It doesn’t get better than a good devil’s food cake made from scratch, with milk chocolate buttercream frosting, the kind my granny made and most likely passed down from her granny, too.
It’s just plain good for what ails you. Nothing extravagant required, just a few ingredients from the pantry and the fridge — real butter, heavy cream and never imitation vanilla extract, of course — a mixing bowl, measuring cup and a hot oven. This is the moment in the story where you probably think I am about to walk you down memory lane back to when my mama let me lick the beaters, but the truth is that the best chocolate cake I ever put in my mouth was from the elementary school cafeteria in Richton, Mississippi.
After recess, sweaty little boys and girls stood in the long lunch line that wrapped around the red brick building. We were hungry as all get out. The cafeteria ladies wore hair nets and big smiles, greeting us with small talk about our good grades, freckles or our part in the Easter program.
My favorite question to answer was: “Banana pudding, Jello, or chocolate cake today?” Since I have never met a banana that I liked, I stood up tall and pointed past the brightly-colored jiggly desserts, pretending not even to see the banana pudding, and through the foggy glass window toward the divine chocolate cake. It was truly the centerpiece of my early education, and I’ll let you pass your own judgments about that confession.
It pains me now to think that might be the best chocolate cake I will ever taste since I’m sure the ladies who made it have long since retired their aprons. Mind you, I have been to the flagship Hershey’s store in the heart of New York City and have disported with some mighty fine confections in my time. Tiramisu, red velvet cheesecake, pecan pie and lemon meringues all take a backseat to that heaven-sent cafeteria cake served up beside minute steak, mashed potatoes and milk from a carton.
Perhaps it has something to do with the memories associated with that simpler time, because I doubt Martha Stewart or Paula Dean would be equally impressed. They might think they could do better. Nevertheless, I sat between Vernon Renee and Misty Ann every Friday as we devoured that cake, giggling about nothing and everything. Mostly we plotted how to get a second slice.
So, after watering my potted pansies, I think I will go into the kitchen, uncover the aluminum foil now spread over my guilty pleasure, and prove that sometimes just for the heck of it, I can still have my cake and eat it, too.
Email reaches former Columbus resident David Creel at [email protected].
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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