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About cake

The history of cake dates back to ancient times. The first cakes were very different from what we eat today. They were more bread-like and sweetened with honey. Nuts and dried fruits were often added. According to the food historians, the ancient Egyptians were the first culture to show evidence of advanced baking skills. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the English word cake back to the 13th century. It is a derivation of 'kaka', an Old Norse word. Medieval European bakers often made fruitcakes and gingerbread. These foods could last for many months.

According to the food historians, the precursors of modern cakes (round ones with icing) were first baked in Europe sometime in the mid-17th century. This is due to primarily to advances in technology (more reliable ovens, manufacture/availability of food molds) and ingredient availability (refined sugar). At that time cake hoops--round molds for shaping cakes that were placed on flat baking trays--were popular. They could be made of metal, wood or paper. Some were adjustable. Cake pans were sometimes used. The first icing were usually a boiled composition of the finest available sugar, egg whites and [sometimes] flavorings. This icing was poured on the cake. The cake was then returned to the oven for a while. When removed the icing cooled quickly to form a hard, glossy [ice-like] covering. Many cakes made at this time still contained dried fruits (raisins, currants, citrons).

It was not until the middle of the 19th century that cake as we know it today (made with extra refined white flour and baking powder instead of yeast) arrived on the scene. A brief history of baking powder. The Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book [London, 1894] contains a recipe for layer cake, American (p. 1031). Butter-cream frostings (using butter, cream, confectioners [powdered] sugar and flavorings) began replacing traditional boiled icings in first few decades 20th century. In France, Antonin Careme [1784-1833] is considered THE premier historic chef of the modern pastry/cake world. You will find references to him in French culinary history books.

Cake recipes, Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1918]

What is the difference between cake, gateau and torte?
Gateaux is a French word for cake. It generally denotes items made with delicate ingredients which are best consumed soon after the confection is made (gateaux des roi). Cakes can last much longer, some even improving with age (fruit cake). Torte is the German word for cake, with similar properties. When tortes are multilayerd and fancifully decorated they are closer to gateaux EXCEPT for the fact they can last quite nicely for several days.

Cake & gateau: definitions & examples

"Cakes and gateaux. Although both terms can be used for savoury preparations (meat cakes or vegetable gateaux) their main use is for sweet baked goods. Cakes can be large or small, plain of fancy, light or rich. Gateau is generally used for fancy, but light or rich, often with fresh decoration, such as fresh fruit or whipped cream. Whereas a cake may remain fresh for several days after baking or even improve with keeping, a gateau usually includes fresh decoration or ingredients that do not keep well, such as fresh fruit or whipped cream. In France, the word 'gateau' designates various patisserie items based on puff pastry, shortcrust pastry (basic pie dough), sweet pastry, pate saglee, choux pastry, Genoese and whisked sponges and meringue...The word 'gateau' is derived from the Old French wastel, meaning 'food'. The first gateau were simply flat round cakes made with flour and water, but over the centuries these were enriched with honey, eggs, spices, butter, cream and milk. From the very earliest items, a large number of French provinces have produced cakes for which they are noted. Thus Artois had gateau razis, and Bournonnais the ancient tartes de fromage broye, de creme et de moyeau d'oeulz. Hearth cakes are still made in Normady, Picardy, Poitou and in some provinces in the south of France. They are variously called fouaces, fouaches, fouees or fouyasses, according to the district...Among the many pastries which were in high favor from the 12th to the 15th centuries in Paris and other cities were: echaudes, of which two variants, the falgeols and the gobets, were especially prized by the people of Paris; and darioles, small tartlets covered with narrow strips of pastry...Casse-museau is a hard dry pastry still made today'...petits choux and gateaux feuilletes are mentioned in a charter by Robert, Bishop of Amiens in 1311."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 198-199)

"Cake. The original dividing line between cake and bread was fairly thin: Roman times eggs and buter were often added to basic bread dough to give a consistency we would recognize as cakelike, and this was frequently sweetened with honey. Terminologically, too, the earliest English cakes were virtually bread, their main distinguishing characteristics being their shape--round and flat--and the fact that they were hard on both sides from being turned over during baking...in England the shape and contents of cakes were graudally converging toward our present understanding of the term. In medieval and Elizabethan times they were usually quite small...Cake is a Viking contribution to the English language; it was borrowed from Old Norse kaka, which is related to a range of Germanic words, including modern English cook." ---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 52)

"Gateau. English borrowed gateau from French in the mid-nineteenth century, and at first used it fairly indiscriminately for any sort of cake, pudding, or cake-like pie...Since the Second World War, however, usage of the term has honed in on an elaborate 'cream cake': the cake element, generally a fairly unremarkable sponge, is in most cases simply an excuse for lavish layers of cream, and baroque cream and fruit ornamentation...The word gateau is the modern French descendant of Old French guastel, 'fine bread'; which is probably of Germanic origin. In its northeastern Old French dialect from wasel it as borrowed into English in the thirteenth century, where it survived until the seventeenth century." ---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 138)

