1/14/10

Ode to Chocolate Cake and Chuck

All week long I've been wanting CHOCOLATE CAKE. So yesterday I said to myself "I'm an adult. It's a free country. I'm gonna make a chocolate cake today!"

Inspired by all things Farmer, I used the recipe on the back of the Hershey's cocoa powder box.
Because who really knows chocolate better than these people?
Also taking James's advice (or is it James'), I substituted a cup of strong hot coffee instead of boiling water. Ina Garten says coffee really brings out the chocolate-ti-ness of chocolate. You know what? She's right. But even if she was wrong I'd probably still do it because she said so!

Oh it is good...chocolate perfection.
Seriously THE best chocolate cake...a classic.

I also want to say a quick word about my grandmother, Chuck. Today would have been her 86th birthday. She died last April, just 19 days before Stephen Small, her first great grandchild was born. Chuck was a dear dear woman to me, my family, and so many others. She was a woman who LOVED the Lord and talked about Him incessantly. A fond memory I have of her death (if it is possible to have a fond memory of death) was at her funeral as the family processed out of the sanctuary; I saw a woman sobbing on the back row. Afterwards, my brother, sister, and I asked who she was. My parents told us that she was a single woman who had lost both of her parents years ago....upon her loss, Chuck told the woman that she would commit to pray for her daily because she no longer had parents to do so. Even after Chuck had moved to a nursing home she corresponded through letters and prayed for her younger friend faithfully. What a ministry my grandmother had! This little story is one of many. Chuck was a tiny woman, but a prayer warrior. I'm thrilled that Chuck gets to spend her 86th birthday with Jesus in heaven. She has been dying to go there for as long as I can remember. (No pun intended.)

Family photo taken on the day of Chuck's funeral. I was 38 weeks preggers with Stephen Small.
This is one prayed-up bunch of folks.


Hope this inspires you to love others in the form of prayer!

Real prayer is life creating and life changing.
-Richard Foster from the Celebration of Discipline.

A big AMEN to that!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chuck was amazing, I have such happy memories of visiting her in Jackson with you.

I want a piece of that cake, now! I bet the coffee really adds. That In a Garden... she knows what she's doing.

lauren hutcheson said...

OMG...Im drooling over the cake! It looks divine!

Lynn Beck said...

Thanks SB -- loved what you said about Chuck. It made me happy and sad at the same time - but mostly happy. You're right that she's celebrating her b'day in the place she most wanted to be!

abbiegrace said...

Sweet Chuck! I remember visiting her house years ago--near Bellhaven I think. I remember there was a lake (or pond?) nearby with tons of ducks that would come right up to us.

What a sweet post for a sweet grandmother. Thank you for sharing your memories!

Susie Talbot said...

Happy Birthday in heaven Chuck! I'm glad I got to know you too.

Chocolate AND coffee..what better combination? How about chocolate and butter...hmmmmm

leslie the young mother said...

I made the cake. And you were right, it's the best ever! I'm still enjoying a piece, or two, every day. This is when I'm glad Matt isn't a sweet eater, ha :)

I love your stories and memories of Chuck even though I never met her. A grandmother who can touch so many generations is truly a remarkable lady of God!

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