Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Thunder Cake

Emily and I were so excited when it started thundering and lightning today!  Why you ask?  So we could make a Thunder Cake. 

Thunder Cake

We love books by Patricia Polacco ~ Thunder Cake is one of our new favorites.  In the book Babushka (grandmother) helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunderstorms by baking a special cake.   When the thunder booms Babushka tells her granddaughter

“Don’t pay attention to that old thunder, except to see how close the storm is getting.  When you see the lightning, start counting….real slow.  When you hear the thunder, stop counting.  That number is how many miles away the storm is.”

Babushka and her granddaughter count how long they have until the storm arrives and hurry to gather the supplies needed to make a Thunder Cake.

Ever since Emily and I read this book we have been patiently waiting for a thunderstorm.  Today as it thundered and lightning we counted how close the storm was and hurried to make our cake.

Babushka’s Thunder Cake

Cream together one at a time:
1 cup shortening
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, separated ( Blend yolks in. Beat whites until they are stiff, then fold in.)

1 cup cold water
1/3 cup pureed tomatoes (yes, you read that right!)

Sift together:
2 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease two 8 1/2-inch round pans.  Mix dry mixture into creamy mixture.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Frost with chocolate frosting and top with strawberries.

 IMG_2458 

The cake turned out a little lopsided but it wasn’t anything some extra frosting couldn’t hide.

IMG_2462

Chocolate cake and chocolate frosting ~ delicious!  I didn’t tell Daddy that it had tomatoes in it and he didn’t seem to notice anything strange.  I guess since I knew they were in there I thought I could taste them. 

Emily and I had fun making the cake and a special memory!

~Cindy

4 comments:

Corina said...

How fun!! Might have to try that with my boys - they would think it's cool!

I grew up in Oklahoma and we always had lots of tornadoes - after the storms would pass, my mom would make funnel cakes!! We loved it!

Ticia said...

I think Almost Unschoolers made this cake. It looked interesting.
I was laughing because I saw the cover of the book, and went that's a Patricia Polacco book, and then I read the author and I was right.

Anonymous said...

oo how very cool! That was a crazy storm yesterday. The windows in our house were rattling!

Adriane said...

What a great idea! I'll have to remember this. It would probably be a good day to do it here since it looks like rain but I don't have the book! :)

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