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 It was Christmas 1983 and my best friend Joan came over to bake with me. We baked toffee and cookies and 7-layer bars and caramel corn and rum cakes and so much more. Then, we gave them away to friends, family and neighbors. As expected, we received many calls of thanks. They liked the toffee. They liked the 7-layer bars. They liked the caramel corn and the cookies. But they were going to CRY if they didn’t get more rum cake. Seriously! As the years went by, no matter what was going on in our lives, Joan and I got together every December to bake. We also continued to refine the rum cake every year. (People were already offering us their first-born for these cakes. What more did we want? World cake domination?) We baked together for 23 years. But this story takes a sad turn. My best friend, my confidante and my baking buddy, Joan, passed away from cancer in June 2007. Just the previous Christmas, we had talked about selling our cakes one day … and now here I am. I don’t sell the toffee. I don’t sell the 7-layer bars or the cookies. I sell the rum cakes. I do this in her honor and in gratitude for her friendship. Enjoy … and be sure to share this cake with your friends! |
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