If I knew that you were coming I would have baked a cake

Ohhhhh. Thanks for the clue. My quick search didn't turn up anything but I'll keep looking.

That phrase is something I remember my dad saying when we would show up unexpected. I know most of his "stuff" came from somewhere as he was a dedicated quoter.

I googled but could only find a Sesame Street version.

Back years ago when family or friends would pop in on a hostess and take pot luck the hostess felt compelled to denigrate her hospitality. "This? T'aint nothing...jest come cookies. Why if I knew you was comin' I'd have baked a cake!"

As I remember the lyrics:

If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake
Hired a band
Goodness sake!
If I knew you were coming I'd have baked a cake
And spread the welcome mat for you.

I don't know where you came from
And I don't know where you've been,
But it really doesn't matter
Sit down and fill your platter
And dig, dig, dig right in.

There may have been more....my memory tangles.

Impressive memory there, Noddy. It was something cheery on early tv, but I don't know if it was a non-tv song hit or part of common jargon before being penned as a song.

Is there one with "knowed"? This might be from a novel or something. I have a strange emphasis/ rhythm in my head, heavy on the "cake".

Love, however expressed, is what's important, indeedy. If you have store-bought cake, store-bought party, and general emotional absentee-ness -- nah. But one or more of those elements can co-exist with a whole lotta love, too, and the elements don't matter if the love is there.

Or, what Osso said.

I have never seen the women of A2K in such a frenzy! A cake discussion sure puts excitement in the womenfolk, doesn't it?

I'm gonna sit back and watch. See if any other women show up.

Gus---

If we'd known you were coming.....

we'd have made mud pies, made mud pies... if we knew your were commin' we'd have made mud pies...

So close!



http://www.santaclaritamagazine.com/Pages/1000scvmag9/01_community12.html

From context, it's obviously a thing, something well-known, but that's the only reference I've been able to find so far. That's what I have in my head, though. Emphasis on KNOWED and CAKE.

knowed was Not in the tv/50's song, but that's not to say that didn't derive from a saying with 'knowed' in it.

I knew my grammar was off when I posted the title but it wasn't quite as far off as it should have been.

Noddy, your memory and your mind are wonderous things. Your dominion is concrete.

Oh Gus, sit your delightful self down. This is certainly the best girl-watching thread around. All we needed was a gaudy old pervert to make us flutter about like chickens.

Set a spell.

Have some cake.

Eileen Barton
on the charts June 1950


[Sound of knocking on door]

[Spoken:]
Come in
Well, well, well, look who's here
I haven't seen you in many a year

If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
baked a cake, baked a cake
If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do
Had you dropped me a letter, I'd a-hired a band
Grandest band in the land
Had you dropped me a letter, I'd a-hired a band
And spread the welcome mat for you

Oh, I don't know where you came from
'cause I don't know where you've been
But it really doesn't matter
Grab a chair and fill your platter
And dig, dig, dig right in

If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Hired a band, goodness sake
If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do

[Instrumental Interlude]

If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
baked a cake, baked a cake
If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do

Had you dropped me a letter
I'd a-hired a band
Grandest band in the land
Had you dropped me a letter
I'd a-hired a band
Spread the welcome mat for you

Oh, I don't know where you came from
'Cause I don't know where you've been
But it really doesn't matter
Grab a chair and fill your platter
And dig, dig, dig right in

If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Hired a band, goodness sake
If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake
Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do

Howd-ya do, howd-ya do, howd-ya do
Howd-ya do-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh

http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/eileen_barton/if_i_knew_you_were_comin_idve_baked_a_cake.html

All right, then, there we go...

Back to cakes for festive occasions.

The First Mr. Noddy announced that he only liked his mother's cakes and bakery cakes. He felt that this sort of pronouncement proved him to be a fascinating and intricate personality. Since he also felt that owning an electric mixer meant he had sold out to middle-class aspirations and since my ego was not bound up in my baking skills we bought cakes for his birthday.

Every so often I could wangle a mini wheel of brie for my birthday. The First Mr. Noddy would like to have liked highly flavored cheese, but his heart was White American.

My sons opted for bakery cakes--with the right to pick their own sentiments. My older son usually stuck with "Happy Birthday". His younger brother opt for "Douglas the Great" and "Douglas the Magnificent" and "Douglas Future King of the World".

He started quite a fad about birthday cakes in his age group. Some little friends were allowed to copy--and some little friends were not.

My stepsons thought that the height of love was a Carvell Ice Cream Cake. Fine by me. They took to the notion of Birthday Brags with great enthusiasm.

Boomer, Mr. B and I come from the same place, I think. I came from a family of 8 kids. To have my mother, who had sooo much else on her plate, make my favorite cake for my birthday was the biggest thrill in the world. I looked forward to it all year long.

