Let Them Eat Cake

A number of years ago, our daughter, Kelly, gave Claire a recipe for a cake. It turned out to be very popular with just about everyone, and Claire made it often when we had guests for dinner, or sometimes just for us. The name of the cake is “Kelly’s Chocolate Cavity Maker Cake.” If you’re interested in trying it, it’s one of the recipes that’s in the St. Agnes Cookbook that Claire put together a number of years ago.

I guess because of the name, I always thought about an experience we had more than 40 years ago. Living in Manila, we had a filipino maid that was an excellent cook. And our cook, Carmen, had a “cousin” that was mostly Chinese (I never fully figured out the relationship) and her cousin didn’t speak English nearly as well as Carmen. But it turns out that the “cousin” was actually even a better cook than Carmen, and she often helped Carmen in the kitchen when we had dinner parties and sometimes she just came over and hung out for a few days at at time.

One year on Claire’s birthday, we came home from work and were planning to go out to celebrate her birthday later that night. When we came in there was a very big, elaborately decorated cake sitting on the table and Carmen and her “cousin” were smiling ear to ear. It was very impressive. The frosting had all sorts of designs and swirls in it. Claire was absolutely thrilled and heaped praise on both Carmen and her “cousin.” Carmen said that her “cousin” had made it especially for her birthday. Claire asked how did she manage to make some of the really intricate designs in the frosting. The “cousin” said, “I use toothbrush.” I guess Claire’s expression changed a bit on hearing that, and apparently, the “cousin” noticed it and understood her concern. She said, “No worry, Mum — I no use your toothbrush — I use my toothbrush.”
We could never think of Kelly’s cavity maker cake without remembering that birthday…..
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