May 30, 2008 - Let Them Eat Cake!

My grandmother once told me that, back when she was a little girl, a woman was well known in the community by the cakes she baked.  It’s my understanding from the accounts she and my Dad have given that her mother baked excellent cakes.  My only regret is that I never got to try them myself.  But, as I have proved this year, that hasn’t stopped me from trying my own hand at this branch of the culinary arts, and I’m only just getting started.

A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.   –Benjamin Franklin 

For New Year’s Eve I made a New Year’s Almond Legend Cake from a recipe from my great-aunt’s cookbook.  Unfortunately I neglected to take any pictures but everyone said it was delicious (and I’d have to agree). Please feel free to e-mail me if you’d like this recipe.

Vegetables are a must on a diet.  I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.   –Jim Davis

In February I made Felicity’s birthday cake.  She requested Lincoln’s Favorite Cake from The American Family Cookbook.  Before the list of ingredients it says, “Mary Todd, before her marriage to Abraham Lincoln, is said to have made this cake for him, and the verdict was--‘the best in Kentucky.’”  It is a white cake with almonds mixed in and a fluffy almost marshmallow type frosting.  The result of my efforts was a slightly dry cake but overall it was a success.  Here’s something to make your mouth water:

You know you’re getting old when the candles cost more than the cake.   –Bob Hope

One month later my sister Josie and I both had the urge to make a cake.  So we found a recipe that sounded interesting and put spoons to bowls, despite the fact that we had obligations later that afternoon and were leaving the next day for a weekend long trip and still had to pack.  This time it was a Flourless Chocolate Cake.  Josie always makes the kitchen, well, different:

Now, it did warn us that the cake might fall, and wouldn’t you know it, it did.  But, as I’ve always said about all of my cakes, so long as it tastes good who cares if it looks good enough to go before a judge (unless of course it was for a competition)! 

A cake is a very good test of an oven: if it browns too much on one side and not on the other, it’s not your fault – you need to have your oven checked.   –Delia Smith

Last month, I made a coke cake from a recipe in the Texas Co-op Power Magazine.  Once again I neglected to take any pictures but this was probably the best of all the others.  Instead of using Coca-Cola I used A&W Root Beer, and let me tell ya’, root beer cake is top notch!  It turned out so moist and there was tons of it from just one batch and it was easy to make.  Find It Here.

A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake.   –Alfred Hitchcock

Then, way earlier this month my youngest sister Felicity, our friend Christine, and I baked a basic chocolate cake, whipped up some white frosting, and shaped it into an Easter Bonnet, going off of the example in The New Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook.  This time the cake was just slightly dry and the frosting was somewhat grainy but it made an adorable cake.  Felicity picked a few wildflowers to decorate it with and we all enjoyed it for dessert that night.  I wish I could post a picture but it’s on Mom’s cell phone and we can’t get it off yet.

A compromise is the art of dividing a cake in such a way that everyone believes that he has got the biggest piece.   –Paul Gaugin

Last but not least, this past Memorial Day I made a cake especially for my Dad (‘cause he didn’t get to try ANY of the others I’d made).  He requested a Hawaiian Delight Cake, one his Mom made a lot when he was a kid.   I did get a picture of this one but not until it was half eaten:

The only “mess-up” with this one was a rather runny frosting.  The recipe calls for a can of partially drained pineapple “in heavy syrup.”  I got pineapple in it’s natural juices so should’ve drained them all the way.  Oh well, it was delicious!  And again, if you’d like the recipe please e-mail me, I’d be happy to share it. :-)

Let them eat cake.   –Marie Antoinette

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