Recipe Exchange: Easter memories of a chocolate rainbow cake

When Elvira Clegg thinks about Easter dinners from her childhood, she remembers her Aunt Ann's chocolate rainbow cake.

"It was six layers, with all of the different colors of a rainbow," recalled Clegg, who lives in Richmond's Jackson Ward. "She would decorate it with chocolate frosting and top it with jelly beans, plus she made homemade ice cream to serve with the cake. I remember how beautiful it looked on the dinner table."

Clegg grew up in Charles City County, and Easter was a time for family members scattered across the county to gather as one.

"What I remember most about Easter Sunday was that our family would always worship together," said Clegg, a triage/transcription specialist at Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Centers. "Some family members had moved to different parts of the county and worshipped at different churches, but at Easter we all attended our family church. We had a large family, and we would take up several pews in our church.

"After our worship service, we would all gather at my grandmother's house for dinner and the Easter egg hunt."

But it's the cake made by her aunt -- Ann Jones -- that really stands out in her memory.

"It still brings a smile to my face," she said, "and I am 9 years old again if only for Easter Sunday."

Contact Bill Lohmann at (804) 649-6639 or .