Jeannie’s Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cake

My mom, Patty, went to a Catholic nursing school in Philadelphia in the 1960’s. The students, all women, had to live together in a home guarded by the house mother. There was 6:30 AM mass every morning, starched uniforms and yes, a nightly curfew.

Patty’s roommate was a gal named Jeannie. Each Monday after class Jeannie would sneak away from campus and drive to her parents’ house where she would help her younger siblings with homework and would cook and lend a hand to her father. Jeannie’s mom passed a few years back and though she was a fulltime student she still risked being expelled to pitch in. Patty would stuff Jeannie’s bed and cover for her so the house mother wouldn’t notice she was gone. When Jeanine would return waaayyyy past curfew on Monday evening, she would throw a stone at Patty’s window. Patty would wake up, round up a few gals and they’d tossed a rope down to pull Jeannie up and in through the window. Up came Jeannie, Sour Cream Chocolate cake in-hand.  The girls would eat cake and talk about life and when graduation time came, Jeannie gave Patty the recipe. So there you have it, the story behind the cake. -Ali Miller