. Love and commitment is love and commitment no matter between whom. That is our right to love whomever we choose. We have a daughter who has been with her partner for 25 years and they have two wonderful daughters that they raising to be loving, caring wonderful human beings. They are blessed to have two moms that love and cherish them and color or sex has nothing to do with it. As family and human beings we just need someone to love us. I commend Cheerios and all of you that have stood up for love, what is good, fair and a belief in making the world a better and more loving place.
Are you kidding! There has been such an uproar against the ignorant idiots who wrote the
hateful comments that there have been independant blogs with pictures of interacial couples
and families taking pictures with cheerios boxes. Not to mention Cheerios is having a surge
in sales as well! I am so glad they are still showing the commercial too! Way to go!
The “mother” in me loves this post because it’s lovely and it’s cool that you felt compelled to speak out on this. The “cake maker” in me wants to know how you got your layers SO decadent if there’s no filling in there! 😉 Great post; love it.
My husband told me about this controversy yesterday. I was confused and thought maybe people were upset that a bunch of cheerios were wasted on a man’s shirt. Then, he told me it was about race. Oh, when will we all grow up??? Love your cake!!
I just read your post. You are absolutely right. RACISM is taught. I remember taking a class in psychology. The difference between racism and prejudice was explored. Not only that, but my professor had us all read an article on how racism is created by the “silence of the good people,” as you mentioned before. By that I mean when a kid points out the differences in the skin color of another kid compared to his or her own skin color, there is nothing but ignorance behind it. Overhearing such an ignorant comment, instead of addressing the issue, the child is hushed by his or her parents or by another adult. WE, as adults, know what racism is – it is the way we choose to address skin color and the ways we choose to teach our children that makes them grow to either appreciate others NOT by their skin colors or to define others by their skin colors alone. I’m sure shushing the child was meant with good intentions, but the act of shushing alone directly puts the idea of another skin color in a negative category, something that is “hushed” must be something bad, hence the idea of racism, and hence the child reacting to it negatively especially if the idea of skin color is never addressed nor explained. When a child is hushed, they think something they’ve done is wrong. However, is there a way to explain the differences in skin color? And if there is, does that mean in a little part of each of us, we are all racist for realizing the differences in skin colors? Of course the answer is no. Whether we choose to get offended or not by these statements is the key to any actual existence of “racism,” which is exactly what happened in the case of the Cheerios commercial. Everyday, I hear people say “that’s racist” or “that’s not fair” or “why is this show all white” or “she’s the token black girl,” but honestly, any actions taken to ensure that some event or some t.v. show or some school is diverse suddenly becomes an act of racism. There is nothing to be explained, as there is nothing to be offended by. Skin color is just skin color, we can all get tan, we can all get lighter – solely from the environments we live in.
Thank you for your blogging entry and the wonderful, wonderful cakes and frosting techniques that you take the time to share with each and every one of us. I’m relieved to know that there are still sensible, loving people left in this world. Why must everything become a controversy?
Well thought and well delivered….