Being a single working mother didn't exactly leave my mom with much time to show Betty Crocker up in the kitchen. The pantry was stacked with prepackaged meals, and my siblings and I would often be passed around from neighbor to neighbor when my mom had to work late. Looking back I don't remember many home cooked meals, but I do remember my mom at every single one of my soccer games, ballet recitals, school plays, and mother daughter events. How she managed to be so involved in her children's lives while at the same time working the snot filled hours of a Kindergarden teacher, I have no idea, but her hard work did pay off in the end and when I became a senior in high school she was able to stop working and spend my last year at home with me.
Although she had plenty of time to cook now, my schedule didn't allow me time to eat. I was never home for dinner during the week due to basketball, team dinners, numerous church events, and eating out with friends. The weekends followed a similar pattern and I would be lucky to every now and then find leftovers in the fridge. Once again though my mom went above and beyond and decided that if she was not able to cook for me at home, she would bake for me on the go. Our kitchen soon became filled with cookies and brownies and other delicious pastries. She would randomly show up at school around lunch and drop of gobs of sweets for me and my friends. Life was good….
Every away game in basketball someones mom would put together goody bags for the all the players. When it was my moms turn I was so stoked! That was until she forgot to make them and we ended up not having goody bags that game. Even though it wasn't that big of a deal, my mom felt horrible, and the next day during lunch she showed up in the locker room with a bunt cake I had never seen before and a gallon of ice cream. Seeing how our basketball team was never going to actually win a game, we might as well sit around getting spoiled with cake right? And spoiled we were… that thing was delicious! She ended up making three that week just to satisfy me and my teammates. Whenever I had company over you could find a freshly, sugar powder covered, chocolate bunt cake on a platter in the kitchen. I defiantly owe about 10 pounds of my body weight to that thing.
Every time I eat that cake, memories of my mom and senior year come to mind. In a way, the chocolate chip bunt cake serves as a reminder that although my childhood was different then many, my mom was as great if not greater than any other mom, and always loved me with her entire heart. Choosing to make this cake was a simple decision for me, but it was not my first time to try and recreate my mom's "masterpiece". Although the one I made today might be a little a dry and not even in the same category as mi madres, at least this time I remembered to mix the cake mix in with the other ingredients before attempting to cook it. Note to self: pudding mixes, water, eggs, oil, and chocolate chips mixed together and put in the oven for an hour is a hazard.
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