I did not know people did this...then I found out.

I was a young wife and went to a local womens' group.In a village with farms all around.Nudges if ever one of us young wifes asked for a recipe.I figured if this was all they had to hold on to then I relly didn't want to be like them.
When it came to competitions for 4 scones or biscuits seems they made dozens then chose the best.
So the habit goes on all over the world...And I thought it was just here.
Actually learning this allowed me to decide to find my own outlet which was gardening then further study..Often its the learning experiences that shape us.
Mountain ash

LOL

My grandmother was THE BEST BAKER, ever. Hands down. Her weight proved that she could make the riches cakes and carmel rolls.

After she died, my parents gave me her handwritten recipes for breads, cakes and sweet rolls. It pretty much read like this:

Ingredients:
Lots of flour
Heaping cup of butter
More butter
Heaping cup of brown sugar

You get the idea. She had no secrets, just a fondness for sugar and fat. I would weigh twice what I weigh now if she had written these recipes down.
Add more butter and brown sugar

Lyer

Q-ball, please share the recipe!!!
My mouth is watering. Maybe one of us can detect a possibility. I like Whirlwind's suggestion, but I'd do it a bit differently. I'd ask her to show me for a good reason... the reason being that you want the cake to be remembered as part of her legacy --- esp. her legacy to you. That should honor her.
Regardless, please post what you have.

I have a (cake) recipe story, too. My grandmother lived in a house immediately behind us for a few years. I'd high tail it to her house as soon as I could change after school. Whenever she was there, and I could be, I was too. On some days, when we didn't garden, kill chickens, clean yard or house, look through her picture collections or sew, I'd sit at her small kitchen table and watch her make 'her' cake... the 1-2-3 Pound Cake. Then, once it was done, she'd get her glass of buttermilk, and me my water, and we'd share talk over a huge slice each. I loved the fellowship as much as I loved the cake. I can no longer have the fellowship (in person), but I can have the cake. The problem is she never wrote it down. She made it by memory. The best thing I could do was research pound cakes, ask relatives if they had an idea, or try and recreate it myself. I was in the grocery store once, having exhausted my ideas of how to come up with the recipe, when I picked up a box of Swans Down Cake Flour... why is the mystery, even though I'm sure my grandmother lead me to (some guardian fellowship). On the back of the box was a recipe for a 1-2-3 Pound Cake. I bought the box of higher priced flour without hesitation.

My husband had gotten a fancy mixer from our girls the Christmas prior, so he took to the task of making the recipe on the back of the box. It was similar to grandmother's cake, but it lacked something... an result much like Q_ball related. But, I had a starting point. My husband, never having tasted my grandmother's cake, but who grew up in the restaurant business with a mom (an expert cook), worked and worked until he came close to the identical taste.

I don't think a recipe from my grandmother will ever taste the same. Not only is the taste of store bought butter different these days, as is the quality of flour and other processed staples, but the main ingredient will forever be missing - my grandmother.

Here's the recipe, if any would like to try it:
1 c butter
2 c sugar (substitute 1 c with brown sugar if desired)
3 c flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 c milk
1/2 tsp almond extract

Cream butter. Gradually add sugar, creaming until light and fluffy. (Beat 1-2 minutes w/electric mixer or longer, if by hand). Sift flour w/baking powder and salt. Add eggs one at a time to creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately w/milk and flavorings, beating after each addition until smooth. Bake at 350, 30 minutes or more (until toothpick or broom straw comes out dry).
*Note - grandmother didn't use a mixer and she used a broom straw for the 'done' test.

Here's the cake recipe requested from me the most:
Coke Cake
Stir together and set aside:
2 c flour
2 c sugar
1 1/2 c baby marshmallows

Bring to a boil:
1 c coke (bottled is best, that would be as in 'glass')
1 c oleo *
3 tbs cocoa

Pour liquid ingredients over dry, then stir in:
1/2 c buttermilk mixed with 1 tsp soda
2 beaten eggs

Bake @ 350 for about 45 min in a greased (adequately greased so the melting marshmallows won't stick to the pan) tube pan.

