Happy Birthday to Jack!

December 8th is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. That's a pretty important day. But it's also important for another reason. It's the day Jack Simmons turned 45.

Jack has not had a very good year. He lost his beautiful Sabrina in August, and he lost his dad a few weeks after that. I wanted December 8 to be a genuine feast day for Jack. So I made him a birthday cake.

With the help of Stephen, Davis, and Lawson, I took great care in selecting the cake. Eventually, I chose the Milky Way cake. It's a recipe in one of my most consulted cook books, Cooking from the Jail House to the White House by Louise Dodd. I thought a Louise Dodd recipe would be especially appropriate for this occasion.

For one thing, Louise Dodd passed away on November 22nd of this year. I was so sorry to hear that news, as were cooking enthusiasts across the Southeast. Louise was the mother of Carol Porter (who should have been elected Lieutenant Governor) and the mother in-law of DuBose Porter (who should have gotten the Democratic nomination for governor). Jack and Sabrina were big Porter fans during the 2010 elections, so I thought if Sabrina were here, she would have liked a Milky Way cake made famous by the Porters' mama. I hope Jack likes it too. I am glad to be able to honor and Louise, Sabrina, and Jack with one tasty cake.

Here's how I made it:

The Cake:
1 package devil's food cake mix
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 pkg. instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a Bundt cake pan. Combine cake mix, eggs, sour cream, pudding mix, water, and oil. Mix well (scraping batter off sides of bowl from time to time). Fold in chocolate chips until they're evenly distributed in the batter. Put batter in pan and bake for about 50 minutes or until the cake springs back when touched. Cool before removing from pan.

Icing
2 cups sugar
1 stick butter
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1 tbsp cocoa
3 Milky Way bars, cut into pieces

Combine sugar, butter, milk and cocoa in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Then reduce heat to low and cook about five minutes. Add Milky Way bars and beat (actually, I used a whisk, and that worked just fine). The Milky Way bars will be just a little bit chunky. Let the icing cool slightly before spreading on the cake.

That is some of the best icing I have ever tasted. In fact, I didn't tell Jack this (I guess he'll find out now), but I left some of that icing in the pot so that my boys and I could eat it. It's good stuff. I hope Jack agrees.

Happy birthday!