The perfect cake

Holiday season 2024 update: this is a post that gets hits often, so I thought I would update the recipe with the modifications I have made through the years.

1.  I add the eggs whole and do not quit the white separately anymore. After adding the eggs, beat the batter for a very long time. You can see the difference in texture and it’s one of the secrets of this cake. 

2. add the baking powder to the flour instead of the warm milk mixture, I only do that when the grandkids are around because I remember my mom entertaining us with the “growing milk”! 

3. The citrus glaze is still amazing but for the celebration occasions, I make this cake for, I use a cream cheese frosting.

After the granola picture the other day, Husband says I may have a career in food photography. I don't get these high compliments from him often and I may as well not, as this photo may have him take it back. The cake was in its very last uneven pieces when the camera was produced. I made it for Number Three's arrival. The recipe is handwritten in a notebook I took to Brazil when I was first married, to copy recipes from Mother's handwritten cookbook.

Bolo 1, 2, 3, 4

1 C Butter, beat with:

4 yolks

3 C sugar

add:

3 tsp baking powder in 1/2 C warm milk

alternate:

3 C flour with

1 C milk

fold in:

4 egg whites , beaten to form soft peaks

Bake it until done in a 350F oven, and enjoy... the perfect homemade cake.

We covered it with the juice of one lime, mixed with 1 C sugar, as soon as it came out of the oven. Yum!

At the Abbey of St Walburga in Eichstatt, Bavaria, Germany

This was the highlight of the European trip. Inserted in the heart of charming, beautiful Bavaria, the village of Eichstatt is pretty, clean, and so well-cared for... You cna walk everywhere to many churches, restaurants, plazas, shops...  Loved by families and nature-enthusiasts who hike, bike and swim, it has been the home of my sister's abbey for over a thousand years! Bavaria was spared in the Second Waorld War so buildings were never destroyed, and the locals are friendly to Americans and grateful for their post-war presence.

After touring the city, we proceeded to visit the Abbey! Below is the history of the Abbey:

St. Walburga: Our Patronness: St. Walburga (d. 779) was born in England of a family of the local aristocracy. At an early age, she was entrusted to the care of the Benedictine nuns in Wimbourne (present-day Dorset) where she eventually made monastic profession. When her relative St. Boniface, a missionary monk and bishop who worked for the evangelization of Germany, asked for help from other Anglo-Saxon monasteries, St. Walburga became part of a group of nuns from Wimbourne who answered the missionary call. Eventually she became abbess of the monastery at Heidenheim, a double monastery of men and women founded by her brother St. Wunibald, who served as its first abbot. The tenth-cetury legend of her life tells stories of her gentleness, humility and charity, as well as her power to heal the sick through prayer.

Many years after her death, her bones were taken from Heidenheim, then in ruins, to the town of Eichstatt, Bavaria, which had been founded by her brother St. Willibald, who served as its bishop. Her relics were entrusted to the care of a community of Benedictine nuns founded for the purpose of maintaining her shrine. To everyone's surprise, her bones began to produce a clear liquid, called oil for want of a more accurate word, which people began to use as a tool for prayer for the sick. Countless numbers experienced healing of body or spirit through her intercession. St. Walburga's oil continues to flow every year from about October 12 to February 25, two of her feast days. It seeps from her relics through a thick slab of stone where it is collected and distributed by the nuns of the Abtei St. Walburg.        (source here)

Mother Francziska, my sister's new earthly mother. I had my eyes so teary as her presence is... almost overwhelming. A beautiful, strong, true, loud and funny person, her holiness is shown in her extreme generosity, hospitality, humility and determination. One doesn't meet such people very often in this life.

We entered through this door to meet many of the sisters! 

One of the non-assuming entrances... you can hardly tell it is a major Abbey of 1000 years! 

For the first part of the visit the girls and were allowed in the small chapel where the nuns pray. We attempted to follow the Divine Office with them... but at that time of the day they chant in German. At Vespers they would sing in Latin which would have been much easier, but it wasn't possible for us to go later.

The thickness of the wall! 

At lunch time, provided for guests in a separate room, our Number Four was served local beer! In Germany he was able to be served beer, and he felt quite dignified at 20 years old. 

Saint Benedict appears everywhere! 

We also met their chaplain of almost 30 years and my sister's dear friend, Fr. Reiter. He calls himself now her "papai" now, since our dear father has gone to the Lord.   

One of the interior buildings

Another interior view

The crypt chapel

Here in the crypt chapel the medieval saint is buried, and it is here that her miraculous oil is collected every year.

The most moving part of the whole tour were the hundreds, thousands of homemade plaques of thanks from the people through the many centuries who received favors and healings from the saint.

Each of them so carefullest, lovingly painted...

Thanking the saint for so many graces!

"Thank You, Saint Walburga!"

"St Walburga helped me!"

"The saint Walburga has helped me..."

Another alter at crypt chapel

The family of saints is displayed everywhere in town, Saint Walburga, her brothers and father!

The girls and I had passed up there to the interior sister's chapel before lunch for prayers.

These items are sent to the Abbey about personal healings. Some are hundreds upon hundreds years old. 

More and more thank you paintings!

We finally got upstairs to the main abbey church! 

It is sooo beautiful! Bavarian Baroque style.

Detail of the main altar painting.

Beyond the glassed in grille of the balcony is the sister's chapel and choir.

Can't have a Catholic church without a gargoyle of sorts! 

Back outside, the Abbey Rose garden.

Young visitors at sunset!

The bells rang the extended Angelus at sundown...

The entrance to our Guesthouse Hotel.

Inside the Guesthouse.

The decor was amazing, all original Work, everywhere.

The hotel/guesthouse plaque

There was another, nicer room prepared for us, but we thought this was the perfect one.
Can't beat Saints Joachim and Anne! 

It was the cleanest, most comfortable, nicest room we've ever slept in. The absence of a TV was icing on the cake. 

The photo doesn't do it justice. The towels were beyond perfection. :-)

My Fall Break Hero

Number Four spent five days with us and left yesterday back to college life. He was so happy to be home, enjoying the food, the relaxation, just being home. I smiled often just knowing he was around.... he got quite a bit done outside, especially getting the rest of the potatoes all dug and brought inside. He has been riding his bike all over campus, eating well and working out, and he is in great shape, actually 10 lbs lighter. I am so proud of him.

He made me the most proud as he took his time to go to the County House on Monday to cast his vote! This is the first time he votes, and of course, I made him my Brazilian "perfect cake" from scratch! Friend Hannah and Number Seven were happy to pose with him!

51st Birthday!

I had the loveliest of birthdays today. If there can ever be a perfect birthday, this was it. We started the day with mass as a family--it is not often that we are able to go to mass together. Then friends came and we had a delicious meal together: Husband made a meat dish and baked squash, and friends brought potatoes, salads and chocolate cake. I received beautiful flowers and excellent, practical gifts.

To crown it all, my three youngest daughters performed beautiful music on the piano and voice for our small gathering's delight. Number Six played Grieg and Number Five her Chopin, and Number Seven sang a couple of duets with her sisters as well. They closed with a pretty, simple rendition of Amazing Grace they have been learning in voice lessons. I told them that they couldn't go to a jeweler's and find a more precious gift for me than their music--and yet I am sure that what I said falls short of what is in the heart.

Life is wonderful, and God is so good.