I had this great psychology professor my first quarter of community college who used to talk about how his grandmother had worried about him going to college. “Don’t you get to being one of those educated fools now” she’d say, her only experience with educated folks being that of them looking down on her or seeing them without any common sense at all.
It is a theory held by some folks that you can educate yourself to an extent that you lose all common sense. While I’ve known folks who could fit that mold but I don’t think its so much the extensive education as it is the detachment from your roots that causes you to lose sight of what life is like on the other side of the tracks. Still, I think it takes all kinds of folks to make the world go round and maybe some of us need to be a little detached to be able to do the hard math ~winks~.
Some of the most educated folks I know are as down home and unpretentious as they can be. “Just plain old thangs” as folks would call them, meant as a compliment when referring to someone who was generally highly regarded but didn’t put themselves up on a pedestal or treat anyone as if they were better than them. “She’s got a PHD and all but she’s still just a plain old thang”. That’s about the loftiest praise and were I to ever achieve anything to that extent its what I hope folks would say about me.
This is a wonderful comedian called Jeanne Robertson and today I’m bringing you her talk about why you shouldn’t send a man to the grocery store, a story about her husband, a man who, in her own words ” has over educated himself”. I have seen this countless times and yet I still go back to watch it again every now and then. She got me curious about the cake she talks about in this routine so I mosied over and found it on her website. The tutorial follows.
Lawd, I love this woman.
Now, when you are done laughing and have finished calling your Mama, your neighbor, and a few of your closest friends to tell them about this video, you’ll probably get to thinking about the pound cake she talks about in the video…read on 🙂
You’ll need: Flour, Sugar, Shortening, Butter or margarine, 7-up (or generic “Twist Up” like I’m using), eggs, vanilla, and a bit of lemon flavoring.
Here is a bit closer shot of the flavorings.
I usually use the cheap vanilla but if you swear by the real stuff or homemade or whatever, knock yourself out and I’ll still be happy.
You just need a little bit of the lemon lime coke so you can get one of these cute little baby cans if you like.
Place your sugar, shortening, and butter in a mixing bowl.
Mix that up until well blended.
Add your lemon extract or flavoring or whatever it is you found in your pantry or went out and bought.
Cooking isn’t rocket science. If it were, we’d all be a lot skinnier.
Add in your vanilla.
and all of your eggs.
Mix that up really well
Add in your flour.
and your 7-up-ish type beverage.
Mix all of that up.
Then you’re going to pour that into a greased and floured bundt pan.
Bake at 325 for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
After it has baked let sit in pan for ten minutes and then turn out.
Goodness, can you smell that?
Now we need to make our glaze. Place your confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Add a wee bit of lemon flavoring.
And a wee bit of milk. Stir that up until it looks kind of like school glue. Don’t worry, it won’t taste like glue 🙂 If it is a bit thin, just add more confectioner’s sugar. I always end up making mine too thin to begin with and have to add more.
If you end up with any bad spots because you had a friend who was about to leave and you needed to turn it out sooner so you could send some with her, don’t worry about it. We’re here to eat our food, not build a shrine to it.
Enjoy your cake!
Now for more fun, click here to watch Jeanne’s video on why you shouldn’t go rafting with a Baptist. You can visit Jeanne’s website by clicking here.
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter or margarine
- 1 ?2 cup shortening
- 3 cups sugar
- 1-1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
- 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract*
- 5 eggs
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 7 fluid ounces 7-Up Can use diet
- 1-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar glaze
- 2 tablespoons milk glaze
- 1/4 tsp lemon extract glaze
Instructions
- In a large bowl, place butter, shortening, and sugar. Beat until it is fluffy and well mixed. Add in lemon extract and vanilla flavoring. Add in all of the eggs and beat again until blended in. Add in all of your flour and then seven up. Mix until smooth and creamy. Pour into greased and floured tube pan (Jeanne just uses Baker's Joy to spray on her pan to make this easier). Bake at 325 for one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Jeanne says to let it sit for thirty minutes before turning out. I let mine sit for ten because that is just what I'm used to but I'll give thirty a try next time!
- Combine all glaze ingredients and stir until smooth. Add more milk if too thick, more confectioner's sugar if too thin. Pour over cooled cake.
- *Y'all saw how I do this in my Peanut butter pie tutorial. I just give a pour and leave it to God decide how much vanilla goes in there!
- **I added the glaze but the original recipe didn't have it on there. If you make these to freeze, don't glaze them first, wait til you thaw 'em!
A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble in the road.
~Henry Beecher
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