"The word 'gateau' crossed the Channel to England in the early 19th century...In Victorian England cookery writers used 'gateau' initially to denote puddings such as rice baked in a mould, and moulded baked dishes of fish or meat; during the second part of the century it was also applied to highly decorated layer cakes. Judging by the amount of space given to directions for making these in bakers' manuals of the time, they were tremendously popular...Most were probably rather sickly, made from cheap sponge filled with 'buttercream'...and coated with fondant icing. Elaborate piped decoration was added. Many fanciful shapes were made...The primary meaning of the word 'gateau' is now a rich and elaborate cake filled with whipped cream and fruit, nuts, or chocolate. French gateau are richer than the products of British bakers. They involve thin layers of sponge, usually genoise, or meringe; some are based on choux pastry. Fruit or flavoured creams are used as fillings. The later are rarely dairy cream; instead creme patissiere (confectioner's custard--milk, sugar, egg yolks, and a little flour) or creme au buerre (a rich concoction of egg yolks creamed with sugar syrup and softened butter) are used. Gateau has wider applications in French, just as 'cake' does in English...it can mean a savoury cake, a sweet or savoury tart, or a thin pancake." ---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 332)

Why are cakes round?
Excellent question! Food historians offer several theories. Each depends upon period, culture and cuisine. Generally, the round cakes we know today descended from ancient bread. Ancient breads and cakes were made by hand. They were typically fashioned into round balls and baked on hearthstones or in low, shallow pans. These products naturally relaxed into rounded shapes. By the 17th century, cake hoops (fashioned from metal or wood) were placed on flat pans to effect the shape. As time progressed, baking pans in various shapes and sizes, became readily available to the general public. Moulded cakes (and fancy ices) reached their zenith in Victorian times.

"For the cakes of the seventeenth century onwards tin or iron hoops were increasingly used and are mentioned with great frequency in the cookery books. These hoops were similar to our modern flan rings but much deeper...The hoop was placed on an iron or tin sheet, and a layer or two of paper, floured, was put at the bottom. The sides of the hoop were buttered, These or similar directions offer over and over again in E. Smith's The Compleat Housewife, first published in 1727, which gives recipes for forty cakes, the large ones nearly all being yeast-leavened. In her preface this author says that her book was the fruit of upwards of thirty years' expereince, so her recipes and methods must often date well back into the previous century, for quite often the reader is directed to bake the cake in a 'paper hoop'--and paper was a feature of the kitchens of those days. Wooden hoops were also fairly common. Some cooks, the seventeenth-century Sir Kenelm Digby among others, evidently preferred them to tin, perhaps because they didn't rust, and so were easier to store. Probably they would have been rather like the frames of our present-day drum sieves. Writing a century after Digby, Elizabeth Raffald calls them 'garths' and advises her readers that for large cakes they are better than 'pot or tin', in which the cakes, so Mrs. Raffald found, were liable to burn more easily. Alternatively, spice cakes were baked like bread, without moulds."
---English Bread and Yeast Cookery, Elizabeth David [Penguin:Middlesex] 1979 (p. 212)

Symbolism of round cakes
Ancient breads and cakes were sometimes used in religious ceremonies. These were purposely fashioned into specific shapes, according to the observance. Round shapes generally symbolize the cyclical nature of life. Most specifically, the sun and moon.

"People have consumed cakes of all kinds throughout history and at all sorts of ceremonial occasions. In today's world, people traditionally serve cakes at holidays, birthdays, weddings, funerals, and baptisms--in short, at all significant times in the cycle of life. The tradition of eating cake on ceremonial occaisions has its basis in ancient ritual. Cakes, in the ancient world, had ties with the annual cycle, and people used them as offerings to the gods and spirits who exercised their powers at particular times of the year...The Chinese made cakes at harvest time to honor their moon goddess, Heng O. They recognized that the moon played a crucial role in the seasonal cycle, so they made round cakes shaped like the moon to reward the lunar goddess, with an image of the illustrious Heng O stamped on top... "The Russians traditionally pay their respects in spring to a deity named Maslenitsa by making blini, thin pancakes they call sun cakes...The pagan Slavs were not the only people to make round cakes to celebrate the spring sun. The ancient Celts, who celebrated Beltane on the first day of spring, baked and ate Beltane cakes as a important part of their celebration...At the Beltane festival, the ancient Celts also rolled the cakes down a hill to imitate solar movement. Rolling the cakes, they hoped, would ensure the continued motion of the sun. This activity also served as a form of divination: If the cake broke when it reached the bottom of the hill, the Celts believed that whoever rolled it would die within a year's time; but if the cake remained intact, they believed that person would reap a year's good fortune...Agricultural peoples around the globe made offerings of cakes prepared from the grains and fruits that arose from the soil. The types of ingredients used to make these cakes contributed to their symbolism...The cake's size and shape were equally symbolic of its ritual purpose...round cakes symbolized the sun or the moon...All of these cakes had definative links to the myths the people embraced."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 52-54)

Ring-shaped cakes, such as Twelfth Night cakes (aka King Cakes), are also full of history and symbolism.

