Chocolate Cake Relief Effort

Twelve-year-old Jerrine sat on the street corner underneath the lemonade stand sign her dad had made out of wood scraps the night before. Two hours. Two hours of nothing, nobody, not even a look or a wave as cars passed by. It was only fifty cents a cup. Why didn’t folks around here want to support her cause?

It was not awfully hot today. A moderate seventy-five degrees and partly cloudy. June was a good time to have yard sales, lemonade stands, and backyard parties in southern Oregon. Jerrine and her mother had put a special advertisement in the classifieds of the newspaper with the title “One Day Lemonade Fundraiser”. The article mentioned it would be held from nine o’clock AM to one o’clock PM and that the proceeds would benefit those who had lost their homes in the wildfire that quickly burned through a nearby neighborhood. People, including their own relatives, had barely time to grab their pets and kids and evacuate that awful day. Rebuilding was going to take an all-out effort from community members and insurance companies. But some things just couldn’t be replaced. Like photographs, family recipes, and heirlooms.

That was why Jerrine wanted to do her part in helping bring back some dignity to those families who had lost it all. Houses burned down to only ashes with nothing even left to sift through. The only thing Jerrine could think about was having a lemonade sale. Apparently, lemonade was not as appealing as something like chocolate cake. She continued to call her neighbors, posted on her mother’s social media page with a photo of her lemonade stand, and called it quits at one o’clock sharp. $5.00 in lemonade was sold in the last two hours. Not enough to even make a dent for the cause.

Jerrine felt jipped. She spoke with her parents about doing something that would make more of an impact. What would get people excited to donate, and bring a fun sense of community and pride? A contest! If Jerrine was correct in her thinking, people cared about sentimental things. Just like losing family treasures that could not be replaced, memories of things people love to eat might be a nice way of inspiring people to come out and be a part of this contest. Jerrine and her parents got to work with a plan.

The next day, Jerrine’s mother placed a new ad in the classified section of the newspaper under community events.

Heirloom Chocolate Cake Contest

Saturday, June 25th at the Grange

$5.00 entry fee for your chocolate cake – send to the Newspaper c/o Mr. Alvin, community events.

Community raffle tickets are $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00 to win one of our heirloom chocolate cakes baked for any occasion!

All proceeds go towards the fire relief fund.

Winner will be given a plaque for outstanding Community Support and their winning recipe will be printed in the Newspaper for free.

They asked the local broadcasting companies to come record the event for television and radio news.

There were five days until the event. Flyers were posted on street corners and on community bulletin boards at the supermarket. Soon, entries were being given to Mr. Alvin at the local newspaper.

The day before the event, Jerrine asked her mother for her grandmother’s Mississippi Mud Cake recipe that always got such great compliments! It was written in her grandmother’s handwriting on a 3X5 lined card, and the ink had been smeared a little through the years. Jerrine carefully measured out each ingredient just as her grandmother had shown her, and the secret to it turning out perfectly was to follow the directions exactly for each layer of the cake. The base of the cake was actually fluffy chocolate brownies made from scratch. Jerrine popped the 9X13 inch glass pan in the oven and let it bake for almost an hour, just until the sides of the crust pulled away from the edge of the dish. While it was cooling a bit, the marshmallow cream had to be opened. While the brownies were warm, not hot, the white, gooey mixture was spread atop to melt all over. Now it was time to make the homemade milk chocolate frosting. Rich cocoa, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, deliciousness in a bowl just waiting to be spread.

But Jerrine had to be patient! Spreading the frosting before the brownies completely cooled would end in disaster. When all was finished to perfection, Jerrine covered her chocolate masterpiece and placed it on the kitchen counter for tomorrow’s contest. She printed out a copy of the recipe for submission and hoped that her cake would make a big impression!

There were five judges at the Cake contest. Mr. Alvin from the newspaper, the city fire chief, the Mayor, the police chief, and the county Historical Society president. Everyone was seated at a long table and they anxiously awaited a taste of each chocolatey masterpiece. Amazingly, there were eighteen entries, and each cake looked so delicious and different from the next. Everything from chocolate layered cake, to German chocolate, to Black Forest cake.

Slices of each dessert were given to each judge and their scores were based on taste, presentation, and texture. While Jerrine was waiting for hers to be sampled, she overheard that an anonymous donor had given $5000.00 towards the relief effort! Things were really coming together! The DJs did a fantastic job announcing the live event for radio, and the reporters for the evening news were wrapping up their comments and video recordings. As the judges tasted Jerrine’s dessert she watched as they were surprised at how the layers just melted in their mouths. Pretty soon, all the cakes were scored and a winner would be announced.

“Every person who entered a cake in this contest should win a prize in my book!” Mr. Alvin beamed. “And thank you to miss Jerrine Davis and her family for organizing this event.”

“But there can only be one winner. We give the plaque and the printing of the winning recipe in our newspaper to Mrs. Elsa Danson for her Chocolate Double-marbled Cake with Fudge Ganache. Congratulations!”

Everyone clapped as Mrs. Danson received her award. The microphone was then given to the relief fund chairwoman and it was announced that the overall event raised about $8000.00 for the fire victims. Jerrine felt happy, and she knew that a chocolate cake event would have better results than lemonade sales any day. All the cakes were cut up and served to those who attended. People were smiling, and the person who won the raffle . . . well let’s just say they picked to have Mississippi Mud Cake made for them later in the summer for a birthday party!