When I was a little girl, my gram, Lois Liddick, would make our birthday cakes.
She often made cakes for weddings, showers, and birthdays for fun. She was so good at it! I could tell her any cake I wanted, and she would make it happen.
I had a soccer ball cake, Cookie Monster cake, roller skate cake, kitty cake, mermaid cake, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger cakes, Raggedy Ann cake, and even a Rudolph cake! (See, I always loved Christmas.) These are just to name a few.
I probably had a birthday cake made by my gram every year until I was 16 or 18.
I have pictures of so many of these of me with cakes. Gram was so creative and took pictures of everything, for which I am so thankful.
There was never a cake where she would tell me it couldn’t be done. Gram had all kinds of fancy tips for piping icing and every color in the world for food coloring.
Every year for my birthday, I couldn’t wait to see Pap and Gram’s car pull in so I could see my birthday cake! These were homemade cakes from scratch and so delicious. I always chose a vanilla cake with vanilla icing. Still do. I’m not a big chocolate girl.
To this day, I honestly don’t even know where she learned this. It’s not like she started a baking business or anything. She did all these cakes out of the goodness of her heart and because she loved doing it.
Lois was always making baked goods for the people she loved. Her homemade bread was the absolute best! From Easter bread with colored eggs wrapped in the loaves to Christmas bread wrapped in red and green. They each had their own unique taste for that holiday. She also made monkey bread, pepperoni bread, and white bread. Lois Mae was quite the baker!
There was nothing like pulling up to their house; you could smell the bread baking in the driveway. Walking in to see them, there would just be loaves of bread lined across the counter with t-towels hanging over each loaf as they were waiting to bake. When Gram baked, she didn’t bake just one lousy loaf. Oh no. This lady baked!
When I was also a little girl, I loved going over to my Grammy Perry’s house. Margaret Perry. Grammy would pretty much let me do whatever I wanted to do. If I wanted to play games, she would play games. If I wanted to watch a movie, we would watch a movie. If I wanted to walk to the Family Dollar to get fake nails, we walked. If I wanted to make a cake, we would make a cake!
But my other grammy didn’t make cakes from scratch; we used boxed cakes and these candy letters to decorate with so that I could create anything I wanted. I could put my name on the cake or the word CHRISTMAS just because I could. Candy hearts also filled the cakes as she bought these cake topper candies on sale around the holidays. I could be as imaginative as I wanted as she pulled out a box filled with candy cake toppers.
Funfetti cake with the canned Funfetti icing was the absolute best. They don’t make Funfetti icing like they used to. Grammy always had a box of Funfetti cake and a container of Funfetti icing in the cupboard, ready to go when I visited. From cakes to cupcakes, we made it all! It wasn’t any special decorating techniques or fancy piping for icing. It was just a girl, and her grammy — making a cake with a KitchenAid mixer, and she was letting me lick out the bowl. Afterward, we would play a game of rummy and sit and eat a cake with chips and Oscar Myers’ bologna, which I would bite two holes in and lay the bologna over my eyes to peek out of. Crazy combo, I know. If I wanted spaghetti and meatballs with pancakes, she would do it! She bent over backward for me.
I had two amazing grandmothers who both made cakes so special for me. I love and appreciate a homemade cake with the best homemade buttercream icing that looks like my favorite characters. But I also loved a box cake mix that transformed into a Christmas cake in the middle of July with sugared Santas covered all over the cake with the word Christmas.
Do I make homemade cakes often? Not really. Coffeecakes, pancakes, cream puff cakes, and stuff like that, yes. But just a cake with icing, not often. But for Christmas with my Liddick family, I decided to make a cake. A Hot Cocoa cake that looked and sounded amazing, and this girl doesn’t even love chocolate cake! But let me tell you right now, this cake made me want to smack my butt and call myself Sally! Why!? Hahaha. Well, because it’s so good, it makes you forget who you are, and you are so excited that you want to smack a booty, that’s why. You think I am playin’?? Try it for yourself and then turn around and give that big (or little) booty a smack because it’s about to go down when you try this cake.
Hot Cocoa Poke Cake
Ingredients:
• (1) 15.25-ounce box of chocolate cake mix (plus ingredients listed on box)
• (1) 7-ounce jar of marshmallow creme
• 2 tablespoons water
• (1) 11.25-ounce of chocolate fudge sauce
• (1) 8-ounce tub of whipped topping, thawed
• 2 packets of hot chocolate mix or ¼ cup
• 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
• 2 tablespoons mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Prepare the cake in a 9×13-inch pan following the directions on the box. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature.
Use the handle of a wooden spoon or the thick end of a chopstick to poke rows of holes into the cake 1 inch apart.
Add the marshmallow fluff and water to a microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 20 seconds. Mix until well incorporated. The marshmallow fluff should be a pourable consistency. If it is too thick to pour, microwave for an additional 10 seconds and stir well again.
Pour the marshmallow creme over the cake. Use a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon to spread the marshmallow and press it down into the holes.
Heat the chocolate fudge sauce according to the directions on the jar. Spread the chocolate sauce over the top of the cake. Allow the fudge sauce to cool.
Add the whipped topping and hot chocolate mix to a medium bowl and gently fold until well combined.
Spread the chocolate whipped topping over the cake and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to meld.
When ready to serve, sprinkle the mini marshmallows and chocolate chips over the cake, slice and enjoy.
