The Cycle of Cake-Makers

Growing up, my mother made the birthday cakes for my brother, sister and I, provided that a birthday was remembered and that we had gas and electricity at the time. She didn't enjoy cooking or baking. This was just her thing to do. Any off-brand cake mix in a box with the coordinating frosting in a can would do. In her haste to get it over with she'd turn it out of the pan before it was cool enough and it would crack. Then, she'd frost it while it was still warm and the frosting would melt into puddle around the cake. "It ain't pretty, but it all eats," she'd say.

Although my dad had strong opinions about what made for a good meal, he never complained about my mother's lopsided and lumpy cakes. He knew better. "It all eats," he'd say in response to our looks of disappointment over our birthday cakes.

Years later, my dad developed a heart condition that prevented him from preforming his duties as a security guard. Not one to just sit around and do nothing, he decided to take cake decorating classes. It was a far stretch from his more masculine profession, but he embraced it with fervor. He and my mother became a cake-making team. She'd bake and he'd decorate. Only then did he complain about her cakes. "You gotta have patience," he'd say. Eventually, he got her to stop cracking the layers but she never would invest more than 30 minutes total on preparing and baking. It took him hours, sometimes an entire day, to decorate her cake made of off-brand cake mix in a box. The cakes were beautiful, but they lacked that certain feeling of specialness a cake should evoke at a celebration.

Now that I'm grown, I bake the birthday cakes for my children. Like my mother, it's my thing to do. However, it's not just my thing. Like my dad, I also decorate the cakes. I've made a flower, a dirt track, a doll, an Elmo, a Telletubby (Po), a Barney, a round, a square, an oval, and shapes that don't have names featuring characters my kids can't even remember the names of. If they request it, I make it. I even made an ice cream volcano cake covered in fondant once. And if you think that's no big deal, try doing it, and then transporting it to the party 10 miles away, in August! In Louisiana!

Making my kids' birthday cakes is also my thing to do because I love doing it! The cakes may not come out perfect, but they know that I gave it my best and that their birthday is pretty special to me.

The flip flop cake is my most recent birthday creation. I affectionately made it for my second child, Chloe, who turned 9. Happy Birthday, Lola!

The Sweet Taste of Pralines

Sugar, butter, and condensed milk - three basic ingredients that when combined and placed over medium heat can yield either the smoothest and sweetest of treats or a complete disaster.  (If you think that "complete disaster" is a rather dramatic way of referring to failed pralines, then you have either never had them, or else you are lacking a sweet tooth that aches for them!) 

There are thousands of recipes for pralines, each varying in ingredients, cook times and methods.  A variety of milks and sugars may be used and nuts are optional. Some even go so far as to recommend the type of pot and stirring utensil to use.  

There is really no wrong recipe, but there is also no full proof one. Praline-making takes practice and patience no matter the recipe, pot or spoon.  It also takes persistence. Chances are you won't get it right the first time, which is totally normal.  If you're really committed to making pralines you need only to determine your mistake and try again. It may be that your recipe needs to be tweaked, or your cooking time adjusted.  The more you experiment the more you realize that praline-making is about timing, strategy and the weather, of course. You must stir continuously, even when your arm gets tired and your fingers begin to cramp, maintaining a keen eye for the changes your efforts produce. If you allow your woes to eclipse your anticipated reward, you will end up with sticky clusters that won't "turn," essentially Pralineless! 

Keep at it, stir, evaluate, and repeat. Think ahead.  Be ready. Lay out the wax paper to receive your clusters, have a cup of water nearby in case your pralines begin to turn in the pot. Your sweet tooth is hankering, so work quickly but don't be too hasty.  Be mindful of the things that are out of your control but certainly not uncontrollable, like the weather.  Making pralines takes more time and effort when the weather is damp, and quicker, more decisive action when it's cool.  Keep your mind on the end result, the thing that got you making pralines to begin with: satisfaction for the sweet tooth!

My experimentable, tweakable, irresistible praline recipe:

Pecan Pralines

Ingredients:  4 cups sugar

1 can condensed milk

1 stick butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups pecans

Directions:   Put sugar, condensed milk and butter into a black-bottom pot and bring to a boil; Stir constantly with a wooden spoon; Pour in vanilla and pecans; Bring to a soft ball; (Cook time: 20 minutes, longer in damp weather); Remove from heat and stir until mixture thickens; Drop tablespoonfuls of mixture onto wax paper; Cool and serve.

 Ummmm! The sweet taste of a praline! C'est tres bon!