Cherry-Fudge Cake

Good Tuesday morning!

My Monday turned out to be interesting. I went on a field trip with Roxie's 6th grade class to American Village in Montevallo. I was pretty surprised when I realized I had never been there before. Usually with two older brothers, you've been to most of the basic field trip spots, but for some reason, this was a new one for me.

They did an excellent job teaching the kids about how voting was handled during colonial times and the importance of everyone voting today in the year 2008. Hearing what people went through to get the right to vote (women, minorities, etc.) makes you not want to take that right for granted... especially next week.

We had a schedule we were supposed to keep and our school was divided into three groups -- Rhode Island, Delaware and Georgia. Roxie and I were in the Rhode Island group. We started following our teacher and other kids to a building across a field when a man dressed in a period costume yelled and asked who we were. I yelled back the name of our school. He again yelled, "No! Who are you?" The other mothers with me yelled the name of our school. By this time, he was getting irate and yelled, "No!!! What state are you?" Oh. Why didn't you say so? We knew who we were. We were Rhode Island!

"Rhode Island," we finally responded correctly.

Still very irate, he again yelled, "Rhode Island, get over here!" Okay, okay. Don't get your knickers in a wad! In the grand scheme of things it wasn't the end of the world. But I will admit, we all walked/ran very fast to get where we were supposed to have been in the first place! Something about a man yelling at you holding a big stick... it's a little intimidating.

When we finally entered the building for our first "skit," he introduced himself as the sheriff. We could never tell if he was "in character," or if he was just really, really grumpy. Either way, parents and kids alike were very well-behaved during that portion of the tour.

His "skit" had to do with elections during that time period. According to the sheriff, the candidates would stand up and introduce themselves and then offer a small "favor." Well, the two people acting as candidates introduced themselves and said they were going to pass around a basket of homemade chocolates and a basket of caramels, respectively. Okay! Now we were talking. Chocolate and caramels during a school field trip!

Do not even ask me what I thought when they passed around the two baskets and peppermints were in one and cinnamon hard candies were in the other. You don't promise a 47-year old woman chocolate and caramels and then give her peppermint and cinnamon. It is inhumane, that's what it is. I wouldn't cast a vote for either one of them, I decided. Then the grumpy sheriff added insult to injury and told all the women to sit down because we weren't even allowed to vote during that time period. No justice!

They really did a very good job of teaching about how things were handled way back when, and I felt like we all learned a lot... but I sure could have used some chocolate or caramel to help me make it to lunch!

It was a great day for a field trip, too. It was brisk, bright and blustery. I might as well admit now that I was (and am) a huge Winnie the Pooh fan when the kids were small. I loved the colors in the Hundred Acre Wood... and I loved the blustery days. My favorite day is a gray, October day with leaves falling, a cool temperature (in the 50s) with a lot of wind... in other words "blustery." I like that word almost as much as "autumnal." (In just a week and one day I've already told you two of my three favorite words. I'm revealing way too much of myself!)

Well, I promised a grown-up dessert for today, and here it is... So-Easy Cherry-Fudge Cake. It was in this October's Southern Living. It is on page 144 if you subscribe to that magazine. If you don't, the recipe is as follows:

So-Easy Cherry-Fudge Cake

1 Package Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 Can Cherry Pie Filling
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp. Almond Extract
1 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Milk
5 Tbsp. Butter
1 Cup Semisweet Chocolate Morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat first 4 ingredients at low speed for 20 seconds; increase speed to medium, and beat for 1 minute. Pour batter into a greased and floured 13 x 9 inch pan.

2. Bake at 350 degrees for 27 to 30 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool cake.

3. Bring sugar, milk and butter to a boil in a heavy 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally; boil 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate morsels until melted and smooth. Pour over warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

It tastes like a giant chocolate covered cherry. It is so good. I love cake recipes that use a cake mix for the base ingredient, but add a lot of different ingredients to make it taste "made from scratch." If you don't have this month's Southern Living, you ought to pick up a copy. It has a lot of recipes that are pretty easy. I haven't tried them all, but I'm working on it.

That's all for today. Hiding from that mean sheriff all day really took it out of me. I think I'm ready to "hit the hay." (That's colonial-speak for "go to bed.")

Remember, tomorrow's post will be another seasonal tradition you can try with your family. It's a fun one, too.

Take care and have a great day!