By Daniel Winningham
Saturday, May 14, was the next installment in a series of learning, baking and fund-raising opportunities at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.
The fourth coffee cake workshop was held in the gymnasium of the Trinity Lutheran Church school building.
Diane Weber, a member of Trinity Altenburg, organized the May 14 workshop as well as previous ones hosted last fall and earlier in 2022.
During the yeast rise time, those in attendance created jump ropes to be given away on a future mission trip.
Weber has been working with Trinity Hope, a mission near Nashville, Tenn. that provides food to needy children in Haiti. A total of 65 jump ropes have been made so far. Weber is optimistic they can eventually get to 80 before they are given to the mission.
“We’ve covered the food pantry in Perryville along with (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) Mites, we’ve split it up, whatever they wanted to donate, and then we did the tornado victims in Kentucky, and now this one is going for Mites missions for LWML,” Weber said.
As of Monday afternoon of this week more than $330 had been raised for the LWML Mites mission, Weber noted.
The workshop provided an opportunity for those who enjoy coffee cake to get the process of baking them down just right, according to Diane Weber.
“They’ve loved eating it, and it’s always grandma who makes it but because grandma is not going to be around forever, that’s why we’re passing the legacy along to the younger generations,” Weber said.
It’s about keeping the tradition going, according to Weber.
Doris Weber, who provided the baking expertise for Saturday as well as the previous coffee cake sessions, knows of at least one family that served coffee cakes three weekends in a row to celebrate various events, such as Easter, a baptism or something else.
“Practice makes perfect,” Diane Weber said.
Among those in attendance this past Saturday, the favorite coffee cake to make was peanut butter. Doris Weber made one of those along with assistance from Betty Weber and Faye Ponder. They also made a cheesecake variety, as well as several fruit versions, including blueberry, cherry, strawberry and apple.
Nancy Reisenbichler, one of more than 20 women at Saturday’s event, grew up loving her mother’s peanut butter coffee cake, dunked in coffee.
“My mom would bake coffee cake but I’ve made maybe five in my lifetime,” she said. “This was a refresher course.”
Diane Weber has been amazed with the turnout of the coffee cake workshops.
“We’ve never done that kind of thing before,” Weber said. “I don’t know if people have been reluctant to share the East Perry County coffee cake recipe. It’s been in the church cookbook for years.”
While the recipe may be available and has been for a long time, the expertise provided by Doris Weber may not be.
“There’s not an answer to all of the questions,” said Diane Weber. Saturday, during the morning session, there was ample time for the women to get answers to anything they were uncertain about regarding the recipe.
