Life is particularly hectic these days. Something had to give and I decided it probably shouldn’t be my children’s education.
I may find time to post a recipe now and then, but it will probably be sporadic at best for a time.
I hope to be able to post more regularly sometime in the future, perhaps next summer.
Thanks to Mom’s culinary endeavors, our pantry is generally stocked to overflowing with nutritious and yet gourmet foods that please everyone from the youngest to the oldest. They’re designed to stretch our pallates while soothing us with a sense of the familiar. Or not.
Do we love great food? Oh yes. But we’re not that weird. Five nights out of seven, most of us would just as soon eat a grilled cheese sandwich as the gourmet meals that Mom prepares. Complete with the fake Kraft cheese. And non-organic ketchup. However, we do fully appreciate Mom’s efforts in the kitchen.
However, sometimes even the best cooks try recipes that really do go awry. One perfect example is presented by what we fondly refer to as “The Chocolate Nightmare Cake”. Her intentions were noble. It was the middle of summer, the sun was beating down, the thermometer was soaring, and bored family members aimlessly wandered the path between the garage and the living room. So Mom decided to make a sumptuous chocolate cake. This wasn’t just a plain sheet cake, either. It was the real deal.
She enhanced two white boxed cakes and created four layers of vanilla richness. Then she created a sinfully delicious milk-chocolate frosting. Emphasis on the milk. It was nothing short of fabulous. The only hitch was that, by the time she was done thickening the frosting with powdered sugar, there was about 3 gallons of the stuff. (Or should I measure that in pounds?) There was a lot. Way too much.
Ignoring that issue for the moment, Mom turned to the task at hand: applying the frosting to the cake. Have I mentioned that the kitchen was hot? The first layer went on as expected. Mom set the second cake layer on and began to frost the top. And then things started to slide downhill. Literally. The second layer started to slide off towards its impending doom.
The gravity of the situation began to dawn upon us. The frosting was melting before our eyes. Mom shoved the bowl into the fridge to chill. A few minutes later, the frosting looked stable. So Mom pulled it out and began to frost the sides. This time she moved fast. And the frosting moved faster. Drip. Drip.
And suddenly, her magnificent tower of chocolate began to look like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Finally, every inch of the cake was covered in (rapidly liquifying) chocolate frosting. Mom pushed the cake into the fridge, slammed the door shut and reassessed the situation. What were we going to do with the massive amount of extra (melting) chocolate?
What are neighbors for? Mom whipped up another cake mix and slathered excess frosting on it. Then we bore it down the street and delivered with a stern warning: “This is . . . um . . . melting. You should probably put it in the fridge. Soon.”
Don’t get me wrong – the cake tasted great. And I’d love to provide you with a recipe so that you could recreate The Chocolate Nightmare for your home. Unfortunately, in the rush of rescuing the cake, Mom neglected to write the recipe down. Sadly, that recipe has disappeared from history forever.
The End.
~Emily
Emily Adams is the oldest daughter of Kathy Adams and a 2007 graduate of Belhaven College. She is a freelance writer and firmly belives that reality is funnier than fiction.
It feels like I haven’t blogged in ages. The time saved not blogging has allowed me to spend time in other areas:
In all honesty, I probably could have accomplished the above and blogged. However, I really couldn’t think of anything worthy of penning. So, I thought maybe it was appropriate to use the “time crunch” excuse to say good-bye to Bona Vita.
But, then I would miss my blogging friends. And I know Emily would miss our mother-daughter “bonding” moments over photo editing in the wee hours of the morning. . .
So, I began to think about all that I could share here today.
I would love to tell you about my daughter’s and son’s road trip to Florida this weekend. I could spend several paragraphs explaining the car trouble they encountered in Nashville. The bottom-line is God sent them an angel in a not-so-angelic package. This rough and tumble good Samaritan went above and beyond the call of duty to help them alleviate their auto problems (all on New Year’s Day). They were back on the road in record time. This was accomplished with out him expecting anything in return. Maybe I will elaborate on this story in another post.
I might spend some time writing about the Basic Instructor Workshop for Cued Speech that my kids are attending in Tampa (thus the road trip) this weekend. But, I think I will save that for another time, as well.
I could just wax eloquently about Cued Speech. I might define it for you and discuss it’s history and uses. I could tell you what a huge blessing it’s been to our son as he works on language acquisition. But then I would be led to talk about cochlear implants . . . I would get quite excited as I think about the possibility of our son receiving his second implant allowing him to have binaural hearing. I am not ready to go into this yet.
I could visit the subject of ice fishing. I don’t know much about this topic. I have become more aware of this sport lately. Our view of the pond on the 18th fairway has been transformed into a view of sportsmen precariously engaged in, what I consider, another “extreme” sport. The whole thing makes me nervous. . . Will they fall through the ice? How can we help them? Will they want our help? Should we throw them a rope? For now, I watch as they haul in another fish. How many 4 inch fish would one need to provide dinner for a family of 11? I think I have exhausted this topic.
So, instead, I will share a terrific recipe for a coffee cake that I have been serving my family for years. The recipe originated in the Better Home and Garden Cookbook. Of course I didn’t leave it alone. I have been tweaking it routinely.
Coffee Cake
3 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 tblsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 oil
Preheat the oven to 375°. Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir the milk, eggs and oil together and add to the flour mixture. Mix well. At this point, you can add 1 to 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips or nuts if you desire. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the mixture. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 – 35 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out clean.
Topping
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tblsp. butter
Combine utilizing a pastry cutter until uniform and crumbly.
After you remove the cake from the oven drizzle sparingly with a thin powdered sugar icing.
Powdered Sugar Icing
1 Cup sifted powdered sugar
2 – 4 tblsp milk
1/2 tsp. flavoring ( vanilla, almond or orange)
Combine powdered sugar, flavoring and enough milk to form the desired consistency.
Serve warm. This warm, fragrant cake always makes hearts happy.
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” – Psalm 100: 4-5