Shake, Rattle and Eat!!

At the end of this post is a great recipe for a simple-to-make-but-oh-so-delicious-to-eat-cake. If you would like to skip all the dribbledrabble in between here and the recipe, then cursor on down. There you will find the "EAT" portion of this post. If you want to continue, you'll find the "SHAKE AND RATTLE" portion of the post. Either way.....you will LOVE the cake!


Here in Oklahoma we pride ourselves on the resilience of the people.  Probably because of the (in)famous way the state was started. We had to be strong. We grew to be tough.

 Or it could also be our large Native American population and the fact the (unspeakable) Trail of Tears ended here in our state. We had to be strong. We grew to be compassionate.

 After the Oklahoma City bombing when people came from all over the world to help, the common thought of what the visiting helpers took away from Oklahoma was the friendliness and the hardiness of our people. We had to be strong. We grew to be friendly.

  The term "Okie" was dubbed on us in a very impudent way back in the Dust Bowl Days.

 Instead of wallowing in the ugly-termed-moniker forced upon us, we chose to use it in a positive way. Yes, we are proud to be Okies. We are strong. We are resilient. We deeply care about others. We had to be strong. We grew to be creative.

We are used to dramatic weather here. We endure droughts, floods, wildfires and ice storms with an all-too-often frequency.  We are so use to tornadoes that we often do not take heed and go to our basements or "fraidy holes".  This is not to make light of their devastation. It is just a simple fact that we count on tornadoes to disrupt our lives.  We recover. We rebuild. We restock. We restore.

In all these disasters, some man-made, some natural, we do what Oklahoma people do best. We pull ourselves up by our (literal!!) bootstraps and get on with getting on!


But yesterday was different.  We experienced two earthquakes and multiple aftershocks.  Now I know if you are from California or a few other places, you scoff at us  for being scared of the earthquakes. ........Kinda like we snicker when you all make tornadoes a big thing in your states. But in all honesty, it really was very scary. We Okies took to Facebook one after the other after the other after the other to describe, question, and commiserate about "THE earthquake".

 We have a little area of our state, just west of Tulsa and east of Oklahoma City that has had small earthquakes with a very regular consistency. Some people (in the past) have blamed it on our large number of oil drilling rigs that are rampant in our state. Naysayers though have said for the past few years that there is no way the drilling rigs could cause the small tremors.  I think the naysayers tasted victory yesterday. There is absolutley no way that any kind, or any amount of drilling rigs could cause what we experienced. The first earthquake hit at 2:15 in the morning (on Saturday morning). It was right at a 5 on the Richter scale. It woke many. It shook. It knocked things off for some. Some did not realize there had been an earthquake until they woke up. But there was still scuttlebutt nevetheless.

  But then last night at about 10:30 the second earthquake hit. It registered a 5.6 and is the strongest ever recorded in Oklahoma history. Not only that, it lasted over a minute. I happened to be in the room where my chandelier is and I watched it shake for that entire minute. The earthquake did sound very much like the tornadoes we are use to, but the constant shaking and rolling was a little unnerving.

They said it was in the Seminole (of course we use a Native American name to define things!) Fault line. Because the earthquake was only 3 miles deep, it was felt as far north as Nebraska, as far south as Dallas and as far east as Tennessee!  It was officially 46 miles from my home.  It was officially 21 miles from my nearest child. Scary!!



Notice one tower is gone on top and the other one is cracked. This is in the town where my son Fielding lives. He is a fireman. Yikes!

So...............to make a long story longer..................What do I do when I am a little nervous?  Why turn to food of course.  And with that, I share with you..............

                EARTHQUAKE CAKE.....

I promise. You will not go wrong with this.  You don't even have to endure an earthquake to enjoy it!

1 box German chocolate cake mix (and ingredients listed on package)

1 cup angel flake coconut

1 cup chopped pecans

1 stick butter

1 pound powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese

1. Grease the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. Sprinkle the coconut in the bottom of the pan. Then sprinkle the pecans.

2. Mix cake mix per package directions. Smooth on top of layers of coconut and pecans.

3. Mix together butter, powdered sugar and cream cheese. Drop by spoonfuls on top of cake mix. If you want, you can save a little batter back to drop dollups on top of the cream cheese goo. (Do you like my scientific words???) Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

4. Serve warm with whipped cream or Cool Whip.

My cousin tells me she has always called this the 'funeral cake' and made it many times. She always tells everyone to dump it upside down on their plate so they can see and enjoy the yuminess. I think that is all the more reason to name this the "EARTHQUAKE CAKE".  I mean, really, dumping it upside down? Very apropos!
Enjoy!!  ......Don't let all this nonsense I talked about keep you from visiting our great state. We'll give you a friendly Okie welcome anytime!

I have linked with Stone Gable's On the Menu Monday. You will LOVE her pictures.Also check out Designs by Gollum. YOu will love her recipes.