“A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
The word “family” has special connotations for Steve Strongman. When he looks back on his childhood, he has wonderful fond memories of family and the warmest memories of special times his family spent with the Stewart family. The two families got together every Friday night and every Christmas eve. The families were so close, the parents were all called “Auntie” and “Uncle.”
Each Christmas Eve was filled with traditions. The families played games, the kids opened gifts, there was lots of great food and Auntie Brenda Stewart made her Kahlúa Cookie Cake. While her cake was more suited for adults, it was just like ice cream, so the kids loved it too.
6 years ago, Auntie Brenda passed away from breast cancer. She spent her last moments at home with her family close by her side. Steve has made sure her memory remains very much alive in his heart.
Steve is a passionate athlete. He plays several sports and is dedicated to weight training. A few years ago he moved to Toronto, Canada where he and his friends started getting together for every major UFC Main event. Remembering his Aunt Brenda’s Kahlúa Cookie Cake, he made it for the first event and her cake has become an important part of every event since.
The UFC Main Event parties have become 2-day occasions; the 1st day is spent in preparation and the 2nd day is the day of the event. The guys bring enormous amounts of food and meat. One of the guys will pre-boil and marinate a few racks of ribs and another one of the guys will head to St. Lawrence market and buy a 64 oz steak. It may be a New York strip loin or a rib-eye, but it has to be 64 ounces! The steak will take up half of the BBQ and will take an hour to cook. Then it is up to one of the guys to try and finish off the steak. Steve has tried several times and once managed to finish off 58 oz. I believe he pumped a lot of extra iron that week!
Steve’s Auntie Brenda would be really proud of him for living a great life and taking really good care of himself. She would love him for remembering her and her cake, but also for creating a close circle of his own friends with their own traditions, a lot like a family.
Auntie Brenda’s Kahlúa Cake
Items you will require for this recipe…
- Electric mixing bowl
- Spring form cake pan
- Large spoon
- Small Spoon
- Cereal bowl
- Aluminum foil
- Fridge
Ingredients:
- A bottle of Kahlúa (13 oz)
- 500 ml of whip cream
- 2 bags of either President’s Choice chocolate chip cookies or Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
Directions…
- Whip the whipping cream in the electric mixer.
- Add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
- Once you have high peaks on the whipping cream, stop whipping and set the bowl aside (be careful not over whip the cream.)
- Pour Kahlúa into cereal bowl.
- Begin the process of dipping individual cookies into the cereal bowl with the Kahlúa so that the cookie is submerged. Then remove the cookie and place it on the bottom of the spring form cake pan. Repeat the process until you have covered the base of the pan one cookie deep. We need a solid base, so dip a couple more cookies into the Kahlúa and break them up to fill in the holes. We now have a good base to create the rest of the cake.
- Distribute evenly some of the whip cream so it fills over the first layer of cookies.
- Begin the process again of dipping individual cookies into the Kahlúa and create a second layer.
- When you have covered the second layer, distribute more of the whipping cream on this level.
- Repeat the process again so you now have a third layer.
- If you are nearing the top of your spring form pan, then cover the layers with the last of the whip cream, giving it a deeper layer of whip cream then the previous layers between the cookies. When you have completed this process, get a small spoon, and drizzle some of the remaining Kahlúa in a random design on the top layer of the cake to add to the visual presentation.
- Cover the cake with aluminum foil and seal so that no air gets in.
- Place in the fridge for 24 hours.
- Remove cake from fridge, remove foil, remove spring form perimeter section of the pan and serve!!!
