My Man’s birthday is this week. I asked him what kind of cake he’d like for his party. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Oohhh, I want the cake that my grandma always had at Christmas time.

Me: Okay, what kind of cake was it?

Him: Chocolate with this amazing frosting! She always messed it up, but it was so good!

Me: If she always messed it up, how will I make it?

Him: No, it was good because it was messed up.

Now, at this point, out of my undying love for my man I called his mom. She agreed to give me the recipe (after the made sure it was the right recipe…”the one Grandma always messed up?”). While reading the recipe, my mother-in-law stopped several times to say, “I’m not sure what this means. Maybe she meant this. I think you’re supposed to do it this way.” She ended her instruction by saying, “She baked it in a 9×13 pan at 350.”

Me: Ummm, how long should I bake it?

Her: I don’t know. It doesn’t say.

Well, I figured I could do this. It couldn’t be that hard. I got the ingredients and got started. I got the batter mixed and went to pour it into the pan, but it was VERY runny. So, I asked my man to call his grandma, just to check on it. She said that it is more runny than other batters. Okay, so far, so good. Then I asked her how long to bake it. She said, “you know, until it rises.” Well, I don’t know. I am the kind of person that follows the recipe carefully. Don’t tell me to “add a little” whatever. No, give me a specific measure. I do okay with “a pinch”, but anything else must be specific. Well, I guess I’d have to just see when it rises (sidenote: it rose but was still gooey, so that wasn’t even a good direction).

The cake is in the oven and I start on the frosting. When I finished and tasted it, I thought it was kind of blah. My man tasted it and said, it tastes about right (not the affirmation I was looking for).

Well, in the end, the cake looked and tasted delicious! So we have a new recipe (one that my man says will be made at least annually for his birthday), and I felt pretty good about myself. The “always messed up” cake was a success!

I know you’re all dying for the recipe, but I am still deciding if it will be a family secret or not. I’ll let you know.