Christmas Magic

I love the story behind this cake:

In 1914, in Flanders, France, the Germans were battling the British and French, but Christmas was rapidly approaching. The Germans began putting up signs with messages like “You no fight, we no fight.” More and more signs appeared, and then they threw a chocolate cake into the British and French trenches, wrapped in a note asking for a one-hour cease-fire on Christmas to celebrate. Apparently, that evening both sides met in the middle of the battlefield to play soccer, sing Christmas carols, and exchange gifts like cognac, postcards, newspapers, and the chocolate cake. Eventually, the generals decided this was unacceptable and sent everyone back to resume the fight. An interesting comment on war, and a testament to the magic of Christmas.

Dr. Robinson searched for the recipe of the chocolate cake that had been chucked into the British and French trenches, but could find no reference. One of her daughters suggested it must have been a loaf cake, since such a cake would be the right shape for throwing and dense enough to survive the toss. So they selected a recipe for what is essentially a chocolate pound cake.

Randy was in town to celebrate New Year’s, so we made this cake together to take to Tim and Maureen’s holiday party. It was somewhat messy, despite the relative simplicity of the recipe, but we had fun, and Randy made an eager assistant. The end result was a bit dry for my taste, but that is my common complaint with chocolate cakes in general (and why I’m so surprised every time I try a chocolate cake from here and end up loving it), but it went over well at the party and leftovers were distributed amongst guests and hosts.

I must say that I am glad that, at the end of our party, we got to go home and curl up in bed, instead of returning to dirty, cold trenches to resume battle. But I am a bit sad we didn't have an experience as miraculous or story-worthy. Maybe we should have played catch with the cake, just for good measure. At least we'd know if the cake was truly tossable. Next year.