Candy Bar Poke Cake

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SweepTheMess #CollectiveBias

This cake is a beautiful mess of sweet, salty, crunchy, chewy, and everything in between. Basically straight up delicious!

I grew up in a big family. Ten kids. And when we were younger and there were only 5 of us kids (haha, like that is a small number), we lived in a 3 bedroom house. One of the rooms was teeny tiny, like, only one twin bed could fit in it. One was the “master” of sorts, where my parents slept, and the other was a large spacious room in the attic area of the house, with slanted roof and all.  This meant four of the kids shared one room, and one kid got their own room. The coveted tiny bedroom.

You guys, I ALWAYS got my own room. In order to be fair, my parents made a rule that whomever kept their area/room the cleanest got to have their own room. And it was always me. I like clean. I like organization.

If you were to ask my family what one of the most important things is to me, they would probably say my blog, my family, my religion, etc. but they would also probably mention having a clean house.

Now, if you were to come over today, for example, you might laugh at this, because my house is far from clean.  Picked up, yes. But not what you would expect from someone who claims to be a bit of a perfectionist. In fact, in our house we have two ways of describing cleaning. “Clean” and “Mom clean”.

Today I am reflecting on how the lives we lead, flour dusted counters, and broken eggs included, can be a mess, but they can also be a thing of beauty. If we choose to see it that way.

I have a good life, but sometimes I let the messes get to me and make me unhappy!

When I get creative in the kitchen, it gets totally destroyed, and I understand that. My messes are part of my creative process. I am responsible for them. I clean them up. And I am fine with them. Unfortunately, I am not always as understanding of my kids’ messes.

But I realized something, I can make myself crazy and unhappy. OR, I can look at the messes with a new perspective. I can look at it as part of the creative process of making a life together!  I can look for the beauty in the mess.

This shift in attitude and perspective has not been easy. I have a real struggle with this every single day. Sometimes I quietly go about my way, clean when I can, and try not to let little messes overwhelm and infuriate me. But other times I don’t do as well, and then I yell, and my poor children kick it into high gear to get things cleaned up so I won’t be mad.

Over the years I have had to really work hard to relax my attitude about messes, with four young kids messes happen, every day, every where, in every way. So while I still struggle with messes, I am learning to see the beauty in the mess, and find gratitude for the messes and what they signify about our lives. Clothes on the floor means we have plenty to wear. Dishes in the sink means we ate a healthy meal. Toys on the floor means my kids are playing and using their imaginations.

They are messes, true. But they can be so much more than that if I will just get past the overwhelming feeling that comes with dirt, grime, and a sink full of dishes, and instead focus on what actually matters—the memories and lives that went into creating those messes.

So after a tough last couple days with my kids, and more messes than I will ever have energy for, I decided I needed a reminder of why it is okay to have a mess, and a reminder to see the beauty in the mess.

I invited my kids into the kitchen with me to create beautiful memories while making a beautiful mess, and a tasty treat. I knew I’d have a mess, and a lot of dishes to clean up, so I prepared myself mentally, and with the right tools, and told my kids everyone would need to pitch in on clean up!

And my floor…you guys: flour and chocolate and egg shells everywhere! Thank goodness I have the O-Cedar Angler Broom to help me get into those hard to reach crannies under the counters, because it is a mess…a big beautiful mess!

But look how cute it was, having all my kids (even my 2 year old) help with the clean up!

So let’s get to this recipe:

You can use whatever type of cake you want, I chose white cake, and then you just poke holes, and put your topping on. The holes allow the caramel to seep in and give it a nice flavor throughout. My kids loved it!!!

Then I finished topping it and let it cool!

While I munch on a slice of this cake, and edit this post, I am continuing to work on shifting my attitude from a “need for clean” to a new perspective that helps me appreciate the mess and what it means. I encourage you to do the same, to look beyond your messes and find that thing of beauty they represent: imagination, creativity, having enough, health, family, love, friendship, and memory making!

I absolutely loved this video that quite literally showed how this artist could find and create beauty from a mess! Be prepared to feel inspired. I know I did.

I’ve shared how I found beauty in our mess. I’d love to hear about yours! Leave a comment sharing why your messes are beautiful and enter to win a prize:O-Cedar “A Beautiful Mess” Giveaway