Have Your Cake.....

My mom used to make this incredible cake.  I have no idea where the recipe came from originally so I can't give proper credit.  It is always a hit with guests and family and I am often asked to bring it to family gatherings.  My sisters-in-law also make Mom's cake. Mom was a cake snob.  Yes, she was. She always made her cakes from scratch and would look displeased if it was a "box" cake. Imagine our surprise when Mom started baking cakes from the dreaded boxed mixes.  

  

Karen asked me to bring three cakes to Tim's party and this is the recipe she chose for me to make.

This is a really nice moist cake.  We keep leftovers in the refrigerator.

Mom's Chocolate Kahlua Bundt Cake

1 box chocolate cake mix (really any variety will do)

1 small package Instant chocolate pudding

2 cups sour cream

4 eggs

1/3 cup Kahlua

3/4 cup vegetable oil

6 oz chocolate chips

Mix the first 6 ingredients together and beat for 5 minutes

Pour into a greased and floured bundt pan

Scatter the chocolate chips on top and cut slightly into batter with a knife

Bake at 350 for 60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out onto serving plate.

Serve cold with whipped cream.  Best with homemade whipped cream flavored with a little Kahlua

Some other time I will give you Mom's Pineapple Orange Cake.  

Thinking about Mom, I am reminded of the "sisters' cookie competition" that went on every holiday when I was a kid.  My mom had six sisters, but only three of them lived nearby. Come Christmas or Thanksgiving, each sister baked and baked and baked cookies and then baked some more.  Each sister would load her best and largest silver platter with maybe a dozen different kinds of cookies.  We always thought our mom's cookies were the best.  One aunt used anise and almond flavors in her cookies which I never liked much, but she made the best butter cookies and cannolis.  Another aunt made wonderful pizzelle cookies although we always called them Navela cookies because they were orange flavored.  But mom made Christmas tree cookies, chocolate pecan cookies, cinnamon stars and a number of other delights.  The only cookie she baked that I didn't like was fruitcake cookies which took her forever to make.  Whenever I think of my mom I always picture her in her small kitchen baking and cooking.  I am sure she would rather I remember her for being a successful legal secretary or editor of a Lockheed newsletter well into her 80s, but I remember her in her kitchen.  I really think she was happiest there making food for everyone.  It was how she showed love.

For many years I made cookies en masse at Christmas, too, but then I just stopped.  I can't remember why, but my daughter Amy also has fond memories of her grandma in the kitchen baking. Amy has many of mom's recipes and my recipes and she faithfully keeps the tradition and makes a dozen different kinds and gives big plates of them away to her neighbors and friends. 

Traditions are so entwined in families.  Some are deliberately made and some just happen.  Some are fondly remembered and some we might just wish would disappear, but they stay with us in actions or maybe just memory.  

Comments

[TACE]

Cake, yummmm. I haven't made a chocolate cake in......now that's down right appalling...I can't even remember the last time I made a chocolate cake. I think it's because if I'm gonna have chocolate I go for brownies but that recipe of yours looks delicious. I put kaluha in me, I mean in our brownies, it adds great flavor and richness.
Funny that you were musing about holiday traditions in this post. I was thinking of them myself today. I don't know that I have any traditions of my own started yet, other than the obvious one of being with my husband. But no specifics of like a certain kind of cookie, or whatever. Actually I take t back, I usually make arrowroot squares, intense chocolate cookie base with a mocha frosting. MMmm, I almost forgot about them.
Great post! I always enjoy your blog so much.

[Just A Plane Ride Away]

I loved this post Ginny! I used to be a big Christmas cookie maker--since age 9. But I really haven't done a lot of baking in recent years. I am inspired by all the baking going on, though.

Thank you for sharing your mother's cake recipe! I will be sure to pick up some pudding while I am in the states! I have had some success locating cake in a box (the kids love this for some reason).

I shall think of your mother and her sisters and all of their cookies while I bake something today :-)

[Marianne]

One of my favorite holiday activities is baking. I had alot of training when I was a little girl. Both my Mom and Aunt worked at a bakery. Thanks for bring back such great memories.