German Chocolate Pound Cake

Years ago my mom and dad created a cookbook of family favorites. It included this gem that I'm sure Mom found, but Dad makes. He has become the baker in the family since he retired. I love that this cake is moist, chocolatey and not too sweet.

You will get better results if you use an electric mixer instead of beating the batter by hand. (Kate, you can beat it by hand since you don't believe in using electric mixers.) Since there is very little leavening in this cake, you have to work a lot of air into the batter for it to rise properly.

Start by preheating the oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or two loaf pans (8 1/2 x 4 1/2).


Cream 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter. You need to beat this for several minutes or until the butter is light colored and most of the graininess (is that even a word?) is gone.

Can you see how much creamier the second picture is?

Add 4 eggs, one at a time mixing  well after each addition.

Melt a 4 ounce bar of German Sweet Chocolate (you can find this near the chocolate chips) in the microwave in thirty second intervals. If the chocolate is almost melted, the heat in the bowl will probably finish the job, if you stir it a bit. Mix the chocolate, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, 1 cup of buttermilk, and 1 teaspoon of instant coffee granules into the batter.

A couple of notes here: If, like me, you grab a quart of milk instead of buttermilk, you can put one tablespoon of white vinegar into a one cup measuring cup and add milk to get one cup. If you don't have instant coffee, just leave it out. (The original recipe doesn't call for it.) For some reason, coffee makes chocolate more chocolatey without making the finished product taste like coffee.

Sift together 3 cups of flour, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of salt. (If you don't have a sifter, you can stir the ingredients in a large bowl, with a whisk.) Mix the dry ingredients into the batter with the chocolate chips, if you are using them. You only need to stir until all of the flour is incorporated. Over-mixing will toughen your cake.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 1 ½ hours. (70 to 80 minutes for loaf pans.) Cool 5 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan. Wrap the cake in plastic wrap or place in a sealed cake keeper. This cake is unusual because it is wrapped while it is hot, which keeps the cake really moist. Cool completely before serving.

It was a good thing these got wrapped while they were hot, since I needed to take one to someone half an hour after they came out of the oven.

German Chocolate Pound Cake

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsps vanilla extract

1 pkg (4 oz) German sweet chocolate, melted

1 tsp instant coffee granules, optional

3 cups flour

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 bag miniature chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan or two loaf pans.

Cream sugar and butter, then add eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla, buttermilk, and melted chocolate. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Mix into batter with chocolate chips if you are using them. Pour into pan and bake for 1 ½ hours. (70 to 80 minutes for loaf pans.) 

Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and wrap or place in sealed cake keeper while hot. Cool completely before serving.

Revealing My Heart

I'm ashamed to admit how often I am unkind to and critical of my family. Usually it is a tone of voice that says you're bothering me, but that is all it takes to reveal my heart. If I am really living for God and surrendering everything to Him, I should not be thinking things that are critical and unkind. Yes, think, because before anything comes out of my mouth, it is in my mind. Even if there is nothing wrong with the words I am saying, my tone of voice and body language reveal my heart. If the things I am focusing on and thinking about are godly, then the words that I speak should be also.

“Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out fo the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for the mouth speaks from that which fills the heart.” Luke 6:45

What we think affects how we live!

It may seem like a few careless words don’t matter, but I still carry scars from unkind words spoken to me in my childhood. Words go deep and lodge themselves in the hidden places of our minds. They reappear when something happens to cause us to doubt ourselves.

It isn’t just our words that are affected by the condition of our hearts. I very easily fall into the trap of insecurity and feeling like I have no value when I drift away from God and His word. The further I fall into the trap, the more convinced I become that no one cares. As a result, I isolate myself from the people around me and continue to spiral downward. When that happens, I need to get back into the word of God and see what He says about me and reach out to show someone else God’s love.

God’s promises to me:

      He loves me

      He pursues a relationship with me

      His love casts out fear

      He sings over me

      He delights in me

      All things are possible in Him

       I can do anything through Him

      His plans are for my good, to give me a future and hope

      He has already planned good things for me to do.

It takes courage and faith to trust God and step out of the dark and I am learning to turn to Him more quickly when I fall into unhealthy thinking.

Lord, I pray that "the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

Pretending

Angel

Jedi Knight

Hairdresser

Have you ever watched children engaged in imaginative play. I always enjoy seeing the world through their eyes. Over the years we have had explorers, hair dressers, Olympic skaters and skiers, Mary watching over baby Jesus, mechanics, computer scientists (before we owned a computer), along with a host of other characters in our home. This kind of pretending is healthy and important for children as they learn who they are and where they fit in the world around them. Adults pretend too. Much of that pretending isn't healthy.