Recommended reading

Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz editor, William Woys Weaver, associate editor: "Cake and pancakes," (p. 288+)
English Bread and Yeast Cookery, Elizabeth David: "Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit bread," (p. 424-472)
The History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat (p. 223-246): "History of bread and cakes," includes baking methods, symbolism, and special cakes (holidays/religion/ethnic cuisine).
Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews (p.52-54): The history of cake as religious offering
The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (p. 122-124): Short history from ancient times to the present. Separate entries for specific kinds of cakes (chiffon, devil's food, fruitcake, gingerbread etc.) are most helpful.

About cake mixes

Dry baking mixes of all sorts were a product of the Industrial Revolution. They were promoted by companies as convenience foods. The first dry mixes (custard powders) were produced in England.

Custard powder was introduced in the 1840s. Packaged mixes for gelatin (Jell-O, Royal, Knox) were introduced in the late 19th century. Pancake mixes (Aunt Jemima) were available in the 1890s. Packaged mixes for biscuits (Bisquick/General Mills) were introduced in the 1930s. Our sources indicate packaged mixes for cake were introduced in 1920's. Betty Crocker/General Mills made them famous in the late 1940s. Now we have mixes for Tiramasu, Pineapple-Upside-Down-Cake and even more complicated items.

"General Mills, firmly rooted in grain products--Gold Medal Flour, Bisquick, Softasilk, Wheaties, and Cheerios--embraced cake mixes, but Betty was a late arrival to the party. O. Duff and Sons, a molasses company, pioneered the "quick mix" filled by marketing the first boxed cake mix in the late 1920s or early 1930s. Continental Mills, the Hills Brothers Company under the Dromedary label, Pillsbury, Occident, Ward Baking Company, and the Doughnut Corporation all produced versions of cake mixes before World War II. But problems of spoilage and packaging abounded, keeping mixes from widespread consumption and acceptance. In November 1947, after four years of cake mix research and development, General Mills' test markets were exposed to the "Just Add Water and Mix!" campaign for Betty Crocker's Ginger Cake. After a final assurance from the corporate chemists that the boxed ingredients would indeed perform as advertised, the mix was made available for limited distribution on the West Coast. Within a year it made a national debut that excluded the South (presumably, product testing there proved futile). While Ginger Cake required a nine-inch-square pan, designers projected that the PartyCake line, already in development, would offer home bakers a choice of using either two square pans or one 9-inch-by-13-inch rectangular pan, a size and shape that were becoming popular. As layer cakes are a uniquely American creation, they seemed a fitting choice for PartyCake, the next wave of Betty Crocker mixes. The layered butter PartyCake mixes--in Spice, Yellow, and White cake varieties--and Devils Food Cake Mix were priced at $.35 to $.37 per red-and-white box. "High impact" colors were essential to entice "the ladies who trundle their little shopping wagons among the shelves and tables" of the supermarket...The postwar quest for cake mix supremacy unfolded much like the flour wars of the 1920s. In 1948 Pillsbury was the first to introduce a chocolate cake mix. Duncan Hines stormed the market in 1951 with "Three Star Surprise Mix," a three-flavor wonder in that in three weeks captured a 48 percent share."
---Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, Susan Marks [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2005 (p. 166-8)

"Betty Crocker had always stood for quality in the minds of consumers, but during the first half of the twentieth century, convenience foods were not associated with good eating. All that changed in 1947, when the first Betty Crocker cake mixes hit America's shelves. The debut mix was labled Ginger Cake but would soon evolved into Gingerbread Cake and Cookie Mix. Devil's Food Layer Cake and Party Layer Cake Mix-products that offered an alternative to the time-consuming process of baking a cake from scratch-soon followed. The early mixes bearing the Betty Crocker label eventually yielded more than 130 cooking and baking products."
---Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Janice Jorgensen , editor, [St. James Press:Detroit] 1994, Volume 1: Consumable Brands "Betty Crocker" (p. 53-56)
[NOTE: The Betty Crocker trade name is owned by General Mills]

CONSUMER REACTION According to the food historians, early baking mixes were not readily accepted. Why? Two reasons: (1) Early mixes were not reliable and produced inconsistent results. (2) Home cooks had a difficult time reconciling modern convenience with traditional expectations. When food companies make things *too simple* their products are summarily rejected. Even in today's culture of ultra-convenience, this holds true. The "Snack'n Cake" lesson.

