Because Memories Might Be Even Better Than the Thing Itself

My most vivid childhood birthday memories involve Jiffy cake.  Every year my mom baked the same version: golden yellow cake with fudge frosting.  My brother and I would lick the frosting from the mixer beaters as my mom iced the cake and wrote Happy Birthday! in cursive with Cake Mate gel.  We'd store leftovers in a old metal cake box that had a picture of a bowl of fruit on its side.

As a child, Jiffy cake was a delicacy.  It tasted even better the next day when the frosting had slightly hardened.


Jiffy cake hasn't been the easiest product to find in grocery stores, but after several Jiffy-less years, I recently discovered the blue boxes on the lowest shelf in the baking aisle. 

The afternoon that I frosted the cake, my girls licked the beater mixers until they were clean.  As we ate, my husband remarked, not unkindly, that the cake's consistency reminded him of cornbread.  I had to admit that the frosting, which is formed by mixing powder with two tablespoons of boiling water, has a distinct, if subtle, grittiness.

After eating Jiffy cake as an adult, I'm pretty sure that my memory of it is better than the cake itself.  And that's okay. 

Jiffy cake tastes like childhood, and nobody can argue with that. 

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3 comments

  1. Jiffy Cake? I've never heard of it... but I get the sentiment of something tasting like childhood... for me it's wieners and beans with a side of potato chips.

    Regardless, sounds like a perfect moment.

    Thanks for sharing.
    xoxo

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    Replies
    1. If you ever stumble upon Jiffy Cake, you have to buy it, bake it, and then think of me, even if you find the frosting to be a little gritty. (Especially if you find the frosting to be a little gritty.)

      As for your taste of childhood? That's perfect for a campfire.

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  2. Okay, so I have never heard about Jiffy cake, I only know Betty Crocker and Piullsbury. My mother used to make all kind sof Betty Crocker cakes, brownies and cookies and they tasted heavenly.

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