Childhood Cake Still a Crowd Pleaser
My childhood summers consisted of swimming, swim team, and swimming some more. We lived at the pool from the 7:30 am swim team practice until we begged my mother to bring dinner to the pool so we could keep swimming. I started working at the pool at the age of 14, and continued in various ways until I graduated from high school. Of all the activities we had at the pool, though, the hot dog roasts were the best.
Swim meets go on forever, and everyone is hungry afterwards. So, after each swim meet the booster club sponsored a hot dog roast with dessert. That was the whole menu. Hot dogs in a toasted bun, roasted over a coal fire (yum!) cooked by our dads, and dessert brought by everyone and baked by our moms. No chips, fruit or worry about having more or it not being enough for the kids. While just the smell of a true charcoal briquette fire can take me back to my days of frizzy chlorine hair and baby oil tan, it is my mom’s Pistachio Cake that we still make and love.
Some of you may have this recipe tucked away and forgotten; however, I recently found it’s new again to a whole generation of cake lovers. It has all the requirements for today’s bakers. It’s made with a cake mix. It does not require frosting and thus the hassle of making frosting (or even opening a can!). It is very portable – again no messy frosting melting in the heat. It’s not the same old, same old and your kids will still love it. Best of all: it tastes great!