What Pillsbury/Betty Crocker hoped to achieve after World War II initally backfired because home cooks felt compelled/obligated to return to the way things were. Like mom used to cook. They say good salesmen don't take "no" for an answer. America's largest food concerns obviously hired these men. Despite the fact that early mixes often produced less than satisfactory results and invoke a complicated set of psycho-social baggage, they prevailed. Eventually mixes were accepted. Today? Most people who make cakes for people they love regularly employ mixes (universally perceived as home-made, as in "made in the home") instead of buying a premade "cake in the box." The real "scratch cake" is very nearly lost.

"The very marketable premise behind cake mixes was, and still is, the ability to have a fresh, "home-made" cake with very little time and effort. Though Betty Crocker--like her competitors--promised that cake mixes offered freshness, ease, and flavor in a box, the market was slow to mature. Puzzled, marketers reiterated the message that homemakers need only drop this scientific marvel into a bowl, add water, mix, and bake. But that was still a little too good to be true for Mrs. Comsumer America. Certainly, cake mixes sold, but--compared with the early performance of Bisquick or Aunt Jemima pancake mix--not up to industry expecations. The "quick mix"...industry, eager to correct the shortfall, conducted research even as the development of new mixes continued. General Mills considered the market research of the business psychologists Dr. Burleigh Gardner and Dr. Ernest Dichter to explain the mediocre sales of cake mixes. The problem, according to the psychologists, was eggs. Dichter, in particular, believed that powdered eggs, often used in cake mixes, should be left out, so women could add a few fresh eggs into the batter, giving them a sense of creative contribution. He believed...that baking a cake was an act of love on the woman's part; a cake mix that only needed water cheapened that love. Whether the psychologists were right, or whether cakes made with fresh eggs simply taste better than cakes made with dried eggs, General Mills decided to play up the fact that Betty Crocker's cake mixes did not contain...dried eggs of any kind...Before long, cake mix started to gain some acceptance and notoriety; even Mamie Eisenhower instructed her cooking staff to use this novel invention at the White House."
---Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, Susan Marks [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2005 (p. 168, 170)

What did Consumer Reports think of these early mixes?

[1944]
"Three types of cake mixes were found by CU's shoppers: two brands of devil's food, two lemon-flavored yellow cakes and a spice cake. All four included vegetable shortening, sugar, powdered egg, powdered skim milk, salt, baking powder (or soda and phosphate) and flavoring in their ingredients. The devil's food types added cocoa, and the spice cake, various spices and cocoa. Helen's Red-E Devil Food Mix, which received the highest rating, was made with enriched wheat flour and oat flour. The Spiced Cake Mix of the same brand, considered fairy good, contained some soya flour. The cake mixes were tested for rising quality, color of crust and crumb, grain, texture, flavor and aroma. The last three, considered together as a palatability,were the chief factors in the ratings."

Cake Mixes Acceptable (In estimated order of quality)
Helen's Red-E Devil Food Mix (Gann Prod. Co.). 30 cents for 16 oz. (30 cents). Enriched wheat flour and oat flour. Excellent flavor. Available in California, Oregon and Nevada.
X-Pert Devil's Food Mix (Modern Foods, Inc.). 18 cents for 14 1/4 oz. (19.9 cents). Excellent flvor. Grain rather coarse, but probably normal for this type of cake. Available East of the Mississippi.Helen's Red-E Yellow Cake Mix (Gann Prod. Co.). 30 cents for 1 lb. (30 cents). Wheat, cottonseed and oat flour. Excellent flavor, slightly lemon. Available in California, Oregon and Nevada.
Joy Golden Layer Cake (Cramer Products Co., NYC). 20 cents for 14 oz. (33.1 cetns). Very good flavor, slightly lemon. Available nationally.Helen's Red-E Spiced Cake Mix (Gann Prod. C.). 30 cents for 1 lb. (30 cents). Wheat flour and soya flour. Good flavor, nutmeg mace. Available in California, Oregon and Nevada."
---"Baking Mixes," Consumer Reports, July 1944 (p. 179-180)

