The taste of home!

You can’t imagine my delight when I read the recipes in ‘A taste of home’ in the May issue. As soon as I saw the picture of Phillippa Cheifitz’s Blitz Torte I knew exactly what it was and what it tasted like!

When my parents married, my mother had never cooked a meal in her life. She had many disasters in those first few months of married life and certainly had no idea how to bake. My father’s birthday was approaching and she wanted to bake him a cake but didn’t know of an easy recipe. Dad paged through a recipe book and found the recipe for a Blitz Torte. ‘Blitz’ seemed to him to indicate speed so he marked the page. My mother baked it for him… and made it for him every birthday for the rest of their married lives – 57 years!

When Mum died in 2008 I continued the tradition for another two years, until my dad passed away too. Soon after his death, my youngest son, who was born close to my father’s birthday, asked if the Blitz Torte could become his birthday cake. I agreed, but this caused an uproar in the family because everyone wanted the Blitz Torte to be their special birthday cake! So now it’s baked for kids, kids-in-law, grandkids and my own husband.

My mum changed the recipe by making the custard filling with two punnets of sour cream instead of milk and cream, and left out the butter. My dad’s birthday was in November so she served the cake with the first fresh cherries of the season.

Like Phillippa, this isn’t a cake I’d whip up just any day. ‘It’s for special days, to bring back lovely memories.’ Thank you for taking me down such a delightful memory lane. Jenny Nienaber Ed: We’d love a slice of that too!