Thursday, December 3, 2020

My Christmas Cake

 Finally, I found someone to push my wheelchair into the endocrinologist and managed to get an appointment today. Amazingly, the guy who was going to clean is an EMT or was. At any rate, he is going to charge me about $30 to push me in and push me out. I need no help to get in or out of the chair. It is a lot of money, but I need this appointment. 

I called on Wednesday to get the appointment, knowing I had to get in to see the doctor. Then, I called to cancel and told her the reason. THEN, I told her my problem about needing a pusher. She said she would give the message to the guy who was coming to clean, that he would be free if not cleaning for me. So, he agreed. 

Now, the get the wheelchair to car and into car. Thankfully, Tommy is really strong and can lift it. Okay, I am back after paying someone $30 to push me up to doctor's office, wait, and push me back to the car. He took wheelchair out of car and put it back, assembled and disassembled the foot rests. I desperately needed this appointment.

Wednesday, I took three packages of meat from the freezer to thaw. At dinner I managed to thaw the chicken breasts enough to throw the whole slab in a cooking bag and bake it. And, I thawed carrots. Tommy had the rest of the peas. Chicken, carrots, and peas sounds like a tv dinner...lol.

The whole chicken will go into the crockpot and I will cook in a skillet the ground pork and use half of it for taco casserole and freeze the other half of the cooked meat for another casserole later. I will probably freeze half of the casserole. 

About forty years ago, I made my first chocolate pound cake in a Bundt pan and loved it. My father requested I bring it to Memphis every Christmas. He liked it because it had no icing! 

For over ten years I attended all holidays at parties in Birmingham year round. On each occasion I made a chocolate pound cake. At one open house the person who was having an event the next day asked me if she could keep the pound cake and slice it. So, she took it home. At the same occasion another person asked me to bring one to his party. 

Finally, I baked the chocolate pound cake in three loaf pans. One loaf was perfect for each occasion. Last year was the first year in over forty years I did not bake a chocolate pound cake. I am still trying to find the recipe online. I have baked hundreds of pound cakes over the years. 

Chocolate Pound Cake is my Christmas cake. 

Do you have a cake that is your special Christmas cake that you bake? Or, did your mother bake something special for Christmas.

33 comments:

  1. Well, you didn't say if the appointment was helpful. At the clinic I use, there are volunteers at the entrance and wheel chairs, and they push people who need a wheelchair. There is a lot of walking to get to one's destination, and many aren't up to walking that far. They will return you to the entrance when the appointment is over.

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    1. Carole,
      They tell me it is not far to the elevator, then not far to the office. But, no one seems to take into account the patient.

      Delete
  2. I'm glad it worked out for you to get help with the wheelchair and get to your appointment. I know what a big job that is when a wheelchair has to go in the trunk. One needs help. I don't really have a special Christmas cake as I've never liked fruit cake or nut cake. I think the Italian Panetone cake is more my style. The kind they sell in store that is like one big pull apart cinnamon roll without the icing. My mom used to make something called Dream Bars at Christmas. You can find the recipe on Robin Hood website. These were divine and from time to time I do make them but they never taste as good as hers and I really have to watch the sugar intake. But they are yummy. Last year I made chocolate bark (white and milk chocolate with almonds) and some kind of toffee with chocolate with crushed candy canes. I have also made Chocolate crinkle cookies. All these were big hits with adults and children alike but on the whole I don't bake for Christmas.

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    Replies
    1. Joyful,
      This is not a Christmas cake as such, just what I do at Christmas. All your treats sound delicious.

      Delete
    2. Here is a very simple recipe for the Chocolate crinkle cookies if you like to try. So simple and so good. https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cake-mix-fudge-crinkle-cookies/9b11c0b4-37d5-45ed-b417-a218792ebc35 and here is a recipe to the Chocolate bark from my blog. Again so easy and so delicious. https://snapthatpenny.blogspot.com/search?q=christmas+bark

      Delete
    3. Joyful,
      I was thinking about these a week ago, wishing I had saved my recipe book. I love these and did make these for Christmas.