[1948]
"Delectable-looking cakes, biscuits, muffins, rolls, pies and other baked goods peer forth these days, not only from the baker's showcase, but from the paper labels on the grocer's shelves. They are "come on's" for the prepared flour mixes now appearing in ever greater numbers and variety. When CU's shoppers throughout the nation had bought all of the types and brands of mixes containing flour (except pancake mixes) which they found on the market, they had 76--more than three times as many as were available in 1944 when CU last tested these products. How good are they? The value of any mix to a housewife is based on the quality of the finished product--how good it is to eat--plus ease and conveninece of preparation, and cost. CU consultants subjected all products to actual baking tests, following the directions given on the packages. The scores for cake, gingerbread, biscuit, muffin and hot roll mixes were based on flavor, volume or the amount of rise, texture, or tenderness of crumb to feel and taste, aroma while warm from baking, grain or physical structure of the crumb and color of crust and crumb...CU found some mixes that were good, many that were satisfactory, and only two that were "Not Acceptable." Many brands were neither consistently good nor consistently poor...The preparation of mostt of these mixes calls for the addition only of water or milk, and they can be stirred up so simply that, if directions are followed, there is little danger of their being spoiled. The time required is negligible compared to that for mixing a cake from the basic ingredients. They are particularly useful for emergencies, for yougnsters just trying their culinary wings, or for the gang of teen-agers who what to take over the kitchen for an evening. Cost varied considerably among different brands of the same type of mix, and while in some cases it was greater than the comparable homemade product, in many cases, it was not more, or even less.
---"Flour Mixes: Almost all are "Acceptable," but some taste better and cost less than others," Consumer Reports, August 1948 (p. 355-7)

[1951]
"CU's consultants tested 20 bands of prepared cake mix--gingerbread, white cake, and devil's food. In the opinion of the home economists who sampled them for taste and other qualities, none were as good as "mother used to bake." However, the best of the mixes made cakes nearly as good as those obtained with standard recipes. While they fall short of the best products of the baker's art, ready mixes do have a number of advantages which may decide you to keep them on your pantry shelf. They are time savers. In CU's tests the time saved by making a cake from prepared mix rather than a recipe, was about 15 minutes. Counting wash-up and put-away time of utensils, the mixes have an even greater edge. They are work savers. Use of a prepared mix eliminates many of the steps necesary with standard recipes, such as the sifting of flour and the measuring of ingredients. Only one bowl is required. However, too little or too much mixing, or incorrect oven temperature, may still result in an unsuccessful cake. They are economical. The average cost of a two-layer devil's food cake (eight-inch layers) made from a ready mix was 38c, including the cost of milk and eggs when their addition was required. This was appreciably less than the cost of a standard recipe devil's food cake, which was 47c at the time of the tests in late January 1951. On the white cake and ginger cake, however, the saving was less--only 2c in each case, on the average. Convenience, more than price, favors the use of the prepared mix. With ready mixes, you ares saved the necessity of storing ingredients used only occasionally...or remembering to buy ingredients not normally used...In many cakes, you do not even have to have milk or eggs on hand to bake a cake. Ten of the 20 mixes tested--all of the ginger cakes and several of the others--required the addition of water only. Occident Devils Food Cake Mix required the addition of one egg; Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake Mix and white cake, each required the addition of two eggs...Mixing directions are given for both hand beating and for the use of an electric mixer in most cases. A few brands even carry directions for use in high altitude regions. Swans Down, and some others, provide a "special formula" mix for high altitude baking. Packaging also carry instructions for making cookies, cup cakes, or glamorized versions of the basic cake for which the mix was intended. It is apparent that there are good reasons for the growing popularity of the mixes. However, if you have the skill to bake a really fine cake, and your taste or the occasion demands the best, you should follow your own prized recipe."
---"Cake Mixes: CU Tested 20 Brands of Prepared Cake Mixes and Foundy Many Good Ones," Consumer Reports, June 1951(p. 261-2)

