Nana Wanda's Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients:

The cake:

• One yellow cake mix according to the directions given

The frosting:

• 1 1/2 sticks of butter/margarine
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 box confectioner's sugar
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then grease a round pan with lard and flour lightly. I was always given this job, even though I hated it. Shoving my hand into the fat, I would scoop it up and glide my fingers along the pan until every part was covered. My sisters and mom are laughing at the way I scrunch my nose and turn away from the white substance. Jillian would always take over for me. I couldn't get the fat off my fingers quick enough. My mom, laughing, would begin the next step.

Putting the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl, blend them until moistened. Do this at a low speed for about thirty seconds. Then, beat at a medium speed for about two minutes. My mom would take this time to make small talk.
"How was your day?" she would ask while gracefully committing a task.
Quietly, we would tell her some insane story that would have us all laughing and screaming  to talk over each other by the time it was over.
"Quiet down!" my dad would exclaim from his huge chair in front of the TV.
This pattern would repeat until the day was over, but even though he would tell us to shut up, we knew he cherished the sound of our laughter in the small kitchen.

Once the two minutes are up, pour the batter into the pans and bake them immediately. Bake them for about twenty-five minutes. In the next twenty-five minutes, we would start the preparation of our favorite part, the icing. The icing was always a group effort. It didn't have to be, but that's the way we made and enjoyed it.

In a blender, put one and a half sticks of butter or margarine. It truly does not matter which one you use. Margarine is just the cheaper alternative. With the sticks, add one cup of peanut butter. Someones job would be to grab all the materials needed for the icing. An other's job would be to measure out the ingredients. We were always very playful during this time.

Add one box of confectioner's sugar, three tablespoons of cold water, and one teaspoon of vanilla extract. Alternate the ingredients until creamy and spreadable. Once you are done with the icing, let it sit while you wait for the cake, and let it cool. During this time we would go sit around the dining room table to participate in a game. We would usually play a board game and enjoy the dwindling time we had together. It always sat on our minds that some of us would be moving off soon and starting our lives. So, we took this time to create memories to hold dear to our hearts for the time we were apart.

After some time, my mom would interrupt the game to get the cakes out of the oven.
"I'll be right back!" my mom would exclaim while hurdling over our dog that was sitting in the doorway.
"MOM!" my sisters and I would all yell in unison. "It's your turn!"
"Someone can take my turn for me."
"You can't do that." we would mumble, but of course we did anyway.
As she grabbed the round pans out of the oven the house would be filled with the warmth of the oven and the sweet smell of the cakes. Those two aspects will always stick with me.

After you let the cakes cool, flip them out of their pans and onto whatever dish you will serve it on. Begin icing the top of the bottom cake, as this helps the cakes to stay together firmly. Once you are done with that, stick the other cake on top. Gently, ice the rest of the cake. My sisters and I would stand around the island in our kitchen and drool over the way the icing would glide over the cake.
Once my mom was done icing we would all join together and clean it. We would all walk over to the utensil drawer and grab a spoon, and then the best part would begin. As we devoured the icing like a baby being fed for the first time, we would also take the time to let each other know we were grateful for the time God had blessed us with. We would repeat our motto that would always keep us stuck together like glue.
"God knew what he was doing when he put us together." we would all remind each other.
This year I know that the peanut butter  cake will once again fill our memories and help us cherish our time together.