Baby Cakes

Ingredients:

• Pillsbury Cake Mix:
• 1 1/3 Cups of Water
• 1/2 Cup of Oil
• 3 Eggs
• 4 Heath Bars
• 1 Tub of Cool Whip
• 1 Can of Eagle Brand Mix
• 1 Can of Caramel Ice Cream Topping
• 9x13 inch pan
• Rubber Spoon

 

Preparation:

Cook one chocolate Pillsbury Cake Mix blended with 1 1/3 cups of water, 1/2 cup of oil, and 3 eggs for 32 minutes in a 9x13 inch pan.

Emily, my brother's wife, muttered in a peculiar tone, "We need all of y'all at my mother's house immediately."  No one was sure of her initial intentions of this meeting, but we were willing to do any task she had ever asked us to do; today we were not changing that tradition.

As we waited on a chilly Saturday afternoon, my family and in-laws gathered around Mrs. Kathy's rickety, pale cream table that leaned on one leg. It was late January and only a few more days were left of my Christmas break from school; I was upset because my family would soon be separating because of different schools being attended and working situations. Trent, my brother, and Emily planned our family dinner ritual for their last day in town, surprisingly.  At the time, they lived in Hot Springs, Arknasas working as school teachers and went to school part of the time.  We knew something was either terribly wrong, or they had news for us because they would be the least likely candidates to ask for our family to come together on just a normal afternoon.  After Emily got seriously ill to her stomach and her body ached, we left for the night and would return the following day.

After the cake settles for 5 minutes, poke holes in it with the end of a rubber spatula or spoon. This is very important in how moist the cake will turn out. Quickly pour one can of Eagle Brand Milk and one container of caramel ice cream topping of any brand onto the cake and through the holes. Let it sit over night.

Emily had something behind her back but it was impossible to tell exactly what it was. I heard structured and strong paper or some other similar material crumple behind her.  Her brother, Jonathan, and I had been conversing, "My sister has been acting unusual, and it is starting to become aggravating. I'm bothered by her unwillingness to tell me what is wrong with her," he said determined to get his point across to me.

"Yes, I do suppose she has been acting strangely, but I am sure she is anxious to get back to working at the school," I quickly defended the most important woman figure in my life.

Jonathan and I were prompted to hand out placement cards to hang on our fireplaces as late Christmas gifts from the young, married couple. We both looked at the cards and burst into tears. No words would come from our mouths flaming with a secret we were not yet to tell. Only our eyes held the sacred words that everybody was trying to find. Both of our families clawed their way toward us, but they stopped dead in their tracks.  We did not want to tell our mutual secret; we wanted it to be ours.  The parents were always the first to know what is going on in the lover's lives.  "Jonathan and I  do not want y'all to know.  We want to have a secret for ourselves," we sobbed,  "let us quickly take all of this in."

 

Top the cake with one tub of Cool Whip and four crushed Heath Bars. Refrigerate it for 30 minutes or more, cut, and serve the mouth watering deliciousness.

Finally, we all received a piece of cake on the plastic wedding plates used three short years before. Each family member had a placement card at their seat and were gazing at the mid-section of the new mother. Buckets of water were collected from the kitchen floor from our joyous tears falling from our sparkling and overly excited eyes, chatting and betting was in our ears about whether or not the baby would be a girl or boy, and the smell of the remaining burning pan in the fiery oven furnace was fresh in our noses. The news was that there would be three new great grandmothers, one new great grandfather, one new mom, one new dad, two new grandfathers, two new grandmothers, two new great aunts, one new uncle, and me, a new aunt, in six short months. They had hid their most desirable secret and love for a new infant for three months, and now that the news was out in the open of Marion, Arkansas, it would spread like a wild fire, dancing along street corners and floating through schools. It would spread by the famous Heath Bar Cake delivered with love and the cherishing moment of a baby child.