6th Generation Chocolate Cake

Today is my birthday.

I am lucky to enjoy my favorite cake, my Grandmother’s chocolate cake, with my family. So many wonderful, joyful memories of chocolate, cake, and my beautiful grandmother, who was the family rock to me. I now call her MISS GRAMMY ROCK, a true family gem.

She was so beautiful and strong inside and out, and her kitchen creations were always the best. So much so she wrote a cookbook, ‘All You Need to Know COOKBOOK,’ author June Hayes (Mann). Her tagline for the book, ‘Eat Like a Gourmet.’ And did we ever. Food was love.

In the cookbook, my grandmother shares many recipes that I get to share with my family today. She learned how to cook from her grandmother, Annie Ogilvie (St. Laurent).

So, where did Annie, my Great, Great, Grandmother, get her cooking skills?

She and her sister, Nellie St. Laurent, two beautiful french-speaking Canadian girls, ran away from Rimouski, Quebec, to New York in the late 1800s. My family believes they were relatives of Louis St. Laurent (12th former Prime Minister). They also were deeply living in fear and being forced to work as nuns.

I can only imagine the trauma they experienced during this time. Especially after considering the most recent tragedies of the Indigenous childrens' deaths at residential schools. How traumatic. I am glad they escaped. I am sure they did not feel love because 'love is not abuse,' and I believe that is why they ran away.

This is part of our history now, and it is generational trauma inside all Canadians.

So, it makes me proud to know Annie and her sister, Nellie, were both brave to run away from these potential acts of terror. Some nuns were likely coerced into being a part of these brutal killings.

It truly is awful to think of this reality. Nobody should have to be a slave in their own environment or be coerced into such crimes. To be actually able to live your life peacefully and thrive, one must be able to live free from coercion, abuse, and trauma.

After arriving In New York pre-1900, Annie and Nelly learned to speak English. Annie ran a boarding house there for aspiring young actors.

Wow, this is so gratifying to me. I wonder if my Great Great Grandmother met Charlie Chaplin, and I wonder how many famous actors she cared for? I am sure there must be some rich history there.

During Annie's time in New York, she cooked and cared for the actors. I bet her chocolate cake was as decadent as mine is today. It certainly is my favorite, and everyone I know says so. I think she would have many fascinating stories to tell.

I always dream of going to New York and stay there and write. Now I have something very intriguing to research and write about, my Great Great Grandmother.

Annie only had one child, Hazel Mann (Ogilvie). In 1919 she moved with her family to Petitcodiac to settle, start businesses, and of course, bring her glorious chocolate cake recipe and much more.

Hazel went on to have five children. My grandmother, June, is the oldest.

My grandmother's entrepreneurial inspiration came after the war ended in 1945 and after getting married when she returned home to Petitcodiac, NB. It ended up being a thorn in my grandmother's side upon return to Petitcodiac.

Devastation set in once she found out her grandmother, Annie Ogilvie (St. Laurent), sold the family businesses, a movie theatre, a bowling alley, and a restaurant/bakery, especially the bakery.

My grandmother went on to cook and bake for many people in the community. Everybody loved her pies, sugar cookies, donuts, cakes, and more, and she even went on to own her own restaurant/bakery.

Oh, the memories. Every time I visited my grandmother's house, it seemed she would have a pan of chocolate cake. Yum, yum, yum. I couldn’t wait to race in the front door and hit the fridge and counter space where there were always baked goods.

My grandmother, June, went on to achieve many more things. She, too, was an aspiring writer. In addition to writing the cookbook, she wrote about her life.

I am glad she wrote the cookbook containing a sixth-generation chocolate cake recipe that I hope to pass the recipe on to my grandchildren to make it a seventh-generation recipe. My grandmother has a rich entrepreneurial history and much more qualities that are very admirable to me.

I loved my grandmother dearly. She truly was an inspiration and always tried to keep her loved ones full of food and advice and with the sweet smell of success and chocolate cake. Exactly what family is for.

My mother also makes this cake regularly because it is awesome, and again, everyone says so. What more could one ask for?

So today we celebrate my birthday with a piece of cake, our ability to be at peace, enjoy our freedom and of course eat more cake.

Oh, and Miss Grammy Rock. I hope her spirit and her cake get to be inside of me forever... Seriously though...

Here is the joyous recipe.

Here is a picture of my son pitching in to help make the cake.

Here is another picture of my son making the icing for the cake. I am lucky they help me.

Thank you to my family for sharing all the wonderful memories of family gatherings and food and fun, and special thanks to my mother, Wendy Cusack (Hayes), and Linda Burrows (Hayes) for helping me with this story.

I would love to re-write my Grandmothers Cookbook.

I have a private Facebook group, @NEWGIRLSCLUBBECAUSETHEOLDBOYSCLUBISOLD

Please join to learn about trauma, generational trauma, and narcissistic abuse... it is so healing to learn and become trauma-informed... we all suffer from some sort of generational trauma... learning is healing... thanks for reading my story.

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