The Old Standby

My mom was a pretty traditional cook.  Decent food, nutritionally balanced meals...not bad for a mom who worked outside the home as well as in.  She even mastered the no-salt, no-fat, no-flavor (as she termed it) diet for many years when my dad needed it for his heart condition.  Originality and creativity were not her strong suit, but she got an A for Effort for sure.

Years ago she got a cake recipe from someone that became her dessert of choice whenever she was asked to provide one.  I believe the official name was "Creme de Menthe Cake" and we LOVED it as kids.  Ok, as adults, too.  Despite it's box-can-tub ingredients, it was a very satisfying dessert!  Over the years, it appeared so often for birthday dinners, church potlucks, and holidays that it was dubbed "the old standby."  It was one of the first recipes I asked for when I came of age and had to start bringing my own desserts to gatherings.

This blog site is an archive of "old standby" recipes.  Some are old family favorites, others are newly discovered gluten-free creations to accommodate Anna's needs.  The one thing they have in common is that they are not original creations...who has the time or patience (or talent, let's be honest) for that?  These are the "go to" recipes that we use regularly.  And eventually they're going to be chronicled all in one place, so I don't have to remember which cookbook or website I found them on!  Rest assured, proper credit will be given to sources wherever possible.

The Old Standby - Mary Breuker
1 box white cake mix, prepared according to directions
6 Tbsp creme de menthe liqueur, divided
1 can chocolate fudge frosting
8oz. tub whipped topping, thawed

Prepare the cake mix, adding 3 tablespoons of creme de menthe; bake as directed.  Cool completely, then frost with chocolate fudge.  Stir remaining 3 tablespoons of creme de menthe into whipped topping and spread over fudge frosting.  Refrigerate and enjoy!
P.S. To eat this cake in true Breuker fashion, first serve each person a small-to-normal size piece.  Leave the cake in the middle of the table so that everyone can help themselves in turn to several more little slivers of cake "just to even out the row."  With practice, this can be done in such a way that the final cut that would actually even out the row is imprecise, allowing for the next row to be doctored up as well.