MY AUNT DOLA

Aunt Dola!  Even saying her name now conjures up memories of nothing but fun times.

My Great-Aunt & her husband George Meins lived in Louisville, Kentucky.  Their home looked like anything except the home of an elderly couple.  In the 1970s, Aunt Dola had a  jukebox which actually triggered disco lights in her living room!  And she was in her late 70’s at the time!

Aunt Dola, my grandfather’s younger sister, was a woman born truly ahead of her time – energetic, fun-loving and willing to try anything (at least once!).  Her life had been a series of adventures.  In the days before women actually “owned” anything, she owned her own restaurant, a beauty shop and several apartment houses in Louisville.  She was, in a word, a rebel.  She bet on the horses, enjoyed traveling and loved Kentucky bourbon (usually hidden in a tall tumbler of ice-tea).  In the pre-Castro years of Cuba, she often played the casino tables of Havana, and told me that if they ever again open Cuba to Americans, it was the one place I should see above all others.

Aunt Dola spoke what she thought, and paid no mind if you agreed or disagreed.  She was independent, high-spirited and totally charming.  She also lived up to her own principles.  For example, she didn’t approve of the new trend of couples living together.  And God help you if your date spent the night in an apartment that either of you rented off Dola Meins!

One of the things I remember about my Aunt Dola was the total love and devotion that was given to her by my Uncle George.  Not having children, their lives could be (and had been) totally devoted to each other.  You could see the love whenever he looked at her.

As I grow older, every once in awhile, someone will say, “Nancy, you’re a lot like Aunt Dola”.   They couldn’t say anything nicer to me.  For I loved my Aunt dearly.  But I know that I’m not just like her.  No one could be.  Aunt Dola was truly an original!

AUNT DOLA’S ITALIAN CREAM CAKE

1 stick margarine

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sugar

5 egg yolks

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 small can Bakers flaked coconut

1 c. chopped pecans

5 egg white, stiffly beaten

Cream Cheese Frosting (follows)

Cream margarine and shortening.  Add sugar and beat until mixture is smooth.  Add egg yolks and beat well.  Combine flour and soda; add the creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk Stir in vanilla.  Add coconut and nuts.  Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites.  Pour batter into 3 greased and floured 8-inch cake pans. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes, or until tests done.  Cool cake and frost.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 oz. cream cheese, soft

1/2 stick margarine

1 tsp. vanilla

1 box powdered sugar

Chopped pecans

Beat cream cheese and margarine until smooth.  Add sugar and mix well.  Add vanilla and beat until smooth.  Add pecans.  Spread between layers and top and sides of cake.

Delizuoso!