[1953]
"Not so very long ago, the housewife who went to the bakery store to get her family's dessert, instead of producing it from her own oven, was looked at askance by her more industrious neighbors. Today there seems to be at least a fair prospect that the situation will be reversed. For the grocery store shelves are replete with ready-mix-cake packages in great variety, and the description of their preparation sounds so simple as to make a trip to the bakery store, by comparison, a major chore. In an attempt to answer the question of whether or not the ready-mix cakes are indeed as easy to prepare as package instructions indicate, and whether the end products are of such quality as to justify their use, CU surved the field of prepared mixes for white cake, yellow cake, devil's food cake, and gingergread. Eight brands of devil's food mix, seven brands of white and of yellow cake mix, and three brands of gingerbread were tested. Four samples of each mix were stirred up and baked, two operators preparing two samples of each. These were submitted, without band identification, independently to each of three judges, along with a piece of cake of similar character made from home-mixed batter. Judgement was passed on each piece about two hours after its removal from the oven, and again (to determine keeping qualities) a day later. The judges, who are trained home economists, used a score system to rate flavor, texture, appearance, grain, color, and shape of the cakes; in addition, they expressed an overall opinion of each cake's quality. There was suprisingly little disagreement, among the individual judges, as to the visible characteristics of the various products, but in flavor preference they often did not agree, which is hardly surprising. However, in the extremes of taste-- cakes rated either oudstandingly good or very poor--there was little dispute among them. In terms of general quality, many of the the cakes made from the packaged mixes competed successfully against the home-made cakes, which were carefully prepared form well- tested recipes. (The recipes were for cakes of average richness in the selected types. This is not to say that your own favorite recipe won't produce a cake finer than any mix on the market!). Most of the ready-mix cakes were a pleasing in shape, volume, and general appearance as the home-made cakes, and mnay had very good texture and fine grain-structure, too. It was in flavor that the home-made cakes outranked most--but not all--of the mixes. As for the preparation of the mix-made cakes, it's almost as simple as the advertisiments claim. For most of the mixes, the housewife need only add a measured amount (usually a cupful, more or less) of milk or water to the solid ingredients in the box, stir the two together, pour the mixture into greased pans, and bake in a preheated oven. For a few, an egg or two, or some flavoring, is required in addition. Only one brand, Betty Crocker, received a Good rating in all four of the varieties tested...None of the others were consistently superior, though there were individual cake types of other brands which were at least equal of Betty Crocker."
---"Cake Mixes: CU's consultants tasted and examined ready-mix cakes to find which brands were best," Consumer Reports, September 1953 (p. 385-7)

About cooking "from scratch"
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word "scratch" has several meanings. The phrase "from scratch" is derived from this:

5b. "The starting-point in a handicap of a competitor who recieves no odds; sometimes colloq. used ellipt. for such a competitor. From scratch, from a position of no advantage, knowledge, influence, etc., from nothing."

As this applies to food, it means the item was made without the aid of prepared items; all primary ingredients.

Who coined this phrase and when?
Good question. The OED does not offer a first print use for this term as it applies to food. Our phrase books sometimes list these words but only define them. Our food history books do not include the term. The oldest references we find for this phrase (New York Times historic database) date to the 1940s. These articles are promoting making cakes from mixes rather than "from scratch."

Angel food

The classic story behind the name "angel food cake" is that this dessert is so white, light, and fluffy it must be fit for angels. Who thought up this name? No one knows. We do know [from the study of old cookbooks] that cake recipes with the name "angel food" began showing up in American cookbooks sometime in the late nineteenth century [about the same time as mass-produced bakeware hit the popular market]. It may not be a coincidence that a proper angel food cake requires a special tube pan or cake mold. Some food historians speculate the Pennsylvania Dutch were probably the original makers and namers of angel food, though this connection has not been fully documented. In support of the theory, one of many culinary traditions introduced to America by the Pennsyvania Dutch was the cake mold, a special metal pan for creating festive cakes in unusual shapes. A recipe for "Amanda's Angel Food Cake" is included in the Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book of Time Old Recipes, Culinary Arts Press [1936] (p. 39) but not listed in Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery, J. George Frederick [1935].

"Angel-food cake...Also "angel cake." A very light, puffy cake, perhaps of Pennsylvania-Dutch heritage, without yeast and with several beaten egg whites. The egg whites give it a texture so airy that the confection supposedly has the sublimity of angels. Angel-food cake was known by the 1870s in America (the word appeared in print in the 1880s) and served as a sensible usage of leftover egg whites."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 6)

"...angel (or angel food) cakes, which some believe evolved as the result of numerous egg whites left over after the making of noodles, may or may not be the brainchild of thrifty Pennsylvania cooks who considered it sinful to waste anything."
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones [Vintage Books:New York] 1981, 2nd ed. (p. 93)

"Angel Food Cake...Name given to a variety of very light spongy cakes originating from America. This type of confection was first introduced to England in 1934. There were many failures in its manufacture in the earlier days, det to the fact that a special soft flour was required to ensure lightness and soft eating qualities."
---Master Dictionary of Food & Cookery, Henry Smith {Philospohical Library:New York] 1952 (p. 8)

A survey of late 19th century cookbooks attests to the introduction of a cake named "angel food" sometime in the 1880s. This is a typical recipe from a popular cookbook:

"Angel Cake
One cup of flour, measured after one sifting, and then mixed with one teaspoonful of cream of tartar and sifted four times. Beat the whites of eleven eggs, with a wire beater or perforated spoon, until stiff and flaky. Add one cup and a half of the fine granulated sugar, and beat again; add one teaspoonful of vanilla or almond, then mix in the flour quickly and lightly. Line the bottom and funnel of a cake pan with paper not greased, pour in the mixture, and bake about forty minutes. When done, loosen the cake around the edge, and turn out at once. Some persons have been more successful with this cake by mixing the sugar with the flour and cream of tartar, and adding all at aonce to the beaten egg."
---The Boston Cooking School Cookbook, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln [1884] (p. 374)

