Soul-Full Sisters: Grandma Carlton’s Chocolate Pound Cake
Quinn and I spent a lot of weekends over at Grandma and Granddaddy Carlton’s house. If we were not allowed to do something at home, you best believe our imaginations were welcomed to run wild at Grandma’s. While writing, one memory came to mind. Quinn and I decided to divide our beloved sunroom – a room Grandma added on to the house – in two parts, “my house” and “her house.” To make “my house” a home, my first God given instinct was to cook something. Always finding ways to stretch my permissions, I knew I was walking on a fine line when I plugged an old panini press into an outlet to make a flat top stove/grill. When I placed a pot on top and reached a boiling point, I knew I was in business!
Photo by the Soul-Full Sisters, Quinn Carlton Bostic, Paten Carlton
To Quinn’s greatest pleasure (ha), I invited her over to “my house” to eat all kinds of things – mainly cream of mushroom soup and hot tea, which gave her gas. She got tired of coming over to my house because, we she did, she knew she was in for a stomachache.
In the oblivion of this world we created, time paused when Grandma walked in and saw the “mess” we were making. One of my favorite sayings comes to mind– nothing changes a heart more than showing grace when someone isn’t expecting it. In that moment, Grandma showed grace. She closed the door and returned to her chair (to most likely finish her crossword puzzle). Above every thought, one ranked at the top – she didn’t care what we did as long as we were close to her; she celebrated this fact each time we visited. Mess and all, she’s smiling today knowing she fueled our soul-full calling.
Her cake lived in the background of many stories and good time feelings. When I took the cake out of the oven, quite honestly, I wept. Yes, wept. The last time I smelled this smell, I was a little girl. In that moment, I was in her kitchen and I felt safe, warm, and loved. Like Grandma’s house, this cake is a little slice of heaven.
All ingredients needed for her chocolate pound cake and frosting are below. Granddaddy Carlton would ask us to add vanilla ice cream to the list because he would help himself to a scoop or three when the cake came out of the oven!
Photo by the Soul-Full Sisters, Quinn Carlton Bostic, Paten Carlton
