The cake looks lovely, and the mixer is covered again until Christmas, when I can unwrap it again and say, "My, what an expensive and useful gift! Thank you so much, Lyman."

It took a while to work up the nerve to have the scent of baking chocolate cake wafting through the house. Yeah, yeah, I know.

We bought the big mixer for two other uses: to grind meats and stuff sausage, and to knead bread. We'll get to it.

UPDATE: For the finishing touch, I'll take it to her tomorrow in her mother's stainless cake carrier.