christmas: memorial pound cake baking

each year it gets a little less sad...

it gets a little easier..

it grows to be a little more tradition.

you may remember my post last year about our annual christmas pound cake baking..

or, you may be a new follower (hello! :) & have no clue what i'm talking about.

in february 2005 my granny passed away.

she was my mom's mother, a mother of six children... and was a single parent no less.

she sacrificed a great deal during her life for her children..

more than i'm sure even my mom & her siblings know about.

she has a sad story.. but that's not the story i want to share tonight.

the one i want to tell you is about a woman who was more filled with the christmas spirit every year than anyone i've ever known.

her family grew from six children to include their spouses & 12 grandkids..

and she never failed to have at least one present under the tree for each.

i can't remember a time when those presents didn't include if one

& most of the time, two of her famous pound cakes.

multiply two by six & add the all the neighbors & co-workers she baked for..

and you can understand why one person would have to start two weeks before christmas just to get it all done.

the point is, she loved christmas.

the lights, the songs, the decorations, the baking, the time with family..

and most of all.. giving.

so, when that first christmas after she passed came around..

it was difficult for anyone to imagine what it would be like..

the hole she left in our lives seemed to grow exponentially at christmas time.

we were really grasping at anything to help bring back some christmas spirit that first year...

and somehow we came around to the idea to carry on baking pound cake, just as she had...

that first year we got together was a real eye opener.

we baked ALL DAY.

and i mean ALL DAY.

i think we made something like 30 pound cakes.

it was insane to think one person did all of it alone.

but we laughed.

and we reminisced.

and i'm sure there were a few tears as well.

but we made it through the grief together...

and we created a new tradition, to carry on her memory.

this year was our 7th year making pound cake in her memory.

it's almost hard to imagine that mason was just 19 months old that first year,

running around getting into everything..

and this year it was rance up underneath everyone's feet,

while mason rode the 4 wheeler with his uncle ricky..

i don't think it's ever easy to let go of a loved one..

i'm just glad we have something to bring us together to remember her by..

plain pound cake:

-1 cup crisco
-1 stick butter
-3 cups sugar
-5 eggs
-3 cups flour
-1/2 tsp baking powder
-1/2 tsp salt
-1 cup milk
-3 tsp vanilla

preheat oven to 300.

1. mix flour, baking powder & salt. set aside
2. in separate bowl cream crisco, butter & sugar. add eggs, one at a time.
3. combine dry mixture with wet mixture.
4. add milk & vanilla.
5. pour into greased loaf pan. bake 1 hour & 15 minutes.


chocolate pound cake

-1 cup crisco
-1 stick butter
-3 cups sugar
-5 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla
-1 1/2 cups milk
-3 cups flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 tsp baking powder

preheat oven to 300.

1. mix flour, salt, cocoa powder & baking powder. set aside.
2. in separate bowl cream crisco, butter & sugar. add eggs.
3. combine wet mixture & dry mixture.
4. add milk & vanilla.
5. pour into greased loaf pan. bake 1 hour & 15 minutes.

you can certainly stop here.. but our favorite is marbled pound cake...

marbled pound cake:

1. make one of each of the above recipes.
2. in greased loaf pan alternate dropping batter by spoonfuls in bottom of pan. (should look like a checkerboard)
3. for the next layer drop alternating colors on top of the first layer.
4. once pan is full, take butter knife & insert into pan swirling batters. DO NOT OVER MIX!
5. bake @ 300 for 1 hour & 15 minutes.

(i just realized... in all our years,

i apparently have never managed a picture of an actual BAKED pound cake!)

only three more days until christmas,

are you ready?! :)

xo-k

linking to:
fireflies & jellybeans
house of hepworth
tales from bloggeritaville
ladybug blessings