It has been such fun to bake some cakes for friends who ordered either a chocolate or pumpkin Bundt cake these last two weeks. Not only has it given me the fun of baking for others but it has also been such a blessing to see some friends I had not seen in quite a while when they came to pick the cake up!

The holidays can get so hectic and in the process of doing all the things on our “to do” list, we sometimes miss out on what truly gives us pleasure. Of course that is different for everyone! But one of my greatest joys is baking for people and visiting with others. I can’t wait to get to Heaven and have millions of folks from every background and language to get to know and talk to! Can’t you just imagine walking down the streets of gold and meet someone who you might not know but as soon as you make eye contact you begin to visit and you possibly hear their story of how they came to Jesus, or how they might have been praying for me or you or a relative for years! Every story will be fascinating! We might be gathered around a table listening and sharing our stories while eating a chocolate cake! Of course Heaven will have chocolate cake or it wouldn’t be Heaven!! But until that day I pray I will have the strength and ability to bake for others. It just adds to the blessing of the greatest reason to celebrate Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years….Jesus Christ! After all, that is what our lives, as Christian’s should be about! No matter the holiday, no matter the day! To glorify His Name!

Both recipes for the cakes will be on Chocolatecastles.com today. (After I get thru baking I’ll post them)

John 10:10b

“I came that they may have life; and may have it abundantly”

Last Thursday we ventured into Trader Joe’s to see if their wonderful cranberry sauce was in stock! On the way to the back of the store (which I never saw the chilled cranberry sauce) I passed a bag of fresh cranberries and grabbed a bag! Immediately thought of this cake that we now make every year quite often. It is one of those recipes that seems to appeal to everyone and always turns out beautifully. Tonight is the first cranberry cake of the season and I can’t wait for it to cool down a little so we can have a piece (or 2) with a little whipped cream.

Next trip to the store, grab a bag of cranberries and begin a new tradition of making this every Fall and Winter!

If you have Tis So Sweet cookbook it is on page 229. If not, it is still available on Amazon or you can simply use the recipe below! If you have not voted….please go vote! We are a blessed country to have the privilege of doing so!

This past week we had two celebration of Life’s for some very special people from our class at church. One service was Wednesday for our most loved teacher, Charles Hebert! What a special person he was! After the second service on Friday, for a dear lady in our class, we sat and talked about what a shame it is that we always seem to find out so many things about people at their funeral services. It made us stop and think about all the things we didn’t know about them and why does that happen? Are we just so caught up in our own lives that we don’t notice others like we should? It made me think about that driving home and I want to try harder to be more invested in others. To truly stop and share more of my self and also ask questions to the people who might just need a listening ear or need to know someone is interested in them!

May that be one of my new years goals; to be a better friend! And speaking of friends, there is a lady who I have known since 2006 who used to live down the street from us. We are in the same class at church and she and I have a Love/hate relationship! We kid each other like we don’t even like each other but in reality, I love her like a sister! She is fun to kid and gives it right back to me! Jerry is a lady with a servants heart. She serves sometimes from the background and is not interested in being recognized. We have a team of ladies who serve the families who are gathered to mourn the passing of a family member! Jerry has offered to help us, so this week she had the opportunity to do so. She brought this amazing pecan cake to serve to the family on Wednesday! It was so good, we all ask her for the recipe! she was very gracious to share it. I made it Friday night and everyone I shared it with, loved it!!! So here is the recipe and I know I’ll be making many more of these. Thank you Jerry McGraw!!! It is a winner!

Also I substituted the chopped pecans for the Praline pecans from Costco . Loved the flavor!

She taught me to put God first in my life! To allow Him to guide me and to live to reflect Him with my life! Did I always do that? Absolutely not! Did I try to make excuses to get out of going to church every time the doors were open? You bet!

Growing up it was always very apparent that my mom had anger issues and discontent with her marriage and her situation! But in so doing she used her time to give of herself to so many others. We always had someone living with us, whether it was a relative or just someone who needed a place to live! She went on mission trips! She cooked at church on Wednesday nights, she and my dad worked with the youth and had many many fellowships in our home! She sang in the choir, made all my clothes until Highschool, constantly took dinners to people who were sick and served at funerals for friends! Maybe she did all these things to not have to think about or deal with her situation, but she loved doing for others! No matter the reason.

As I think back about all of this, it has taught something else about the Lord. He doesn’t use us because we are perfect! None of us are! But He uses us in spite of our weaknesses and flaws! He just wants our hearts and our willingness to be used!

