Residents of the Chilly North, to wit Lily, Hubby and boys, breezed in to have breakfast with us last Saturday when we were barely out of bed. They'd driven all night, en route to a week at the beach, another hour south of us.
In anticipation of their arrival I had made a cake. I found the recipe in the food section of the newspaper earlier in the week. It was called Depression Cake. Two cups of hot, strong coffee were involved---always a good sign. A generous number of raisins, some shortening, some sugar and lots of spices were added. No eggs, no butter, no milk---hence, a cake that could be made when those commodities were in short supply, during the Great Depression. What the heck, I thought. I always like to try something new.
Lily could not help smiling when she spotted the cake on the kitchen counter. Lifted the cloth covering it, smiled, and said "Oh! Chocolate!"
"Oh-oh!" I thought. "Now I'm in trouble."
I should know better than to mess with the tried and true. Keeping my voice cheerful, I explained how I'd spotted it in the paper last week; how it sounded "interesting." How it was called Depression Cake....Surely she'd be intrigued by that.
"Oh. I think you mean 'Depressing Cake,'" she responded glumly.
"Why depressing?" I asked, knowing full well.
"Because it looks like chocolate...But it's not. I call that depressing!"
Looked like that cake was going to stick around for a while. Grandson number one said he'd try some, but one bite and he changed his mind. What had I been thinking,I wondered. Some of the pistons in my brain [brains have pistons,right?] must have mis-fired......No one was showing the least bit of enthusiasm.
The OC likes a smackeral of something sweet with his tea in the evening. That's something he has in common with Winnie the Pooh...As a result, he has something else in common with that endearing bear! But even he turned up his nose at my Depression Cake. So, if you want the recipe, you'll have to call the newspaper. Or dig down to the bottom of my rubbish bin.
Yesterday I made another cake. A Tried and True cake. A cake I've made a few hundred times before. And carried it to Lily at the beach. To atone for my sin. A cake I knew would not depress her. Because it has cocoa and chocolate chips. And, in case the calories incline her towards depression, the beach is right outside her door, so she can run it off......
By the time we left the beach last night, every crumb of the Not-Depressing cake had vanished.
Which just goes to show, if you have a sure thing, don't turn your back on it in favour of a depressing experiment!
10 comments:
I think too really enjoy Depression Cake, you had to recreate the atmosphere of that time, i.e. give them nothing else and have them shivering out in the cold, hungry. Then serve the cake. Perhaps that last part should be added to the end of the recipe.
Ok, had to laugh at Lone Grey Squirrel's comment! I think she's right -- we have it too good these days -- we want the best! I've made the same mistake before -- I love to try new things, but when you mess with family favorites, it always bites you in the butt. Great recovery on your part!
Depression cake sounds like a waste of ingredients, even if you like strong black coffee. Chocolate cakes, on the other hand, are very difficult to walk past without nibbling, tasting, chewing, appreciating, swallowing, and going back for another mouthful.
Don't know if that cake would go here either, but I makes the cocoa cola chocolate cake and it is my hubby favorite, glad your cho. cake made everyone happy! HAVE A GREAT DAY!
i tried substituting spices for cocoa in Skippy's Salad Dressing Cake - you'd have thought i was trying to poison the lot of them ... the ingrates
Well, that's a bummer. The cake sounds interesting to me.
A variation on the theme: we had a potluck at preschool yesterday. All the kids were desperate to have brownies ... until they discovered the brownies had mint chips in them. Their mouths were set for something else, I guess.
You can't mess with family favorites - they're liable to lynch you! blessings, marlene
A beach holiday in March? Sounds very strange to me... Still, lovely to have Lily and co around.
LG Squirrel is right.
That's the only way to make a creation like that something to look forward to.
However... sounds like you made some amends with your chocolate heaven cake!
And off to the beach with it, too!
Does it get better?
I don't think so. Not at all.
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
I admit Depression cake sounds just that! I hate raisins in cooking, and also spices in cakes. Chocolate on the other hand..
Glad it all ended well, good excuse to get to the beach too.
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