*Note: I get the oleo to melting in the sauce pan - get it really hot - then pour the coke over it, making it foam up, but not letting it burn. Then I add the powdered cocoa.

The Coke Cake is the richest chocolate and moistest ever.

I so don't get why some women are so secretive about their recipes, as if their entire worth is based on their ability to make a certain cake.

My grandmother followed the same recipe formula as Lola's grandmother -- a bissle (little) this, a bissle that. When I asked how she knew how much to put in, she shrugged and said, "You taste it. You know." To this day, I hardly ever measure. I just throw in -- and taste.

I had a unique problem when trying to create Grandma's dishes: in our house, most but not all foods were called by their Yiddish names. Not only did I not know what they were called in English, I didn't even know that they weren't English -- because we spoke English all the time, right?

So when I went away to college and tried to re-create our family's favorites (the four recipes I actually knew. Beyond that, I couldn't cook, period.) it was a real eye-opener to find out that I knew almost none of the ingredient names in English.

I once had a boyfriend, whose Mom won the first prize for the best apple pie! Over 10,00 entrees, and she won a Hawaiin vacation. If anyone wants the recipe, I'll dig it up for you.

Recipe? Puleaseeee...I just want you to make the pie and send it to me. Whatttt?

No, send it to me... oh, JJ, I didn't mean to elbow you in the eye. So sorry, but my sweet tooth has been activated.

Owwwwwww...OUCH! Who turned out the lights!

JJ, I baked it, and wanted to send it to you, but for some reason it disappeared on the way to the post office.

WARNING…You won’t be able to stop eating this. Before digging in, immediately call an ambulance to pump your stomach.

SOURED CREAM APPLE PIE

Crust: (for 2 Pies) sift 2 cups flour, pinch of salt, ½ cup corn oil. ¼ cup milk. Put milk into oil, DON’T STIR, add salt to flour, pour oil and milk into flower (in a bowl). Mix with fork and roll into a ball. Cut in ½ for 2 crusts. Roll between 2 sheets of wax paper.

I usually freeze the other pie crust half.

Sour cream for topping

One 8- inch pie crust, unbaked;

3 cups diced apples
18 oz. container sour cream
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp. flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 flour
¼ butter

Place diced apples in pie crust shell.
Beat together sour cream, sugar, flour, salt vanilla and egg.
Pour over apples.
Bake at 450° for 15 min. Then lower temp to 350°.
Top pie with mixture of brown sugar, flour, butter. Bake for 15 min. or until firm. Serve with a bowl or sour cream or ice-cream.

The pie is very moist, but dries up when it cools. So I usually leave it in till the crust is a golden brown.
Makes 8 servings.

ENJOY!!!!

HEY girls,
As usual the QB is dragin' A-double-S getting back o here. If it weren't the Site remodel it was my ISP or schedule.

Pre -request here is my MIL's cake recipe.
She simply calls it:

PLAIN CAKE

6 eggs
2 cups sugar
3 cups All-P flour
8oz cream cheese
1/2 pound butter
1 sick margarine
pinch salt
1 tsp each Lemon & Vanilla flavoring

Cream sugar, butter, margarine & cream cheese.
Add Eggs one at a time (LOL sounds like Paula Dean) mixing between.
Stir in flour & salt
Then add in vanilla & lemon flavorings

Bake in a greased tube/Angle food type pan at 325* until done...Takes a bit over an hour..

it get's golden brown & should have a somewhat textured top that is more like a cookie w/ a pound cake type center.

Good Luck, & thanks for the previous recipes.
You know, I have to admit to much the same cooking style as our formothers, this had never really hit me until I started a cookbook for my sons. It's still a work in progress..no rush, I just want to finish it before I die.