Prior to the this time, recipes for cakes similar to angel food [calling only for egg whites] were known by different names:

"Silver cake
The whites of one dozen eggs beaten very light, one pound of butter, one pound of powdered sugar; rub the butter and sugar together until creamed very light, then add the beaten whites of the eggs, and beat all together until very light; two teaspoonfuls of the best yeast powder sifted with one pound of flour, then add the flour to the eggs, sugar and butter, also add one-half teacupful of sweet milk; mix quickly, and beat till very light; flavor with two teaspoonfuls of the extract of almond or peach, put in when you beat the cake the last time. Put to bake in any shape pan you like, but grease the pan well before you put the cake batter in it. Have the stove moderately hot, so as the cake will bake gradually, and arrange the damper of stove so as send heat to the bottom of the cake first. This instruction of baking applies to all cakes except tea cakes."
---What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking, [1881] (p. 28-9)
NOTE: Mrs. Fisher was the first American ex-slave to author a cookbook
"Snow-drift cake
Three cupsful of flour, two cupsful of sugar, one-half a cupful of butter, one cupful of sweet milk, the whites of five eggs beaten to a stiff froth, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, one-half a teaspoonful of soda; sift the flour, and do not pack it when measuring it."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M. E. Porter [1871] (p. 223)
NOTE: the lack of baking instructions!

Devil's food

Culinary evidence confirms that recipes under the name "devil's food" is an turn of the [20th] century American invention.

What is chocolate cake?
In the first half of the 19th century they typical chocolate cake was a yellow or spice cake meant to accompany a chocolate beverage (hot chocolate, cocoa). Chocolate was not one of the cake's ingredients [Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph (p. 173)]. In the second half of the 19th century the typical chocolate cake was either a white or yellow cake with chocolate icing or a cake made with chocolate. Recipes for rich, chocolate cakes similar to devil's food were fairly common in late 19th century cookbooks, but they were not named such. They were typically listed under the generic name "chocolate cake." Recipes for devil's food proliferated, sometimes with interesting and creative twists) in the first decades of the 20th century. There are several theories regarding the "devil's food" was selected for this delicious cake. None of these are "definative."

"Devil's food. A cake, muffin, or cookie made with dark chocolate, so called because it is supposedly so rich and delicious that it must be somewhat sinful, although the association is clearly made with humor. Its dark color contrasted with the snowy white of angel-food cake, an earlier confection. The first devil's food recipe appeared in 1900, after which recipes and references became frequent in cookbooks. The "red devil's food cake," given a reddish-brown color by the mixture of cocoa and baking soda, is post-World War II version of the standard devil's food cake."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 111)

Angel food belongs to the nineteenth century but devil's food to the twentieth. How this chocolate cake came to be called devil's food no one knows alothough it may have been a play on opposites: it was as dark and rich as angel food was light an airy...In the early 1900s there were a number of bizarre variations on Devils Food Cake. Once called for mashed potatoes and a number for ground cinnamon and cloves in addition to chocolate..."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 452-3)

Some food historians believe this might be the first mention of Devil's food. It appears in a memoir written by Caroline King's of her childhood in 1880s Chicago. Ms. King was a popular food writer in the 1920s-1930s.

"Devil's Food, though a new cake in our household, had made its dashing appearance in Chicago in the middle eighties, and by the time it reached our quiet little community, was quite the rage. Maud's receipt was the original one, and made a large, dark, rich cake. Here it is:
Devil's Food
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour
1 scant teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla.
Anna melted the chocolate over hot water while Maude creamed the butter and added the sugar gradually; then she whipped in the slightly beaten yolks of the eggs and the melted chocolate and vanilla. I was permitted to sift and measure the flour and then sift it again with the baking powder and soda. When this was done, Maude alternately added the flour mixture and the sour cream to the egg-sugar-butter-chocolate combination. Last of all, she folded in the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs and turned the delicious-smelling brown batter into three layer-cake pans which Anna had buttered and floured. The baking, in a very moderate oven, was carefully watched. According to a time-honored custom in our family, the cakes were tested with a clean broomstraw and when finished were turned, beautifully brown and entrancingly fragrant, from the pans onto a clean towel.
Now came the next important part, the icing and filling. The Watermans' receipt called for a thick boiled icing made pleasantly piquant with a few drops of citric acid. But citric acid sounded dangerous to Maud, and besides, as Anna explained, we had no such article in our supply closet. Even Emily's stock of special flavorings refused to yield it, so Maud used lemon juice, sparingly and judiciously, and the result was perfect.
Altogether it was a noble cake, nobly made."
---Victorian Cakes: A Reminiscence With Recipes, Caroline B. King, with an introduction by Jill Gardner [Aris/Berkeley:1986] (p. 35-6)

There is no recipe for Devil's food in Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book, a collection of recipes contributed by prominent Chicago women in 1893. This book, originally compiled by Carrie V. Shuman, was recently reissued by the University Press, Chicago [2001].

