A recipe to celebrate the end of summer.

Growing up, my summers were memory-making times. Swimming in the lake at Clearwater. Failing to learn to sail in the same lake. Family picnics each day. Grandpa making coffee for everyone early in the morning. Chocolate and dessert recipes. Memories full of sun-drenched moments captured forever in our heads and hearts.

Today, I’d like to share a memory from my Grandmother’s kitchen with you. It’s my favorite “End of Summer” treat. Opal (and her mother before her; Mary) Ruskofsky’s Chocolate Potato Cake:

1 Cup Mashed Potatoes (best when kept from the evening before)
I Cup Shortening
2 Cup Sugar
4 Eggs
½ Cup Milk
½ Cup Nuts
½ Cup Raisens
1 Cup Chocolate (not cocoa)
2 ½ Flour
2 Teaspoon Baking Power
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon cinnamon
1 Teaspoon nutmeg
1 Teaspoon cloves

Mix all ingredients completely.

Bake in a greased and powdered bunt pan for 1 hour at 350 degrees or until a knife is clean when entered and removed from the center of the cake.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy this little memory of my happy days in my Grandmother’s kitchen.