What a ​four-​year-​old ​taught ​us ​about the ​magic of ​baking​ a chocolate ​cake

Valentine’s is on the horizon, which means we are about to officially enter chocolate cake season – that soft-focus part of winter when confectionery and romance blur together. For our four-year-old goddaughter, it is always that time of year. Just hearing the two words together makes her roll her eyes and roll out her little tongue in anticipation of pleasure, like a cartoon kid. When we told her we would come and bake a chocolate cake with her, there were squeals of joy.

Settling on a recipe was the first challenge – Ravneet Gill’s fudgy one, Felicity Cloake’s perfect one and Benjamina Ebuehi’s traybaked one were all contenders. We eventually landed on Samin Nosrat’s much-loved, tried-and-tested midnight chocolate cake.

It was to be a learning experience for us as much as for her – we never knew that you can make chocolate cake only while wearing a crown. She had to explain this to us at length. The reasoning had something to do with warding off ghosts and crocodiles – or perhaps the crocodiles were warding off the ghosts, and the crowns were for something else. Bluey was involved as well.

After donning our crowns and aprons, and setting off to the kitchen, it became very clear who was actually in charge of the process. Heavy is the head that wears the crown, and the girl, who speaks mostly in the imperative, began shooting out instructions with the speed and confidence of a football coach. At one point, we had to cut baking paper to size, then we had to draw dragons on the baking paper, which led to a very serious discussion about which of the dragons was good and which evil, and how many there should be of each, in case we needed to draw more. (The verdict: in life, as in cake, balance matters.)

Here be dragons … Itamar and Sarit’s godchild takes the lead. Photograph: Itamar Srulovich

When baking with a child, precision gives way to play, efficiency to imagination. Throwaway moments – lifting a heavy bowl, cracking an egg, sifting cocoa, licking a spoon, placing a cake in the oven – become moments of reverence and revelation. Burying our noses together in the cake fresh out of the oven to breathe in that smell, the anxious anticipation for it to cool so we could decorate it. There is no overstating the importance of sprinkles to the process – here, more is more is more is more, and the merits of each type can be endlessly discussed and compared.

Over the next few weeks, we will be baking lots of chocolate cakes, as well as babkas, heart-shaped cookies and many other sweet romantic treats, and while we have certainly – maybe sadly – outgrown sprinkles, this kitchen experience has been a timely reminder that baking is nothing short of magic.

All of this is to explain that if you see us in one of our places carrying a tray of baked goods, we may be wearing paper crowns. Feel free to talk to us about dragons.

Our month in food

Repeat visit … dosas at Hoppers. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

An island paradise | Around about this time last year, we were in Sri Lanka, and a chunk of our heart is still there. We were thinking about it when ensconced in the beautiful new Hoppers in Shoreditch, where everything – the light filtering through the slatted shutters, the beautiful painted ceiling, the tunes from the speakers, the woven rattan bar and chairs – reminded us of the enchanted isle we love so much. Everything on our table was a perfect balancing act: the potent heat of spice tempered by the richness of slow-cooked meat, seared seafood and fish, flashes of tamarind and guava, chilli-dipped lime … The crab omelette is something we will order every time we come back here, which will be often.

An Italian culinary getaway | Our fantasy holiday is something not far off this: an olive grove in Abruzzo, in-depth culinary tours in one of the world’s most beautiful and delicious regions, and two legendary chefs to cook for, and with, us. Rosie Sykes and Barny Haughton are giants of the food world and will take a lead on this Italian getaway of dreams.

The return of Nigella | We are giddy with joy at the news that Nigella is joining The Great British Bake Off team. She has been off our screen for a criminally long time and Bake Off has been off our radar for years, but suddenly it’s got interesting again. What will the queen of the double entendre do when she is facing a soggy bottom? Finally, something to look forward to.