My son, Isaac, had to go with Ed to pick up some furniture that is being donated for a yard sale at the church where Ed pastors. We have been there for over twenty years. The people are friendly, the sermons are inspiring, and Ed makes us all laugh every Sunday. I liked this about them from the start of our friendship.

So for recovery group I made spaghetti, and an Ugly Chocolate cake. The reason it was ugly was the icing that Isaac made over the stove and left me beating as he went out the door. I was to beat it until it was thick enough to put on the cake. It was Fudge Icing. That would give a hint as to why it was difficult.

There my chocolate cake with German chocolate icing was, only the icing was in the middle of the cake, and not on top. I beat the icing until I thought it had been beat enough to spread over the cake. I began with a big dollop that landed on the top of the cake. It seemed too heavy to me. I spread it out easily and put my knife in the pan for more, and more. I spread, and the cake cooperated. Soon I had all the icing on the cake, and some left in the pan. I nibbled a bit of chocolate. I looked at the cake. It was the ugliest chocolate cake I had ever made. I put some crushed nuts on top and around the side. This helped make it uglier. I figured it was so ugly it would be good.

Tonight with the group I told them about the Ugly Cake. One of them said, “I don’t think it is all that ugly. It looks like it would be good. I usually don’t eat dessert, and this is my second piece!”

I let him go. I continued to refer to the cake as ugly, and they continued to eat it and ask to take a piece home. I was glad I only had two pieces left when they went home. I figured they would be eaten later tonight.

So sometimes ugly is appealing. The ugly part was that the icing was on the plate where the cake sat. I am used to a finished picture, instead of a sloppy one. The dark chocolate icing was good, and home-made ice cream really went  with the cake. Dark chocolate, and vanilla ice cream that had some unusual spices. I ran out of vanilla at the church and Isaac brought what I had at home. It was too late to add vanilla, so I used some spices that might go with it. It tasted like custard! I put nutmeg in the mixture before it was poured into the ice cream maker. I used only 5 eggs instead of eight, and I made the recipe up as I made the ice cream. They ate it, and that is what matters. Smile.