Those of us who were born with very ACTIVE imaginations, know that we can make a marble game into the Olympics if we are turned loose to plan as we wish. It was impossible for me to start the dreaming process without the "BIGGER IS BETTER" attitude. I remember asking my Mother if I could mke a birthday cake for my brother, Sterling. He was just younger than I and his birthday was July. She asked me not to make a big mess and if I did I must clean it up.
Box cakes were not on the market yet so I was going to go from "scratch". Mother's receipes were in a shoe box and that, in itself, was a real fun trip. I started to read them and the more I read the more I thought I could open a restaurant. I finally settled on an applesauce cake. It called for buttermilk, but we didn't have any of that. To remedy that fact, I just mixed butter and milk. Mother had a hand mixer that did a fine job. By the time I was putting it in the oven, it looked like a war had taken place there in the kitchen. Mother was so good at letting us "fail"! That is not easy for any leader.
Finally, after an hour baking in the oven, I was ready to take it out and frost it. I had already made the frosting. Because it was a birthday in July, I had made three colors of frosting. Red, White, and blue. In using the food coloring, I had wiped it from my hands to Mother's coveted WHITE dish towel. I did not clean up as well as I could have because I was BUSY making a flag cake!
I just knew Sterling would love it. It was our tradition to let the birthday person choose the menu for the evening meal. I hoped Sterling would choose fried chicken because that was MY favorite supper.
I do not even remember what he chose because I remember the tragic end of my beautiful cake.
The candles were put on the cake and Sterling had made his wish. We sang the Happy Birthday song now it was time to cut and serve it.
The cake smelled wonderful as it baked. I would never have this kind of cake failure again. Sterling got the first slice. As it was being transfered from cake pan to plate it fell apart as if it was rice! What? WHAT? Oh, the anguish of seeing the frosting and cake as if it was a caserole dish!!
The butter I used was home made. I meant to use a cup full, but when I discussed it with Mother, she informed me that the plate of butter measured out to two cups. I was just going to use one cup milk and one cup butter.........buttermilk!
I don't think the pigs appreciated the greasy sweet cake as it was being served with potatoe peelings, left over beans and any other food garbage. Mother reminded me that because I did not ckean the kitchen as I knew I could, I could practice on supper cleanup..
So, that is that! Follow the instructions carefully and do not just suppose you can do it YOUR WAY!
Remember; LIFE IS SIMPLE, SUGAR IS SWEET, BOOTS ARE BLACK, CEILINGS ARE
WHITE, AND DO NOT MESS IT UP!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment