I was a teenaged domestic goddess

Like Sari Party Girl, I'm recipe-mad.

It all started when I was 13 and had just started Secondary 1. One evening, after school, I spied a whimsical recipe in The Star - Coca-Cola Cake.

'How interesting! You mean, I can bake a cake with Coca-cola? Wow!'

Excitedly, I quickly cut out the recipe and pasted it in a brown soft cover exercise book with the "Sekolah Kebangsaan Menengah" school emblem.

And that was the beginning of a lifelong habit of cutting and pasting recipes from magazines, newspapers and even food labels. Recipes that got me licking my lips. Recipes that made me wonder what they'd taste like. Recipes that have unusual ingredients. Recipes that have the wierdest ingredient combination.

Unfortunately, I lost my first recipe scrapbook to a classmate who carelessly misplaced it. For years, I mourned the lost recipe of the Coca-Cola Cake until ten years ago to my delight, I found my first treasured cut-and-paste recipe in the internet. Ah! The joys of the internet!

Here's a recipe of the Coca-Cola Cake. It's actually a lovely caramely chocolate cake.

Coca Cola Cake & Icing
1 cup butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup Coca Cola
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup buttermilk (or combine 1/2 milk + 1 tsp lemon juice. Let stand for 5 min and beat well)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows

Coca Cola Cake Icing
6 tablespoons Coca Cola®
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter 4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cake
1. Heat to boiling: butter, cocoa and Coca Cola.
2.Remove from heat and add flour, sugar, baking soda and mix gently.
3. Stir in buttermilk, eggs, vanilla and marshmallows.
4. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 to 35 minutes.
Cake can be frosted while warm. Makes about 12 -14 servings.

Icing
1.Bring to boil butter, cocoa, and Coca Cola.
2. Remove from heat and stir in confectioners' sugar, chopped nuts, and vanilla.
3.Top cake while hot.