So many of us spend our lives pretending. (I know I have.) Pretending everything is OK, pretending we’re happy, pretending life doesn’t hurt. But pretending isn’t really living. We hide in the shadows hoping no one will find out who we really are. God invites us to dance the dance of life with Him. Life can be one exciting and glorious adventure. (There will be pain and disappointment too – that’s just part of our fallen world.) The song Offering (Paul Baloche) includes this line: “There are no shadows in Your presence”. If we are going to really live our lives as God intends us to, we can’t hide in the shadows. We have to step out and dance with the King of the Universe.

Jeremiah 1:5 says “Before I formed you I knew you, before you were born I set you apart, I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

This is God’s call to Jeremiah. I believe it is His call to each of His children. He may not have appointed us as prophets, but He knows us intimately and has set each of us apart for a purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Phillipians 2:15 “so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe”

Phillipians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

God, give us the courage to let go of all the lies we have believed and move beyond our fears. Teach us to trust You and see ourselves as you see us. God teach us to dance instead of hiding in the shadows.

(In Do You Think I’m beautiful? Angela Thomas compares our walk with God to a dance.  I highly recommend this book as well as her Bible study with the same title.)

Originally published November 13, 2009

I’m Beautiful (and so are you)

I am beautiful!  God says it so it is true!  I can’t always see it, but that doesn’t change the fact that He calls me beautiful.  (So has my husband for nearly 30 years, I have just never been sure I believed him.)  Why is it so hard to dig through the clutter and the voices in my head to see myself as God sees me and hear Him call me beautiful?  Why am I more ready to believe the world and Satan than my heavenly Daddy who loves me more than I can imagine?

There are certainly days that I don’t see my beauty, but that doesn’t change it.

When I’m feeling out of shape and unattractive - I’m still beautiful.

When I’m tired and my eyes are sad and baggy - I’m still beautiful.

When I’m disappointed in my husband and ugly towards him - I’m still beautiful.

When I’m yelling at the kids - I’m still beautiful.

When I feel like a failure - I’m still beautiful.

When I’m lonely and feel like no one cares - I’m still beautiful.

There is nothing that can change the Truth.  God says I’m beautiful - whether I believe it or not.

What else does He say about me that I haven’t believed?  What does He want to use my hands and feet to do that I’m not doing because I am too busy feeling sorry for myself?  I long to surround myself with beauty and be content with what God has given me. I need to slow down, be still, and listen for His voice.

(Do You Think I’m beautiful? by Angela Thomas explores the things that keep us from seeing ourselves as God does.  I highly recommend it as well as her Bible study with the same title.)

Originally published July 15, 2008.

A little bit of spring

 I am tired of gray days.

 I'm tired of being cold.

I'm tired of the garden being bare.

So here is a little bit of spring while we wait for sunshine, warm days, and green gardens.

This is at Brookside Gardens in Silver Spring. Brookside is a great place to wander for an afternoon, especially when they have their butterfly exhibit in the conservatory.

These pansies were on our deck.

 The rest of these pictures are in Williamsburg. Somehow in all the times we had been there, we never went in the spring. I corrected that last spring when I spent two days in Williamsburg with my daughter and her roommate. We found a number of flower filled gardens to explore and photograph. As we wandered between gardens through back gates we didn't always know if we were still in public areas. No one chased us out, so we kept going.

This was a peaceful place to sit and watch people out on the street.

Forever God's Child

This song has made a profound impression on me as our church's worship team has been preparing it for a future Sunday morning. It mirrors my journey with God. Here is the first verse:

Broken and lost you found me
Though hurt had been my way you healed my life.
Called as a child and righteous
You broke the power of sin and freed my heart.
(Find the whole song here.)

I hope it blesses you as well.

Always Loved

Our small group is studying 3:16 by Max Lucado. We are enjoying going back to one of the first verses most of us memorized and revisiting some basic truths.

“For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Last night we looked at the permanence of this promise. Once we are God’s, we are always His.

He says:

No one can snatch us out of His hand. (John 10:28)

Nothing can separate us from His love. (Romans 8:35-39)

He will never leave us. (Hebrews 13:5)

Why does God remind us so often that His love is unconditional and eternal?

One answer was: “Because He knows us.”

The next was: “Because we are feeble and fickle”

We hear so clearly the voices of the past and of Satan telling us we are not good enough. We feel our own insecurity and doubt that a perfect God could love the mess we are. I started thinking about why those are the voices we hear instead of the voice of our Daddy telling us we are loved and have just the personality and abilities we need to become all He has planned for us. I think we miss God’s voice because He speaks to the innermost part of our souls in a whisper. Our world is so full of noise and distractions and our lives are so busy that we can’t hear the sweet voice of our Savior. Isn’t it more meaningful to have someone sit next to us and speak quietly in intimate conversation, than to shout across a crowded room?

God loves you more than you will ever know. He longs for you to quiet yourself and cuddle up next to Him so He can talk with you. Will you take a few minutes to be alone, open His word and let Him speak to you through it?