Creativity - No pan needed

Cakes don’t need to be baked in pans.

At least that’s what I discovered one day after I moved in with my boyfriend in his Brooklyn apartment back in my 20s.

Having a serious boyfriend was rather new to me, and actually living together was brand spanking new, too.

I wasn’t much of a cook, and honestly, I'm still not, but I remember for a few weeks, I was having a lot of fun planning and cooking meals. 

And then one day, I decided I was going to make a cake. So after work, I popped into C-Town for cake mix and frosting, then headed home to our apartment. I prepared dinner and then I started mixing the ingredients for the cake batter.

The very next moment I realized that I didn’t have a cake pan. 

As I looked around the kitchen of this bachelor pad that was slowly showing hints of our two worlds merging, I took note of what I did have. And quickly figured out a solution to my problem.

I had a flat baking sheet and some aluminum foil — and that’s what I ended up using.

As I pulled out the foil and began crafting a thick square shape, I chuckled at my creativity.

Because that’s exactly what it was.

Something as simple as using foil to create a makeshift baking pan for my cake batter was a creative idea that worked.

Sure I worried that the liquid batter would come spilling out somehow. And yeah, maybe others would have thought it was either a really stupid idea or a really resourceful one.

To me, it was just a fun experiment. A way to still (hopefully) bake the cake I wanted to make.

And it actually worked.

So if you think you’re not creative, you might be overthinking it. 

Creativity is the use of your imagination. It’s you thinking of ideas or alternatives that will help fix problems, or communicate with others or provide entertainment. 

Creativity doesn’t have to be perfect. 

It doesn't have to be some masterful work of art.

It’s just play. 

Playing with ideas. Trying things out. Figuring out what works. Jumping into what’s fun. Leaning into what’s scary. Expressing yourself. 

And if you want some fun ideas and experiments to tap into the energy of play and creativity, check out my Play Deck.

Because the more playful you are, the more creative (and magnetic) you become.