Monday 6 January 2014

Magic Cake




Most of the recipes in my cookbooks have a name (usually, a woman’s) attached to them. I don’t include the names because I’m sure the last thing these women were expecting was to have their recipes featured on a caker website. Plus, you never want an angry church woman coming after you. They can run pretty fast.

Recently, one of my favourite writers, Alice Munro, won the Nobel Prize for Literature, after which every person living in a small Southern Ontario town looked up from their loom, turned towards the nearest urban centre and said, “Suck it.”

Alice’s maiden name was Laidlaw and she was born in a town called Wingham. When I came across this Magic Cake recipe, I got a little excited. It was submitted by a Laidlaw in Wingham. While it’s not Alice, I can only assume it’s her kin.

As far as the recipe, it wasn’t so magical. The sweetened condensed milk is the glue that holds it all together. If I wanted coconut and maraschino cherries, I’d sooner have a Hello Dolly. Plus, it was expensive to make (Alice’s kin must be wealthy). And there’s nothing cake-like about it. Folks, don’t call something cake if it’s not cake. You’re only setting people up for disappointment. But it tasted pretty good.

All of this is to say that I’d bet my last packet of JELL-O that Alice Munro is a caker. And when you believe a Nobel Prize winner has probably enjoyed a good mountain of Watergate Salad in her day, well, let’s just say the sky seems a little more open for the rest of us.

1 pound dates (cut up)
1 pound dry cherries (red and green)
½ pound walnuts
1 pound coconut
½ teaspoon salt
1 can Eagle Brand milk

Mix all together and bake in oven at 350° until golden brown.

Note: I used a 9 x 13 pan.

Source: Celebration Cookbook, Canadian Bible Society


10 comments:

  1. Wow, with all that candied fruit, you must have had to take out a second mortgage to pay for this. Yeah, I'm with you--I think I'll stick with a good ol' Hello Dolly. Maybe Alice has her own recipe??

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    1. I had to take a second job just to pay for the ingredients. I looked horrible in my Taco Bell uniform. But at least I managed to steal a whack of mild sauce packets.

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  2. I just took an insulin shot after reading the recipe. And added money to my savings account. That recipe IS rich.

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    1. Sweet and rich. Two qualities I look for in a life partner. Oh, and elderly.

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  3. All those fruit & nuts will keep you regular if nothing else.

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    1. You got that ri----er, excuse me. Gotta run.

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  4. I would definitely eat this! But I'm a sucker for those green cherries.

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    1. There are two kinds of people in this world: red maraschino cherry people and green maraschino cherry people. While I've got no scientific findings to back this up, I suspect you're in the minority.

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    2. I'm a sucker for the red ones too... 'cause I'm very healthy!

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    3. I think this is the first time the word "healthy" has been used in a conversation about maraschino cherries.

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