Having spent many years focusing on her faults, I realized a few years ago, that it was time to let all the disappointments I had of her and instead, remember that I am who I am today largely due to her goal of teaching her only child to love God and live a life that shows that! It is taking me a long time to realize that in spite of my flaws and weaknesses, I, like her, can be used by God! I never doubted that my mom loved me Even though some days she should have given up on me! But in her 93 years of life, even through her dementia took away many of her memories, and magnified the anger that she had had, she loved God and shared that Truth with so many others! Including me!

Life’s perspectives constantly change as we live and go through different circumstances and seasons. But I pray that each perspective and each circumstance will grow me closer to live to become more like my Savior!

Happy Birthday Mother! Thank you for your love, support and sacrifices you made to give me life!

This is a casserole we use to serve at the Ministers Wives Luncheons and it always went over so well with Sister Schubert Rolls and a Spinach Salad! Made it tonight for the first time in a while! Was as good as i remembered! Halved the recipe for just us and still had enough to freeze for another meal…and we still have enough to have for lunch tomorrow! It was printed in Princess On The Porch if you still have your

copy of it!

Last week Avenida (our new home Community for us Golden Oldies) had a class for decorating cakes. You don’t have to invite me twice to this fun and yummy class! Little did I know that when I signed up for it, I would be making 10 chocolate cakes for the ladies while one of the sweet ladies on staff here made 10 vanilla cakes!

She told me that she wanted the cakes to be made in the 6” round cake pans so off I went in search of a 6” round cake pan! These little cakes are just so cute and fun to have when “company comes a callin”. (Sorry the country hillbilly comes out ever so often!)

What fun we had gathered around the table downstairs all grabbing the pretty Fall sprinkles, colored sugars and even edible Fall leaves! it is always such a Wonderful way to bond with new friends as you sit and work (or eat) with food. There is just something special about sitting, laughing doing that. ! It is truly a gift from God.

When the class was over, I had 3 cakes left to bring back home. So I covered them and placed them in ziplock bags and into the freezer. FYI…a normal size cake mix makes 3 of these precious little doll cakes. so this morning I pulled one of the cakes to thaw and am taking it when we meet friends for lunch for them to take home!

Since I had some chocolate frosting already made up, I sliced the cake in two layers. Warmed up about 1/4 of the frosting for 14 seconds in the microwave and poured it over the bottom layer! Then pulled out the red raspberry preserves and nuked for about 12 seconds about 1/4 cup and spread over the chocolate frosting! Places the top layer on top and nuked about 1/3 cup more of the chocolate frosting and poured over the top and sprinkled some Fall sprinkles on top.

These are great little cakes to keep in the freezer for hostess gifts or when someone is sick or just to sit and munch on when you are craving something sweet…..like we do very night around 8:00!

Use what sounds good to you: Nutella or whatever goes with the flavor of cake you make! But don’t deny yourself this little baking pan….it will become one of your favorite baking dishes!

This past weekend we have been reminded in several ways that we are always suppose to share Gods wonderful love and acts of grace! We often have these moments when we just think, “ oh weren’t we lucky when they came to our rescue!” Or, “ can you believe that we were just in the right place at the right time?” But as Christians, we do not believe in luck or “coincidence”. Our lives are arranged and planned by Our Creator God.

Every day of my life is orchestrated to allow sometimes trials, sometimes wonderful blessings that can only be explained by God..

Some of you might read this and just think to yourself that our story was no big deal. But to us, I can’t tell you how thankful we were for God seeing us at our point of need.

Friday night we were coming home rather late from helping some dear friends with a medical need. . We now live in an over 55 community where it is pretty much a ghost town after 10 pm. We drove into the parking lot about 11:15 and on our way to the door where we enter the building, Randy fell. I carry a towel in the car for times when he falls in parking lots so his knees have some padding while getting him up from the ground. I got the towel out of the car and folded it and placed it on the concrete walkway! Since there was nothing for him to grab onto except his walker, it was hard to pull him up! After trying for 15 min or so I finally admitted defeat and told him I needed to call 911 to come get him up when I look at the door and see a younger man (when I say younger, he was probably 55-60 which is now younger to us ) coming outside to see if we needed help! I ask him where he came from as there was no one downstairs in the main club room at that time of night. He told us that he decided to go take his dog out for a late night stroll and he had been out back by the pool behind the club house when he looked through two sets of double doors and saw us out in the dark struggling! He and I were then able to get Randy up and on our way into the building to go upstairs to our apartment !

