My Favorite Childhood Memory

Perhaps my favorite childhood memory is of the times I stayed with my grandparents and my grandmother made her coffee cake. The joy I felt when I walked into her kitchen and saw that sitting on her counter is burned into my memory. Of course it's not the only fond memory I have of her, but now that she's gone, it's the one that makes me feel closest to her even now. There are so many other memories of her - how much she believed in me, and in all her children and grandchildren, how much she loved all of us, how strong she was in her faith and I'm sure I'm forgetting things at the moment as I sit here with a cup of coffee and, you guessed it, a piece of the most wonderful coffee cake ever.

I've always loved this coffee cake. It's a very simple recipe, but for me at least, there is no better coffee cake on the planet. This year my oven failed me in two attempts at this cake - which I haven't made in quite some time. The first attempt was a complete throw away. On Thanksgiving morning, I got up early enough to try again, this time with slightly better results - though the bottom and the edges were a bit too well done. It would have to do - I guess it's easy enough to slice those parts away from the good part, and I need to have this cake during the holidays because it makes me think of my grandmother. Any other memories I have of her are not ones I can feel her presence in as much as I do when I have this coffee cake - sounds a bit silly I know, but that's how it is.

How good is this coffee cake? In my opinion, it's the absolute best. I'm willing to bet there are a few Vincents out there who would say the same thing. I'm very particular about sharing this recipe, or the finished product itself with anyone. I made it for one woman I dated years ago and she  commented that a store bought coffee cake was her preference. Damn near blasphemy if you ask me. I love this cake so much that I smash every crumb into my fork leaving nothing on the plate - and it's been that way since I was a kid. If I share it, and I'm willing to mind you, I usually say a few words about what this cake means to me and that it would be best to keep that in mind should anyone want to comment.
Unreasonable as it may seem, I'm basically asking anyone I share with to love this cake as much as I do, and to me, having it is being in the presence of one of the most wonderful people I've ever known.

I've only shared the recipe twice. Once was to a friend and I don't think she made it, and the second time was this year, to a woman that I think highly of and thought might just be....well, the one. It appears I was mistaken in my thoughts there - which has me heading into the holidays a bit sad. So I will likely never know if she made this recipe and if she does, if it's as wonderful to her as it is to me.

No matter - whatever anyone else thinks of this coffee cake is not really important to me. What's important to me is how it makes me feel any time I have it. I feel like the young boy who walked into my grandmother's kitchen and instantly turned happy in my first waking moments because of the mere sight of this wonderful cake. I never had coffee with this stuff until I was in my 20's. Now I never have this cake without thinking of my grandmother, and I hope I never will because this is such a wonderful memory to have. Some day I'll share this recipe with a woman who will make this for me knowing just how much this simple coffee cake means to me and that doing so will go straight to my heart. I suppose for the briefest of moments, I thought the person I shared the recipe with recently would do that - I suppose I should have known better. Meanwhile, I sit here with a close approximation of what has become my favorite childhood memory, and in a small, yet very large way, my grandmother is here with me - and all the confidence in me, all the love she had for me is here. I'm glad that even today as a grown man, I can still see the beauty in that and still appreciate it. There are far worse ways to start a day off, but not many better.