Category: Family Life

Mom’s Four Day Make Ahead Cake

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Mom was born at home on June 3, 1928—though Mercer County recorded it as June 2. Grandma always said the county was wrong. The reason, as I was told years ago and had almost forgotten, is that Grandma went into labor on June 2 but didn’t deliver until after midnight. So the county may have written down when it started… but we go by when she actually arrived. June 3 it is.

In honor of my mom’s birthday, I am sharing her favorite cake recipe, told exactly in her own words. 

She brought this cake to all of our family picnics, and there was never a single piece left over. Many have asked for her recipe over the years. 

Family members were always quick to ask if she had brought their favorite cake. She never disappointed. I think she would like knowing others can now enjoy it, too.

I’ve kept her wording exactly as she wrote it, including her name attached to the recipe. 

It feels right to share this today, as it would have been her 98th birthday.

I hope you love it as much as we always did. 

Four-Day Make Ahead Cake. (Elaine Stegall)

This is a wonderful cake that is so easy to make and one of my favorites. You can make the cake on Wednesday and take it on a picnic or anywhere else on Sunday! I like the convenience of being able to make it days ahead of time! If I have had some left over it has even lasted a week and is still delicious. This is a cake that MUST be kept refrigerated. 

CAKE:

1-18 oz. pkg. Devil’s food cake mix

1 cup water

1/3 cup oil

3 eggs

FILLING AND TOPPING:

2 cups or 16 oz. carton of dairy sour cream

1 cup sugar

3 cups of coconut

8 oz. container frozen Cool Whip…thawed or 3½  cups

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8″ round cake pans. In a large bowl, blend all cake ingredients at low speed until moistened. Beat for 2 minutes at highest speed and pour into prepared pans. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until cake is done in the middle. Cool cake in pans for 15 minutes … then turn out on to cooling racks or onto waxed paper until completely cool. Then split each layer in half with a piece of thread or dental floss and set aside. Separate layers onto four waxed papers or the cooling racks.

In a large bowl, combine sour cream and sugar. Gently FOLD in coconut and whipped topping. Fill and frost layers just as you would any cake. Garnish as desired. Store in a cake safe in the refrigerator. Enjoy!

Halt! Who Goes There?

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As a Private First Class during World War II, my Dad wore many hats — machine gunner, chauffeur, guard — pretty much whatever his commanding officer told him to do. 

After the Allies secured many of the artifacts that had been spirited away by The Third Reich, this one particular day found Dad and a fellow soldier in a salt mine guarding a large number of priceless paintings. 

They heard people entering the mine. It became obvious to them at once who it was, but Dad whispered to the other guard, “Watch this!”

On alert and without another word, he shouldered his rifle and pointed it at the person leading the procession. 

“Halt! Who goes there?” Dad called out as was their protocol. “Identify yourself.”

The leader of the procession stopped — and so did the people following him. 

He saluted the two soldiers and said, “Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower. At ease.” 

They immediately complied. General Eisenhower walked up to Dad and shook his hand. “Well done, soldier,” he said.

Dad told that story many times over the years, always laughing and adding a shake of his head at the end — remembering the time he pulled his rifle and pointed it at General Dwight D. Eisenhower — later the 34th President of the United States.  

Wisdom From My Mother

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I grew up with a piece of wisdom from my mother that has stayed with me my entire life.

She used to say:

“If you do the best you can with the information you have at the time, that’s all you can do.”

At the time, it sounded simple. Almost obvious. But life has a way of testing truth.

We make decisions without knowing how things will turn out.

We trust professionals.

We do what we believe is right with the facts we’re given.

And sometimes, later on, we learn things we wish we had known sooner.

That’s when guilt tries to move in.

That’s when we replay moments and ask ourselves, “What if I had done something differently?”

But here’s what I’ve learned through caregiving, loss, and ordinary human moments: You cannot punish yourself for not knowing what you could not have known. Doing the best you can with the information you have is not a failure. It is being human.

If you made a choice with care, with love, and with the intention to do right, you are allowed to forgive yourself.

You are allowed to rest.

You are allowed to move forward without carrying regret that doesn’t belong to you.

Sometimes the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to stop judging yesterday with today’s knowledge — and let grace do the rest.

The China He Carried Home

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A Young Soldier, a Promise, and a Truckload of Coal

Dad served in the European theater in World War II.

For a time, he was stationed in the Black Forest in Germany.

One day, while off duty, he discovered a small china shop. Inside, an elderly proprietor made and sold delicate white dishes, complete with tea and coffee services. Dad admired them. More than that — he already knew exactly who they were for.

He asked what it would cost for two full sets. One for his mother. One for the woman he hoped to marry someday.

The old man shook his head sadly. He had no coal to fire his kiln. Wartime shortages made it impossible.

Dad asked a simple question.

“If I bring you the coal, will you make them?”

The old man agreed. A deal was struck.

Along with his other duties, Dad sometimes drove officers from place to place. That meant he had access to the motor pool. He put his plan into motion.

Later, with a grin, Dad told me he had “borrowed an Army truck and liberated a truckload of Army coal.”

Then he laughed — because he always did at that part.

Not long afterward, two beautiful sets of white china with silver trim were finished.

One went to his mother.

Two years later, when he married mine, he placed the second set in her hands.

Today, that china sits in my care.

A quiet reminder of love, war, and a young soldier who knew exactly what mattered.