(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
 Loading ... Scroll Over the Stars to Rate This Post!

I have addressed the fact that my mother was not the best of cooks in a previous post… and, having not been the best of cooks, I think there was a little bit of recipe withholding that went on…

A competition of sorts.

Ingredient Coveting if you will.

Please, allow me to explain.

My mother had 7 brothers and sisters and while I am not sure whether their mother (my grandmother) was a good cook or not, I do know that each of the three oldest girls pried certain recipes out of their mother as the years went on. Lasagna, Cioppino, Spaghetti Sauce… (odd, since we are almost 100% Irish) and the prize of them all, the most coveted…

The Prune Cake Recipe.

As a child I was… a ‘finicky’ eater… so I didn’t try the Prune Cake until I was about 17. Really. I. Held. Out. That. Long.

What was I thinking?

OHMYGAWD! It was an incredibly moist, light, sweet cake, with an all, real whip cream frosting. It was full of flavor and depth, and not too sweet, and not too heavy… and the perfect desert after a big, holiday meal.

Prior to my mother’s death (1 year after my grandmother’s) my mother gave me the Prune Cake recipe in my grandmothers own hand writing. that. suspicously. looks. like. my. moms. hand. writing.

I don’t mean to sound distrusting, but I do have to mention that in all the years that my mother made that recipe, I never saw her looking at any kind of written recipe. I also have to present the fact that her other younger siblings (she was the oldest) never had the recipe. It was my mothers job, every Thanksgiving (for everyone) and Christmas (for our immediate family), to provide the Prune Cake. In fact, since my mothers death, no one has been able to re-create the recipe, including her sisters.

Why, if my mother made the recipe for 30+ years, would she need my grandmother to write out the recipe?

Suspicious I say.

Don’t ask, but I have been carrying that recipe in my purse since I got it. I think at first, it was because it was - oh hell. No excuse or reason will sound good… so I just carry it… OK?

I have been thinking about it a lot lately. The cake, not the recipe. I remembered that it was in my purse. The recipe, not the cake.

I decided to pull the recipe out tonight to see if there was anything I could decipher that I haven’t seen before.

It’s like carrying around a portion of a treasure map, hoping one day you run into the other half.

Here is how it reads.

Prune Cake

1 1/2 cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon mutmeg
1/2 teaspoon simmonon
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup butter or margerine

cream butter and sugar until well blended. Beat eggs and put them in the sugar and (something indecipherable) and beat well. then take the (something) and put in the flour, simmonon, utmeg and chocolate (um… that wasn’t in the ingredients) and soda all together once and just ack in sifter and sift over e beaten eggs, sugar, and utter gradually, with the prune juice last - put the prunes, cut them small, and mix ll togeather.

- (I interrupt. The prunes and the prune juice are not in the ingredients portion of the recipe.) -

(filling) (Yes, with the parenthises).

One small carton of whipping cream when it starts to get thick put in one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of chockilate. (again, where was the chocolate in the ingredients?) Beat - until it gets thisk. Don’t Beat to stiff or it will turn into butter.

Put between the cake and over.

(Interruption: I swear to god, the end of the recipe says):

“I don’t think I gave you a very good recipe over the phone.”

Looking for a little help here…