Before the man went on his way I told him that the Lord had sent him to us and could not believe he had come to our rescue. It is times like these that remind us of Gods goodness and protection over us. He is a personal God to each of us, not just some god who lives in the Heavens above looking down on us! We rejoice that He uses people to help and He answers our prayers. Not always in the way we expect and sometimes not in our time frame that we would like, but He does answer and He is a God of love and goodness. If you could see how far the man was away from us being able to see us thru the clubhouse outside to the front, you would be amazed at how kind our Savior and Lord was to us Friday night!

For two days now the temps have fallen under 90 so I think we can all safely say….welcome Fall!! One of the first things we think about as Fall’s all around is is of course, pumpkins! Pumpkins in arrangements, in our yards, pumpkin flavor in our coffee, Pumpkin pics on our T-shirt’s and most of all, in breads, cakes and other desserts! When I saw this recipe on FB, I knew I had to make it…and make it, I did! They turned out perfect and delicious and will be one of my favorite Fall Desserts! They were simple and kept for 3 days in the fridge, beautifully! Whipped cream was added on as we ate them so as not to get soggy! The only negative was that I sent the ones we had not eaten home with my son before getting a picture of them! But they were so good and looked so cute on a “pumpkin shaped plate”….

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 350

Crust: add the crust ingredients together.

Place paper cupcake liners in a 12 cupcake baking pan. Divide crust ingredients evenly between the 12 cupcake liners and press with a 1/4 measuring cup to mold the crust together in the liner. Bake for 8 min. Remove from oven and fill with the pumpkin filling. Bake until center of filling is no longer jiggly.

Filling:

Using hand mixer, cream the room temperature cream cheese and sugar until well blended and no lumps remain from the cream cheese! Add the remaining ingredients after adding the eggs and mixing well Do not over beat. Divide the filling between the 12 cupcake liners and pouring over the crust. Bake about 13-15 min or until center is done. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving. Keep covered in fridge and add whipped cream when serving!

Some days just call for a good chocolate cake with the perfect chocolate flavor! This recipe comes from a blog, Two Chums, which are ladies that I met while living in California. The story behind this recipe is just so sweet that I encourage you to go to their blog and read about the background to this cake. I made it yesterday and we ate one layer and put the other two in the freezer for a dessert when we have friends over tomorrow night for dinner and a game of cards. This couple we are having over are Friends we met back in 2005 when we traveled to Greece with our church to retrace the 2nd missionary trip of Paul! To this day we have a tradition that we celebrate our birthdays with a dinner. So tomorrow night is their celebration and we decided instead of going out this time, to just have dinner here so we can play cards afterwards! And what a “perfect” chocolate cake to enjoy over a game of Garbage! Yes that is the name of the card game!
Have been making this cake since 2014 when I found it on the blog from Two Chums!
Cake:�1 1/2 cups melted butter�1 1/2 cups buttermilk�2 eggs�1 teaspoon vanilla�Add and mix well:�3 cups sugar�3 cups flour�3/4 cup cocoa powder�1 heaping Tablespoon of baking soda�1/2 teaspoon salt�Then add and mix again:�1 1/2 cups boiling water�Line 3 round 8″ cake pans with waxed paper and butter the sides of the pan to prevent sticking when cake is done. Pour batter evenly among the 3 pans in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for about 30 minutes or just until the center of the cake feels firm to the touch and the sides of the cake are beginning to pull away from the pan. Cool thoroughly and remove from pans. (You can wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at this point if you are making the cake a day ahead or hours ahead of when needed.) Spread icing liberally and smile….perfect chocolate cake is on its way.�Icing�1 cup butter at room temperature�8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature�12 oz. package chocolate chips, melted�1/4 cup cocoa�1 1/2 lbs. powered sugar�1 teaspoon vanilla�Enough heavy cream to soften

Because we know that Fall and Pumpkin Frappuccino from Starbucks are just around the corner, I thought you might love to get a jumpstart on making or at least thinking about making some pumpkin desserts. This is one of the best! Years ago the first time we moved to California for Randy‘s job we were a part of Chuck Swindoll‘s old church EV free in Fullerton and I was a part of our school ladies Bible study which met every Monday night. One evening in the fall when we got there these pumpkin brownies were on the counter for our dessert. I have shared it on the blog before, but it’s been several years, so wanted to treat you to a great pumpkin recipe that is different from the pumpkin cakes, pies and cookies that grace the pages of so many cookbooks! The fact that it is handwritten from the lady who made them that night makes it such a sweet memory every time I look at it! And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that I substitute butter for the margarine in the cream cheese mixture.

Before I forget, we had some friends come for lunch today and they even brought the lunch! As good as the lunch was, the best part was the house warming gift….a pound of butter! Do they know the way to my heart or what??? Peggy….you win the prize for the greatest gift yet!!!