“Christmas and Coconut Cake” — The gift that keeps on giving.
Since my last blog was about how things sometimes don’t go so smoothly in publishing I thought I’d tell you about the better-late-than-never Christmas Present I just received:
Sometimes good news comes from the past. I’ve just discovered, 5 years after it’s first printing, that House Housekeeping included my grandmother Eva’s Coconut Cake Recipe in their 2004 edition.
“Bake It! Good Housekeeping Favorite Recipes: Cakes, Cookies, Bars, Pies, and More (Favorite Good Housekeeping Recipes)”
My grandmother’s recipe is on Page 174.
Of course, there’s a back story.
Back in the summer of 2002 I was invited, as a published author, to submit a story idea to Good Housekeeping Magazine for a short story based around the holidays. It was a competition with invitation-only published authors asked to participate. Now I’d never written a short story to try to publish it. And life being life, so unpredictable, the offer to submit a story idea came while I was in Denver at a writers’ conference. Just to make it even more interesting, I was told I had exactly 24 hrs to come up with the storyline. AND, I didn’t get the call from my agent until the end of the day, so I was nearly 12 hours behind when I heard about the competition. My agent said think of something. It was privilege to even be asked to compete. But don’t expect to win. After all, some the competitors were published short story writers.
I agreed. Only one small, teeny weeny problem. I had no idea of what to write about. Unlike many authors who seem to have a backlog of great ideas, I tend to construct plots as I need them. In addition, I’m not good at extemporaneous writing. Write on demand? Not so much. I admire writers who can sit in a class and at the teacher’s instruction within minutes write a great paragraph: something funny, poignant, or wildly imaginative. I tend to go deer-in-the-headlights catatonic: brain slides into neutral and stays there until half an hour after the class is over. Makes you wonder how I write, doesn’t it? I like to be alone. All alone, preferably with the entire house at my singular disposal. Hah!
So I went to bed brain dead. No Christmas stories lurking in my mid-June (July?) brain.
I wrote up at dawn. The only thought in my head was about the stories my mother had told me about her childhood in Fort Worth, TX. She was a Depression Era child, grew up with very little but thought that that was okay because she was loved. In her household — all women, 3 adults and one child — Christmas was about making do, being clever, and a positive attitude. The major treat for my mother was not what was under the tree, if there was a tree, but the cakes the women in her household made. My great grandmother always made a Yellow Cake with Chocolate Icing. My grandaunt made a White Fruit Cake. But my mother’s favorite was her mother’s fresh Coconut Cake. There wouldn’t be a real Christmas without it, she once told me.
I was desperate so I sat cross-legged on the bed beside my sleeping husband and began to type on my laptop.
Finding a coconut in Fort Worth, TX, a good 300 miles from anything tropical in 1932, had to be a stretch. Coconut didn’t come in plastic bags or cans. So getting one fresh was a necessity.
What if…by the time they could afford one, there were no more fresh coconuts in the neighborhood market? Today, we could just drive to the next store
But what if – as in my ancestors’ case — the next store was in a white-only neighborhood and the family was ‘colored’ and so forbidden by custom from shopping there?
Now I have a problem — no coconut — and it’s critical because it’s not Christmas for the child without the coconut cake yet trying to obtain a coconut is going to require an element of danger, potential humliation, perhaps even arrest. Family upheaval? You bet.
I shot off my one page idea. My agent sent it in. 3 days later I was a finalist. She said congratulations! I had beat out a couple of dozen well-known short story authors but don’t expect the prize. Be proud of the achievement. I was. By cracky, I had made finalist.
Then, 24 hours later, she calls again. ”Are you sitting down? They chose your idea!”
I have to admit it was one of the most gratifying sales of my life. I’m sure I was helped by the spirit of my ancestors. One catch, I had three weeks to complete the story.
Only my mother was still alive but I felt I knew my great grandmother from the stories I’d heard about her. After going back to my mother several times to make certain the details of the era and the people were true to life, I read my story to my mother, she said it was a perfect portrait.
I changed the names and created a situation that did not occur, but could have. My short story titled, “Christmas and Coconut Cake” was published in Good Housekeeping Magazine’s December 2002 edition.
As an afterthought, I asked my editor at Good Housekeeping if she would like my grandmother’s Coconut Cake recipe. Little did I know they would take it into their world famous kitchens and test it. publish it! But they did. My editor calls and says they want to publish it but would I mind if they sweeten up for modern tastes? I did not! Because the cake was integral to the storyline and perfectly reflected the magazine’s focus and interest: women and food, and good home life, it was published at the back of my short story.
So now I’ve learned that my Grandmother Eva’s Coconut Cake recipe was published for the world in 2004 as one of the 150 best recipes. How nice. How fitting. I am so proud for her.
December 15th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
That is so cool. I love that story and that recipe, although I have never tried it. You know me and my sad record in the kitchen. Not nearly as good a cook as you and your family.
May 2nd, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Coconut cakes are so good because they have this amazingly sweet taste that you just don’t expect. It’s as though that coconut becomes more sweet when cooked! Congratulations to you and your grandmother on an amazing accomplishment!
June 29th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
Fruit Cakes are quite addictive and my mom always bake them every month.;~:
July 20th, 2010 at 12:31 pm
Fruit Cakes are the specialty of my grandmother, she bakes lots of fruit cakes.