Whenever I hear the expression “as American as apple pie”, I squirm.  It makes me feel miserably unpatriotic but no matter how hard I try, I don’t really like apple pie. Worse yet, I don’t like chocolate cake either.  And there’s one of those sitting on my kitchen counter right now.

The object on the counter is an “All American Chocolate Cake” from Costco. The reason it’s there is because my niece Christy Ford came for a brief visit this weekend. I knew some of her cousins would be dropping in to see her and I wanted to have a dessert ready and waiting, that I hadn’t personally whipped up and over-baked to a crisp.   

In spite of my lack of affection for chocolate cake, this is the third time I have acquired an All American Chocolate Cake from Costco’s bakery. It’s the only cake I know of that has its own wall and “friends” on Facebook.  

I buy it, though because of its looks.  It is a truly magnificent looking confection, and everybody that gazes at it can be expected to accept a piece without coaxing. Even if they don’t like chocolate cake. It’s amazing.

The cake has stature.  It weighs seven pounds and is over five inches tall. It is made up of four layers of chocolate fudge cake batter baked to be amazingly moist.  Between the layers and covering the cake is a creamy chocolate icing too elegant to be called “frosting”.  But what makes it a piece de resistance is on its perimeter. Covering it generously on all sides is oodles of shaved chocolate.  Nobody can resist that, not even me.

This huge cake in all its handsome splendor costs $17.99. The shaved chocolate alone probably costs nearly that much.

Next time you have a party, get one.  It’s more than dessert, it’s a conversation piece.  And even if you don’t really like chocolate cake, think how patriotic you’ll feel.  Buy American!