Cakes
Cakes, cakes, cakes. What would a special occasion be without a cake? When I was a little kid, I looked forward to birthdays and holidays, partly because of my mother’s abilities in cake making. My mother loved cakes. She would make a cake on a whim, as well as for a dedicated reason.
There are so many photos of cakes in the family album, I thought I would share a few with you. After all, the photos have no calories!
The cake above was made for James Gorham, my son, and her grandson.
She would add store-bought decorations like little ceramic Easter bunnies, or a miniature diploma, or candied confections.
The photo above shows my (late) brother, Steve, “wearing” and holding two decorations and sitting before a scrumptous piece of cake that my mother made for him when he graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a teaching degree in Agriculture.
Mom would experiment. She would “bake from scratch,” or bake with a cake mix. Her cakes came out well, no matter what. I have her recipe for Buttercream frosting down to a science: 1 box of Confectioner’s sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 stick of unsalted butter, and 1/4 cup milk. She liked to add peach preserves in the middle of a layer cake.
Her Christmas cakes always had white frosting and coconut on the top, and sometimes, strawberry preserves, in the middle. Her German Chocolate cakes were a lot of work and very special! I really liked her Confetti cake, and Angel Food cake, served with Strawberries, or dipped in Chocolate Fondue.
This photo is from 1986 when my mother made a cake for Jim’s birthday, knowing that he loves chocolate!
During my lifetime, I have made my share of cakes, too.
This highly-decorated bear cake was a “bear” to complete, and it is the only cake of its kind I ever attempted. It was made for my son’s 4th birthday.
I hope you have enjoyed this brief romp through the photo album. Let me know if, on the basis of seeing these photos, you just had to bake a cake! pat@quiltersmuse.com
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
