For this installment of our ongoing series, a Hurricane Katrina survivor who resides in metro Atlanta shares her late mother's recipes for old-fashioned jelly cake and rice pudding — two of her many specialties in a family that included 14 children.

The contributor: Daisy Angelety of Lawrenceville. A native of Centreville, Miss., Angelety is a retired schoolteacher and former restaurant owner who relocated to metro Atlanta from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. She makes and sells pralines in her spare time and occasionally cooks for groups such as the Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association. She has two grown children.

Family photo (ENLARGE)

Mary Lou Stephens (seated, holding Tayja Charlize Taylor) raised 14 children, including Daisy Angelety (left). Charlie J. Taylor Jr., the baby's father, is Angelety's son.

Chris HuntAJC (ENLARGE)

Old-fashioned jelly cake with apples.

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The story: "When she was living, my mom would always tell my younger siblings, 'Daisy can take a chicken foot and make a whole meal off of it.' I very seldom make jelly cake, but even today I cook corn bread almost every day.

"Most of my cooking was performed in my mom's kitchen. I'm my mother's oldest daughter, so I had a lot of [cooking] experience with her — as the daughter, you were around your mother performing 'girly' duties.

"When my mom would bake, like for Christmas, she would bake four, five, six and seven different cakes and pies, and they were placed in a regular wooden safe. The safe was upright with a screen in the front. (There weren't as many ants. Now if you put anything out that's sweet, ants will eat it up. Then, the ants did not bother it.) My mother kept these cakes in that safe. She would start preparing at least two weeks before — like a fruitcake — before Christmas. The longer the fruitcake sat, the better it tasted.

"Sweets were just a way to help cut the appetite sometimes. ... Parents then would always give you a dessert. This was one of the easiest desserts to make — a cake, or some rice pudding or a bread pudding. It was easier and cheaper. Homemade ice cream — we'd make something like that on a Sunday. You always had a dessert regardless of what it was.

"I have a sister now that's a total baker out there in Mississippi. She can make a cake, and she knows what time it would take and everything. If it doesn't look right, she would still throw it away. And I'm very serious. If it becomes a little shaky getting out of the pan, she won't do it."

— As told to Faith Dawson

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Poached Apples

12 servings

Hands on: 15 minutes Total time: 20 minutes

2 large Granny Smith apples

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Peel and quarter the apples. Core, and then cut each quarter lengthwise into thirds. In a saucepan, stir together the wine, sugar and lemon juice. Add the apple slices, then add enough water to just cover. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring gently, until the apples just begin to turn translucent. They should be tender but still firm enough to hold their shape. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the apple slices to paper towels to drain. Cool.

Per serving: 33 calories (percent of calories from fat, 1), trace protein, 7 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, trace fat (no saturated), no cholesterol, 1 milligram sodium.

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Old-fashioned Jelly Cake

12 servings

Hands on: 20 minutes Total time: 1 1/2 hours

In this recipe, explains Daisy Angelety, "jelly is used as the filling, and you can either put the apple jelly on the top or nothing at all. My mom used to put it on top and between the layers. You don't use any frosting."

AJC columnist and recipe tester Deborah Geering described it as "a very good, moist cake." She dressed it up for company with some poached apples, but notes that "the cake is delicious without them, too."

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups apple jelly or enough for three layers

Poached apples (optional), see recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour three 8-inch round cake pans (or butter them, line the bottoms with parchment paper and then butter the paper). In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Slowly add the sugar and beat well, until creamy. Add the vanilla, then beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternately with the milk.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake about 25 minutes, until cakes are golden on top and spring back when lightly touched in the center. Cool on racks for 15 minutes, then remove from pans and cool, upright, until completely cool.

To assemble the cake: Use 1/2 cup jelly between each layer and on top. Do not cover sides. Top with poached apples, if desired.

Per serving (without poached apples): 518 calories (percent of calories from fat, 31), 6 grams protein, 85 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 18 grams fat (11 grams saturated), 99 milligrams cholesterol, 256 milligrams sodium.

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Old-fashioned Rice Pudding

12 servings

Hands on: 10 minutes Total time: 1 hour

"This pudding has a dense but creamy texture," says recipe tester Deborah Geering. "It's not too sweet and is very delicately flavored with nutmeg. We happened to discover that it is extra good served cold, topped with sliced strawberries and a splash more cream."

2 eggs

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 stick butter or margarine, melted

4 cups cooked white rice (1 1/3 cups dry rice cooked with 2 2/3 cups water)

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat the eggs and sugar together until thick and pale yellow, about 3 minutes. Add the butter and mix well. Add the rice, 1 cup at a time, stirring after each cup. Add the milk, heavy cream, flour, vanilla and nutmeg. Pour into a buttered 2-quart casserole and bake about 45 minutes or until brown on top and set. Remove from the oven and cool before serving.

Per serving: 271 calories (percent of calories from fat, 45), 4 grams protein, 33 grams carbohydrates, trace fiber, 14 grams fat (8 grams saturated), 75 milligrams cholesterol, 115 milligrams sodium.

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Share your own heirloom recipe

You, too, can share an heirloom recipe and honor a loved one: Go to ajc.com/food, and under Recipe Restoration Project click on Submit Yours and fill out the form. Or e-mail it to savingsouthernfood@ajc.com. Or mail it to Southern Recipe Restoration Project, c/o Food Editor Susan Puckett, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 72 Marietta St. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.