Jessica Chastain recently celebrated a sweet, food first! The Molly’s Game star baked her first-ever cake on Sunday, December 8, and documented the entire experience on Instagram.
“We’re making a banana cake. I’ve never made a cake,” the 42-year-old declared with a laugh as she poured some ingredients into a bowl. “It’s for my sweetheart’s birthday,” the star added as the camera focused on a snapshot of her husband, Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo.
Chastain then blended the batter with a hand-mixer, which proved a little more difficult than she expected thanks to some stubborn beaters. Once the cake was in the oven, the Academy Award nominee kept a watchful eye on it. “The only thing that’s making me a little nervous is it’s very thin,” the actress explained as she peered in the oven. “It’s like a big cookie.”
Sensing that the pastry might not end up as tasty as she had planned, the California native added: “It’s from the heart. That’s all that matters, right?”
Like any novice baker, Chastain then worried about when her confection would be finished. After removing it from the oven, she stuck a toothpick in the middle to test for doneness. “I can’t tell if that’s done,” she exclaimed as a toothpick and later a knife emerged from the dessert covered in a bit of cake. “I can’t tell!”
The It Chapter Two actress then decided to put the cake back in the oven for “a few more minutes” just to be safe. When the cake emerged from the second time, Chastain was still unsure if it was completely cooked. “Ugh that’s pissing me off,” she said. When a knife stuck into the cake was covered in dough, her patience grew even thinner. “That shit ain’t cooked!” she said, as she placed the cake in the oven yet again.
Eventually the pastry finished cooking, and was perhaps a little overdone. When Chastain tapped a knife of the side of the dessert it made a hard sound. “I’m not sure that’s a soft, moist cake,” she acknowledged with a laugh.
In an attempt to salvage the sweet treat, the Golden Globe winner covered it in chocolate frosting and fresh banana slices. “It looks disgusting,” she admitted.
Though Chastain may not have been a fan of her own creation, she had support from pal Reese Witherspoon, who left an encouraging comment on the post. “The bananas cover EVERYTHING,” the Big Little Lies star quipped alongside a laughing-crying emoji.
What’s more? Passi de Preposulo approved too. “Wow,” he said when his wife showed him his birthday treat. It appears Chastain eventually came around as well. “In case you were wondering … it tasted great because it was made with love,” she wrote in the caption.
