Everyday is Mother's Day
May 4, 2006

Mother’s day is May 14th, but it’s not too early to start the worry and wonder. Families worry about how to fete their very own wonder woman in the manner she deserves. Mothers wonder if maybe this might just be the year that her clan will come through in Silver Palate style: pressed pastel sheets on her bed, tulips in a crystal vase, a beautiful breakfast tray set with fresh orange juice, strawberries, almond croissants, hot free trade coffee and the New York Times hand delivered by George Clooney?

Dream on. After twenty years of soccer games, chores, chauffeuring, and the general mayhem any spring Sunday brings, my family’s momentum traditionally atrophies to a place where we end up eating the fabled Mother’s Day meal off of a paper plate that features Jeff’s specialty, spaghetti and Prego sauce.

But now that everyone drives and soccer games are a fond memory, I think this Mother's Day is going to be different! We’ve already had ‘the talk’ in anticipation of the holiday that never seems to happen. Jeff is going to grill something edible and the girls are going to bake a cake. (And I am going to stop reading cookbooks that read like fairy tales.) And we’re going to have a wonderful Mother’s Day-- right after we finish painting the house.

Mother’s Day Mojito Cake
I've given rum cake, an 80's classic, a little twist by adding lime juice and mint to the mix for a more festive dessert.

Cake ingredients: 1- 18 ounce yellow cake mix, 1 package Jello brand instant vanilla pudding, 4 eggs, one half cup cold water, one half cup canola oil, one half cup dark rum.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prep a Bundt pan by lightly coating the baking surface with soft butter and then dusting it with a small amount of flour. Tap out excess flour. Sprinkle 1 cup chopped pecans onto the bottom of the pan (optional). Mix the cake ingredients together with an electric mixer, beating 1 minute. Pour the batter into pan and bake for one hour.

When the cake is baked, let it cool for 10 minutes; invert it onto a serving platter. Lightly score the top and spoon the glaze evenly over the top. Apply the glaze slowly, in small increments, for maximum saturation. Top with sections of fresh mint leaves.

Glaze
Melt 4 ounces of butter in a medium saucepan; add one fourth cup water, 1 cup granulated sugar, one fourth cup fresh lime juice, one half cup dark rum, and 5 large mint leaves. Boil 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove mint leaves. Note: the alcohol in the cake and glaze will evaporate during cooking.

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, Jeff, and three college–aged daughters who come and go. ©2008