Close to Nowhere
Sunday, June 18, son Kris was 42. (Did I say son? I meant brother — I’m not old enough for a 42-year-old son!)
I cooked his favorite meal — skillet enchildas — which just about everyone in our family loves. And I made him a chocolate cherry cake. Again, his favorite.
We had a houseful and the new grandson-in-law Tim and the new prospective grandson-in-law Mitch had never had enchildas the way I make them.
Brother Dennis has been helping me cook and supplying me with recipes for years, so he’s very familiar with food at my house. Tim and Mitch have both worked in restaurants, etc. cooking and Dennis has only cooked at my house, but he had lots of tips and suggestions for the guys about how to make enchiladas. He’s actually a lot of help in the kitchen — because he will do exactly what I tell him to and nothing else.
Neither one of the new guys had ever heard of chocolate cherry cake. It’s an old recipe.
The skillet enchiladas and the chocolate cherry cake recipes came from my friend Fran when we all lived in Memphis, Tenn., roughly 35 years ago.
As we were eating we were all talking about food and Dennis started talking about food going out of style. He told the guys that when there was a potluck at the hospital where he works, in the 1980s a chocolate cherry cake was sure to show up. Along with a tater tot casserole.
Neither one of the guys had heard of tater tot casserole.
(my revised version)
1 box fudge-style chocolate cake mix
1 can cherry pie filling (Lucky Leaf is the best)
3 large eggs
1 stick margarine, melted
Mix (electric mixer unless you want to have a sore wrist) cake mix, eggs and melted butter together. It’ll be stiff, but mix well until smooth.
Put the cherry pie filling into the cake mix and mix that carefully in by hand. You don’t want to smash the cherries.
Pour into prepared sheet cake pan and bake as directed on cake box.
To make the frosting, put 5 tbsps. of margarine, 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup milk into pot and bring to a very gentle boil. As soon as it’s boiling add 6 oz. of dark chocolate chips, stir in quickly and pour over cake. It’ll take a bit for the icing to “set up.”
Nine thousand calories and every bite totally delicious! I intend to do what I can to bring this recipe back into style!