Babka

 

"Dad, can you make the cake that grandma makes?” asks my older son, “which one?” I answered, though I knew exactly which cake he meant “grandma makes a lot of cakes”. “The tasty one, the one that looks like a screw with chocolate”. I called mom “this cake?” mom said “that's easy:

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Brownies

 

“Mom, tell him, he isn’t giving me a piece of the cake!” my younger brother would wine. “At least eat lunch first” mom would say as she was looking at us kids eating one piece after another. When mom would bake a chocolate cake for shabbat, it would usually not survive Friday. “I got only two pieces and everybody got four already” my sister complained. “Leave at least some cake for your father” mom would say as she took what was left of the cake.

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Pecan Maple Pie

 

"Would you like some cake?” asked the waitress, “we have excellent cakes” she added. We looked at each other, trying to decide if to take a cake at all, and if so which one. Cafes weren’t places we went to often. Usually we would gather in the public park, close to the neighborhood kiosk.

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Pull-Apart Poppy Seed Cake

 

Pull apart poppy seed cake
 
"Half or full?” asked Jacob. “Full” I answered, “I’d finish half before I get home”. Naturally, he didn’t have to ask which cake. Weiss’ Bakery’s legendary poppy-seed cake was the ultimate Saturday treat. For me, where Saturday was not Saturday without at least two different cakes at home, Weiss’ poppy seed cake was an adequate substitute for moms’ cakes.
 
 

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