Family Traditions

When Stacy woke up, she laid in her bed for a moment and then suddenly sat upright. “Today, I get to learn to bake a cake with Momma.” Stacy almost yelled the words because she was so excited. The nine-year-old brushed her teeth and hair and was dressed very quickly. Five minutes after getting out of bed Stacy was bounding down the stairs to the kitchen to see if Momma was there yet.

Momma was sitting in the kitchen drinking her morning glass of milk and reading the newspaper with Daddy. Stacy started jumping up and down and asked, “When do we get to start?”

Momma looked at Stacy slyly. “What do we need to start? Is something interesting happening today?”

“Momma, Momma, today you are going to teach me to make a cake. You told me so last week.” Stacy was jumping up and down so hard it looked like she might jump through the floor. “I know you remember. Are you trying to make me cry?”

Momma laughed and said, “I am simply playing with you, Stacy. After breakfast, I will teach you to make a cake.”

Stacy grabbed a bowl, spoon, a box of cereal, and a jug of milk. “Cereal is quick and easy to eat for breakfast so we will be ready to make our cake in no time.”

After Momma finished her milk and newspaper and Stacy finished her cereal, it was time to start making the cake. “Our first step,” said Momma, “is to pick out the recipe and read it from beginning to end. Which type of cake would you like to learn to bake today? You may choose from chocolate, white, or angel food cake.”

“Chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!” Stacy could barely contain herself as she yelled her answer to her mother. Momma was not surprised; she knew chocolate was Stacy's favorite flavor of cake. Momma went to the cupboard to get out the tin box she used to organize her recipes. Momma came back to the table with a card and told Stacy to read it out loud.

Stacy read:

“Chocolate Cake

½ cup butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 cup of sour milk*

1 ½ cups sugar

2 cups flour

3 Tablespoons of cocoa in ½ cup of boiling water

Melt butter. Add sugar, eggs, baking soda/sour milk mixture, flour. Mix well. Add the cocoa/boiling water. Mix. Pour in a greased and floured 9 x 13 cake pan. Bake at 350º for 25 minutes, then check. Might take a little longer. (*To make sour milk add 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup milk.)”

Momma asked Stacy, “Do you understand why I wanted you to read the entire recipe before starting any other steps?”

“Not really,” Stacy replied.

Momma explained, “People write recipes different ways. You may notice there are additional ingredients listed in the directions section instead of the ingredients section. If you read the entire recipe first you can make sure that not only do you have all the ingredients, you also have the necessary utensils, and other cooking, mixing, or baking items you need. We shall start by collecting the utensils and pans we need in case we need to find any of them. We need two saucepans, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a whisk, three mixing bowls, and a 9 by 13-inch cake pan.”

Stacy scrambled to help Momma locate the materials they needed and bring them to the counter. “Do we get to collect the food now?” Stacy asked breathlessly.

“Yes,” replied Momma. “We now need butter, eggs, baking soda, lemon juice, milk, sugar, flour, cocoa, water, and grease.”

This time, Stacy was more careful when gathering the items because she did not want to drop or spill any of the ingredients. Now that all the necessary items and ingredients were on the counter, it was time to start making the cake.

Momma told Stacy to read the recipe out loud again so Stacy would have the steps clearly defined in her mind before they started making the cake.

“Stacy, we need the saucepans and the mixing bowls to start.” Momma said as she spread out the two saucepans and three mixing bowls. “We are going to place each of the ingredients in front of the pan or bowl it needs to start with. The butter needs to be placed in front of one of the saucepans and the water needs to be placed in front of the other saucepan. The milk, baking soda, and lemon juice need to be placed in front of one of the mixing bowls. The cocoa needs to be placed in front of another mixing bowl and all the other items should be placed in front of the largest mixing bowl.”

“Next we are going to grease and flour the cake pan. People use different ingredients to grease a baking pan. Some people use butter, Crisco, lard, cooking grease, or a spray. We are going to use Crisco and all you need to do is put a big spoonful in the pan and use your fingers to rub it everywhere inside the pan. Once you have finished greasing the pan you will sprinkle some flour on top of the grease and knock the pan from side to side to get the flour to cover all the grease. Set the greased and floured pan next to the mixing bowls.” Momma continued.

“Now it is time to boil the water and melt the butter. When water boils some of it evaporates so we want to boil more water than we need so we will still have at least ½ cup of water when we finish. I usually put in approximately 2 cups of water when I boil water.” Momma said as she held the saucepan under the faucet and turned the water on. Momma placed the saucepan on a back burner of the stove and turn the heat on.

Momma showed Stacy how to read the measurements on the stick of butter to determine how much was needed for ½ cup. “Because ½ cup equals one stick we do not need a knife to cut the stick of butter.” Momma said as she showed Stacy how to turn on the stove burner to low heat, place the opened stick of butter in the saucepan, put the saucepan on the burner and slowly move the saucepan in a circular motion to keep the butter from burning. Stacey and Momma shut off the burners when the butter was melted and the water was boiling and moved back to the counter.

“Next, we will mix the lemon juice and milk to make sour milk in the mixing bowl. Then we will add the baking soda to the sour milk.” After Momma and Stacy finished mixing the ingredients, they placed the bowl in front of the larger mixing bowl to be added in later.

“Now we can mix the cocoa with the boiled water in the second mixing bowl and place it beside the mixing bowl with the sour milk mixture in it.” Momma told Stacy. Stacy carefully stirred the cocoa into the boiled water Momma had measured into the bowl.

“Okay Stacy, it is time to start mixing all the ingredients together in the empty mixing bowl.” Momma started rattling instructions to Stacy. “Pour in the melted butter, then the sugar, now the eggs, add the sour milk mixture, and do not forget the flour. Mix them together and add in the cocoa water. Mix it all one more time and pour the mixture into the cake pan.”

As Stacy finished pouring the mixture into the cake pan, Momma turned the oven on to 350º and opened the door. Momma told Stacy to place the cake pan in the middle of the oven. “We will let the cake bake for 25 minutes and then test it with a toothpick.” Momma said.

Twenty-five minutes later Momma showed Stacy how to insert a toothpick into the middle of the cake and pull it out to look for sticky batter. The toothpick was clean, and the cake was finished baking. Momma used the oven mitts to lift the pan out of the oven and place it on top of the stove to cool. “After the cake cools you can frost it if you like. There is canned frosting in the cupboard, and you can choose which flavor you prefer.” Momma told Stacy.

Stacy had frosted a cake before, so she did not need any instruction. There was German chocolate frosting in the cupboard and Stacy chose that flavor because she knew it was Momma's favorite. After the cake was frosted a while later, Stacy and Daddy helped Momma make lunch.

“Do we get to have chocolate cake for dessert after lunch?” inquired Stacy.

“Of course,” said Momma. “How did you like your experience baking a cake today?”

Stacy thought for a moment and replied, “It was a piece of cake!”