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Voices ᐋ ᐄᔮᔨᐧᒫᓂᐧᐃᒡ

Emmy’s chocolate cake therapy

BY Xavier Kataquapit Jan 27, 2025

When I first met my partner Mike’s mom Emily McGrath so many years ago, I was immediately struck by how open and kind she was. Everyone knew her as Emmy and she reminded me so much of the Elders I had grown up with in my family.

I was a soft-spoken Cree when I first got to know her. Life was intimidating when I first started to live and work as a writer away from my home community, but Emmy made sure I was always safe, comfortable and looked after. I owe a lot of my transition to a new life to her.

Born in 1926, Emmy grew up during the Great Depression and as a young woman she endured the loss of family and classmates during the Second World War. She often told me stories of those days and what life was like growing up in an Irish family on the less-than-prosperous side of the tracks in the northern Ontario town of Iroquois Falls.

She grew up in a time of racism, McCarthyism, bigotry, homophobia, and with no public health-care system. Emmy had close friends who came from diverse cultures and some who were gay because she believed in getting along with everyone. It was also a time when worker solidarity was the norm, and she was an active member of her union at the pulp and paper mill.

I enjoyed sitting over tea and listening to her stories. Although she was older and frail when I met her, she still had the strength to stand for positive movements and democratic ideals. I felt very safe and comfortable in her home with my partner Mike as there was no alcohol or drugs in this environment.

Her goodness was obvious in what she did for her community and her family. Emmy was recognized for her many years of volunteering as a Girl Guide leader with an award at Queen’s Park. She was also a volunteer at an elderly care home, and she supported the development of the Emma Ciotti art gallery named after her good friend Emma Pierini (née Ciotti).

I think of how she would feel about seeing two modern wars killing thousands of people and putting us on the brink of nuclear war, rapidly advancing climate change and the development of far-right anti-democratic movements. She had been through tough times as had my parents. I think all of them would be distressed that our world has taken this negative direction. They believed that life was going to be better for future generations.

My partner Mike is a journalist who is a child of the 1960s. We are very worried about the current situation facing our world. Although he is struggling with a severe lung disease, he believes we can still stand up against negative right-wing movements. To keep him cheered up, once in a while I bake him Emmy’s chocolate cake recipe and today I am sharing it with you. It is an easy, rich and tasty recipe that you can share in memory of my friend Emmy.

Emmy’s recipe starts with preheating an oven to 350°F. Then mix two cups of flour, a cup of white sugar and half a teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Then in a second bowl mix four tablespoons of cocoa, a cup of miracle whip, two teaspoons of baking soda and a teaspoon of vanilla. Pour the cocoa mixture into the flour together with a cup of cold coffee and mix it well. Lastly, pour the batter into a round bundt cake pan or pan of your choice and bake for 50 minutes.

Emmy always insisted on homemade frosting. To make it, melt 1/4 cup of unsalted butter and three squares of unsweetened chocolate over a second pot of hot water and stir to blend. In a bowl mix two-and-a-quarter cups of fine confectioners’ sugar with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and slowly add in a 1/3 cup of warmed milk. Then add the chocolate mixture and a teaspoon of vanilla extract until you get a creamy consistency.

As a child of the Depression, Emmy was sparing with her frosting, which is why I often double this part of the recipe. On these cold winter nights listening to the latest news of war and climate change horrors, Emmy’s chocolate cake at least makes the world feel a little better.

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Xavier Kataquapit is Cree from Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay coast. He is a writer and columnist who has written about his life and Indigenous issues since 1998.