Big Orange County Kahlua Cake

I moved from Orange County to Big Orange Country. Everything is football, UT, and orange. The local newspaper had a section about tailgating and for some odd reason my father pulled it out for me to read. I have begun to realize how much my parents are similar even though they divorced over 25 years ago and I don't recall anything much with all of my family together. My mother was constantly pulling out articles for me and she leaves them in the exact same place my father does, my place at the dining table.

I flipped through the pages trying to guess his reasoning for leaving it for me, and about halfway through there was an article with the title Big Orange Country. It caught my eye. I skimmed it and saw some recipes so I decided to read the entire thing. It's an interview with the coaches wife, an OB/GYN by day and mother of three by night. This woman is a Doctor and delivers children. She also bakes. Sort of. By my terms, a box isn't really baking but not everyone still has $32k in outstanding student loans from culinary school. I have paid mine down a bit since the original amount.

I'd like to share one of her recipes for Kahlua Cake. It sounds pretty good considering how much booze is in it. I think it's very Orange County of her. If I had boxed cake in my house I'd probably be making it right this second.

Mrs. Dooley's Kahlua Cake

1 box of yellow cake mix (no pudding)
1 box of instant chocolate cake pudding mix 1 to 4 oz (I assume it means pudding not a box of cake..?)
1/2 cup sugar (because there isn't enough already)
1 cup of oil
4 eggs
1/8 cup of Kahlua
1/4 cup of Vodka (I'm drunk just typing this recipe)
3/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients and pour into greased bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes to one hour. Do not over bake.
For the frosting mix 1 cup of powdered sugar with 1/4 cup of Kahlua.

Sounds great right?
Well that was all fine until this childless reader/pastry chef paid a little more attention to the article and this is what I saw:
Mother of three children ages, 12, 9, and 7. Cute picture of the children helping make the cake and a quote from the 9 year old, "The cake is amazing!". The mother sliced up the cake after the photo shoot and fed it to the children as an after school snack. I just about lost it. What in the world is she thinking? Even if she assumes the booze cooked off in the oven (which it never completely does), why would you give a 9 and 7 year old a cake in which the frosting is straight booze and sugar? This is probably the point where my friends who are parents say to me, "You have no idea what it's like to be a parent". I am clueless, but I as a pastry chef know better than to dump booze in a cake and assume it's kid friendly food. Shouldn't the Doctor who delivers children know better or am I missing something else here in Big Orange Country?



I'm still going to make the cake eventually though.