There is always that one dish or dessert that everyone looks forward to during the holidays, and for my family it was my grandmother’s chocolate cake. It was so well liked, if you did not get a slice of it the first go around in the food line, there may have not been a piece left.

Now, you may assume that anything that tempting must have been a complicated culinary concoction, but in theory my paternal granny’s cake was not all that involved.

The ingredients in her cake are slim in number and could be found in almost everyone’s kitchen on any given day.

By appearance the cake was nothing out of the ordinary.  My grandmother, being the very practical woman she was, never worried about what type of dish on which the cake was displayed, no Annie Glass or other special presentation for this little woman.  She knew what she had baked would tantalize taste buds all by itself.

So what was it about the almost cornbread like three-layer cake made from self-rising flour, a few eggs and some butter that made it the most sought after holiday fare?

It was the chocolate icing.

Just like the makings of the cake, grandmother’s chocolate icing had nothing in the ingredients that were hard to come by, just cocoa, butter, sugar and milk.  What made it so good? Instead of it being creamy, it had more of the texture of a hard candy shell.

Years ago, I decided to take on grandmother’s chocolate cake because I was tired of waiting for Thanksgiving or Christmas to roll around before I could enjoy a slice of that sweet treat.

So, I made a phone call, and she shared her recipe.

Well, let me just tell you, when I attempted to make the cake, it was a hot mess. I had chocolate running all over the sides of my decorative plate. Chocolate was even dripping on to my kitchen counters. Obviously, I had done something wrong, maybe my walnut size of butter was different from grandmother’s walnut size of butter.  When she said cook the icing until it boils, maybe she meant she was looking for a rolling boil and not just a ripple.

Whatever the case, I was determined I was going to make that cake, but, unfortunately, after many failed attempts, I gave up.

A few years after my failed attempt, my sister-in-law decided she wanted to learn how to cook the only dessert my brother really likes.  Instead of asking for the recipe as I did, she decided to watch my grandmother make the cake and record all she witnessed.

Well darn, when she got back home and attempted to make the cake, she got it right the first time!

Let me just say I was a little pea green with envy, an outsider making my grandmother’s cake!

Fortunately, my sister-in-law was kind enough to share her precisely recorded measurements and time increments used by my grandmother. My grandmother did not need a written recipe, baking the cake was second nature for her, and being meticulous came natural.

Thankfully, I now have the chocolate cake recipe that will hopefully outlive me as it has my grandmother.

Gathering together with extended family during the holidays has always been one of the many blessings for which I am thankful, particularly at Thanksgiving, and getting a piece of my grandmother’s confection was just literally icing on the cake.

Happy Thanksgiving!