I always break my neck to make sure that everyone in the family gets a fabulous birthday cake baked from scratch by me. However, I have discovered (rathere late in life, I might add) that it doesn't have the same importance to the recipients as it had to me when I was a kid.

Life is so different now. We have time to do more for and with our kids than our parents did. A birthday cake made by Mom's own hands is nice, but if there isn't time or it makes you frazzled. It's not worth it. A birthday is not about cake anyway, really.

If I'd known you were considering baking a cake I would have invited myself over. I like German chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I subscribe to a recipe of the day thingie. Part of a fund-raising thingie for a food bank in the Prairies. Their recipes are easy, good and reliable.


Earlier this week, it was

Carrot Cocoa Cake

Metric Ingredient Imperial

375 ml carrots, finely grated 1 1/2 cup
175 ml sugar 3/4 cup
125 ml canola oil 1/2 cup
250 ml boiling water 1 cup
375 ml whole wheat flour 1 1/2 cup
125 ml unsweetened cocoa 1/2 cup
5 ml cinnamon 1 tsp
7 ml baking powder 1 1/2 tsp
2 ml salt 1/2 tsp

In a large mixing bowl; combine carrots, sugar and oil. Pour water over mixture; set aside.

In separate bowl; combine flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Add to carrot mixture, mixing well.

Pour batter into a non-stick 8 inch (2 L) square pan. Bake in preheated 350 F (180 C) oven for 35 minutes. Serve topped with ice cream or whipped topping.

Serves 8


I'd probably use this one for muffin/cupcake size snacks.




(I'm still gonna keep buying my own birthday tortes/cakes. Baking just isn't important or challenging to me.)

Oh that reminds me I didn't post my recipe yet. Well, Better Homes and Gardens' recipe, I don't have any particular claim.

It's actually quite easy except for the grated carrots part, which takes forever.

Oh and I used to make the frosting without an electric mixer, just by hand -- THAT was brutal. It's easy with a mixer though.

Carrot Cake 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 cups finely shredded carrot [avoid shredding knuckles in there too if possible :shock:] 1 cup cooking oil 4 eggs In a bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. add carrot, oil, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer until combined. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9X1 1/2 inch round baking pans. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes or till a toothpick inserted near the centers comes out clean. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans. Cool thoroughly on racks. Makes 12 to 15 servings.

I make this variant, may be too sweet for you boomer:

Pineapple Carrot Cake: Prepare as above, except add one 8 1/4 oz can undrained crushed pineapple and 1/2 cup coconut with carrot. Bake about 40 minutes.

Then this is the frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting 2 3-oz packages cream cheese [I use the soft kind, comes in 8-oz packages] 1/2 cup softened margarine or butter 2 teaspoons vanilla 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 cups sifted powdered sugar In a bowl beat together cream cheese, margarine or butter, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Graduallyadd 2 cups powdered sugar, beating well. Gradually beat in enough remaining powdered sugar to make frosting of spreading consistency. Frosts tops and sides of two 8 - or 9-inch cake layers. Cover cake; store in refrigerator.

Usually two good-sized carrots per cup, so I usually get 7 carrots (one in case.)

Ooh, I'll take a slice of that, soz!

When I was growing up, home-cooked food was the norm. My mother made a big deal of taking us to the bakery on our birthdays and letting us pick out whatever kind of cake we wanted. It was the only time we ever got bakery cakes, and we dreamed about it all year. I can still see it in my mind's eye...the long glass case with dozens of beautiful, yummy cakes...yellow cake with chocolate icing, angel food cake with real strawberries on top, coconut layer cake, german chocolate cake, devils food cake with red icing, strawberry cake with pink icing...

My favorite was always the 4-layer lemon cake with lemon curd between each layer. The layers were really thin, and they put real whipped cream on top. And I always picked strawberry ice cream to go with it.

Thank you, eBeth!

I wonder why my dad never said he would have hired a band. Hmmm.....

A hand mixer was middle class? Oh my. No wonder he was the first, but not the only, Mr. Noddy.

I do confess to strolling past the KitchenAide stand mixers with a side-long glance but $300 will by me a lovely runaway when I need it.

Edgar, sit down darlin' I sliced you a piece of cake and poured a hot cup of coffee.

Thanks soz, for that recipe. I'm going to make one. I LOVE carrot cake and that looks like a good one.

Reading all this about the wonders of moms making cakes and being allowed to choose the cake and, better yet, to choose the message, makes it clear that while the birthday is not about the cake, the cake does somehow set itself as part of who we are. The appreciation of the cake seems to be the common demoninator.

Mo and I decorated his cake tonight. That was fun. I made one small cake and some cupcakes so that we would have many canvas' (is that how you make a plural of canvas?)

His holidays are so.... er..... complicated... that it will be nice to have some little tradition that we can share.