A Cake to Celebrate.

It has been all drama here in the state of Queensland over the last few weeks, as most of you are aware. Three weeks ago today, my Little Sister was worried about all of us in Brisbane in the path of the catastrophic floods. For the last 24 hours we in Brisbane were all worried about Little Sister in Cairns, in the path of Cyclone Yasi. All is well for my family and their home, thank goodness, but many others are not so lucky – although amazingly, for a weather event that was bigger than Hurricane Katrina, no life was lost. Kudos to the Disaster Management teams, I say.

I feel that a Thanksgiving of sorts, is in order, so am going to give you a classic cake. Then I want to get my post-house move, post-Christmas, post-holiday, post-flood, post-cyclone life in order and endure a boring anxiety-free routine for a while, and provide you with some more food-focussed, thought provoking stories. Thankyou for your patience during these trying times.

Devil's Food Cake
Two and a half cups of sifted flour, two cups of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one-half cup of sour milk, one-half cup of hot water, two eggs, one-half or one-fourth cake of chocolate, one teaspoon of vanilla, one teaspoon of soda. Grate chocolate and dissolve with the soda in the hot water. Use white icing.--Mrs Nelson Ruggles.

The Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book Arranged By Isabel Gordon Curtis. Chicago: Reilly & Britton, c1909.