      Delete
  3. If you do find the recipe for your Chocolate Pound Cake, I'd love to have it (a link). It sounds like something I would enjoy as I do love loaves and I love chocolate :-)

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  4. I just found a recipe made by Trisha Yearwood. I thought it might be one that you like since she is from the south. It does seem to have an awful lot of sugar. Perhaps all the pound cake recipes do. https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/chocolate-pound-cake-2310240

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  5. I did not realize you were in a chair now,Linda. I am so sorry for that because it does complicate things.
    I hope you can find the recipe for the chocolate pound cake.

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    Replies
    1. Anne,
      I am not in a wheelchair all the time, just when I have to walk the distance required that is farther than I can manage. I don't use a cane or walker for around the house. I only use my walker to go into Belk's. So, I rarely use anything but the electric cart in grocery stores. Having to pay $30 for a person to push me complicates things!

      Delete
    2. I have used a wheelchair about three times since this time last year.

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  6. I hope you find the recipe for the chocolate pound cake and share it with us. It sounds delicious.

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  7. I always made Scottish shortbread at Christmas. It was delicious and people loved it. But, I don't bake any more.

    In my opinion it is unconscionable for a medical office not to send someone out to your car to wheel you in. I worked in the medical field for ten years and if you had called from your car we would have taken care of you.

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    Replies
    1. Anne,
      This is the only place ever to treat me this way. I don't think I know what Scottish shortbread is.

      Delete
  8. Your cake sounds delicious. I don't recall my mom or grandma making any type of cake for Christmas. Just cookies. My mom made the best sugar cookies that melted in your mouth. I have the recipe and have tried every year to make them but they never ever have turned out as good and perfect as hers always did. My grandma used to make a cookie I can't remember the name of now, but it's a batter you dip the metal "cutter" in and fry it, then sprinkle powdered sugar. I always liked helping her make those and eat them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. One,
      My mother never made enough cookies for me to remember! But, she baked cakes, pies and fudge.

      I know what you mean, the kind you dip the cutter in and fry, but cannot think of the name and don't want to look it up...lol.

      Delete
    2. I haven't looked it up either...seems like the cookie names starts with an S and is a German name...

      Delete
    3. I looked them up. They are called Rosettes and they are Scandanavian

      Delete
  9. I bake a fruit cake but it's not the usual fruit cake. Raisins, dried cranberries and dried diced dried apples in like a spice cake soaked with dark rum. I didn't do it this year because the child that loves it is the one on special diet for the cancer. Her siblings asked we have that cake in celebration of her last treatment next year.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Glad you were able to get help with the wheelchair, its difficult having to rely on others. My mum was a cake decorator& she used to make really dark, rich, fruity christmas cakes every Christmas, they tasted so good! Even though I have the recipe I never cook it as it just would not be the same.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan,
      It is so difficult!

      Her fruitcake sounds like one I might like. No, it won't be the same, but others will learn to love it, too, if you do make it.

      Delete
  11. I don't think I recall much of anything as a traditional cake or dessert from when I was young. My daddy was a picky eater, so I've been told. (He apparently would eat hamburgers but not steak!)

    He liked Angel Food cake a lot. And he also liked chocolate pudding layered with graham crackers. When you let that sit in the refrigerator, the graham crackers get soft. That was a favorite of mine for years, if only because I knew he had liked it. He died when I was nine.

    My husband's specialty is pineapple upside down cake. We're grain free and sugar free now, so he only bakes it for others. There is such a thing as a 'keto pound cake' that you might be interested in. You could search for that. It'll be much lower in carbs than a regular one.

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    Replies
    1. Alice,
      Daddy was sort of picky too, he just did not like frosting, so he scraped it off.

      The graham crackers in chocolate pudding sounds like something I need to try.

      Mama baked upside down cake, too. We loved it. No, I am not interested in keto at all. But, I might look it up in case I need one...lol. Thanks.

      Delete
  12. My mother always made a birthday cake at Christmas for Baby Jesus.
    This year I order a cake- a yule log. I like these but am too busy to make one myself.

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    Replies
    1. Urspo,
      The chocolate pound cake was an oft-made gift. I have never had a yule log. Or a birthday cake for Jesus. Ordering is fine!

      Delete

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