There are some foods that huge a HUGE impact on your life and then, without warning, they fade away due to the person who makes them passing on, the recipe getting lost, etc. There have been several in my life that I have longed for. An ache deep within the pit of my stomach that yearns for that exact taste, one that you can know you will probably never be able to replicate or find anyone who can.
The all of a sudden, BAMMMM!! There it is. It wasn’t anything you were expecting. It is just placed before you and in that first bite YOU KNOW! That happened here last night. It was one of those moments that the angels were singing, the demons were shoutin and I thought I had died and met my Grandma on the porch of Heaven.
See my grandmother, whom we called Memama (she was a little bitty thing) , always made a chocolate cake. It was a yellow cake inside but the frosting was like fudge almost. It was famous, people would literally fight over that last piece. Ok, so it was usually my Dad and his sister fighting…and they were in their 50”s. Anyway, after my Memama passed away I have tried and tried to figure out that recipe for the frosting. I could get close, but it was never right. It wouldn’t taste just right, it wouldn’t set right, something…always something.
Then last night Erin had to make a dish to take to work for a hoo-haa or something and she decided to make brownies. I was all geared up for a bite of brownie with peanut butter frosting on top so imagine my surprise when I came through and it was a chocolate fudge frosting. I must admit, I was a little more than disappointed. Then, she said “Mom, you HAVE to try it. It’s like Memama’s”. I thought NO WAY. We have tried and tried and tried. I know it isn’t going to be right.
I WAS WRONG. ANGEL SANG. It was PERFECT!!
Erin found the recipe for the frosting in the Southern Plate cookbook but I went and looked, she has it on her website as well. So this is especially for my family, here is Memama’s recipe: http://www.southernplate.com/2008/07/chocolate-pound-cake-with-fudge-glaze.html
I really, really hope my sister Gina reads this. She is the dessert maker in our family. Ohhhh Gina, can you pretty please make us a Memama cake soon. Like really, really soon?
Christy know her stuff! She’s the sweetest thing. She’s loved by so many because she’s genuinely the way she portrays herself to be. A true southern lady. I love her to pieces.
When I saw her recipe I said okay, she’s the real deal. My mama-in-law made that recipe and everybody loved it only she used lemon flavoring instead of vanilla which I thought was insane at first but found out it was sooooo good. My dear mama-in-law has been in Heaven for a long time now but I was blessed with continuing her chocolate cake recipe and am proud when I hear, “she’s made memaw’s chocolate cake” and they all come running.
Ohhhhhhh I know what you mean, this was the second recipe I made from Christy’s book and even my Mom asked how I figured out her Mamma’s fudge frosting! Life has been so much better with The Southern Plate Book in my house, LOL And now I have a signed copy that I won from Southern Bite, it is my new coffee table book!
Girl, I think everybody’s Grandma use to make this icing. Mine did, my husbands did, and like you I was trying to find the recipe UNTIL I got Christy’s cookbook. The searching was over. Love that girl to pieces, love what she stands for, love her recipes…some take me back to my childhood!