What is the difference between chocolate cake and devil's food?
This simple question has many answers, depending upon the period and cookbook. As noted above, the first 19th century American chocolate cake recipes were white/yellow cakes with chocolate icing. The addition of chocolate to the batter increased as the price of this ingredient declined, thus creating "chocolate cake" as we know it today. 20th century cookbooks often list chocolate cake and devils food on the same page. The most predominant difference between the two? Devil's food usually contains a greater proportion of chocolate. Fannie Farmer [1923] doubles the amount of chocolate required for her devil's food (4 ounces compared to 2 ounces for "regular" chocolate cake.). Irma S. Rombauer confirms: "When the larger amount of chocolate is used, it is a black, rich Devil's Food." (Joy of Cooking, 1931 p. 236)

Compare this chocolate cake recipe [1894] with Mrs. Rorer's [1902] & Good Housekeeping's [1903] devil's food recipes (below):

Chocolate Cake, No. 3
One and a half cups of sugar, half cup of butter, three-quarters cup of milk, three eggs and yolk of another, two cups of flour, two teaspoons baking powder, one full cup of Baker's chocolate. Break up the chocolate and put in a cup over the tea kettle until it melts. This will make four layers, and use the following recipe for boiled icing between the layers.
Boiled icing
One cup of sugar (granulated), quarter cup of water (cold), one egg (only white, beaten stiff). Put water on sugar in a saucepan and let it boil until it threads. Then remove from fire and pour over the stiff white, beaten until it thickens. Put on the cake at once."
---The Oracle: Receipts Rare, Rich and Reliable, The Woman's Parish Aid Society of Christ Church, [Tarrytown:New York] 1894 (p. 88)

The earliest recipe we have for Devil's Food printed in an American cookbook is dated 1902:

"Devil's Food
1/2 cup of milk
4 ounces of chocolate
1/2 cup butter
3 cups pastry flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder
Put in a double boiler four ounces of chocolate and a half pint of milk; cook until smooth and thick, and stand aside to cool. Beat a half cup of butter to a cream; add gradually one and a half cups of sugar and the yolks of four eggs; beat until light and smooth. Then add the cool chocolate mixture and three cups of pastry flour, with which you have sifted two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Beat thoroughly for at least five minutes; then stir in the well beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in three or four layers. Put the layers together with soft icing, to which you have added a cup of chopped nuts. The success of this cake depends upon the flour used."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Philadelphia: 1902] (p. 619)
[NOTE: Mrs. Rorer's chocolate loaf cake recipe (p. 615) calls for 2 ounces of chocolate]
Devil's Food Cake
Two and a half cups of sifted flour, two cups of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one-half cup of sour milk, one-half cup of hot water, two eggs, one-half or one -fourth cake of chocolate, one teaspoon of vanilla, one teaspoon of soda. Grate chocolate and dissolved with the soda in hot water. Use white icing."
---Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book, Isabel Gordon Curtis, [Phelps Publishing:New York] 1903 (p. 50); recipe attributed to Mrs. Nelson Ruggles.
[NOTE: This book's recipe for chocolate cake (p. 50) is white cake with chocolate filling]

By 1913, devils food and devils cake were all the rage. How do we know? Anna Clair Vangalder's Modern Women of America Cookbook [Modern Woodman Press:Rock Island] lists no less than 23 recipes! Some are simple, others are complicated. Sour milk and brown sugar seem to be the standard ingredients, though some recipes specified white sugar and sweet milk cut with boiling water. Melted/grated unsweetened chocolate (cake, bakers) was the norm, though some recipes used cocoa. Some cakes were layered, others were baked in simple loaf pans. About half of the early devils cakes were iced.

Recipes for devil's food cake have changed over the years. Duncan Hines Dessert Book [New York:1955] lists three recipes for Devil's Food Cake, and one each for Cocoa Devil's Food Cake, Party Devil's Food Cake, and Sour Cream Devil's Food Cake (p. 37-41). Jean Anderson's American Century Cookbook (p. 452-3) does a good job outlining the evolution of this particular recipe.

Red Devil's Food

These recipes generally include both baking soda, baking powder and boiling water. Proportions vary. They begin to show up in North American cookbooks during the 1930s. Some are specifically called "red devil," others are simply called devil and are undistinguishable unless the cook examined the ingredients.

[1946]
Red Devil's Food
Generally popular--but not with me, which is not to be taken as a criterion.
Measure:
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
Resift with:
1 1/2 teaspoon tartrate phosphate baking powder or 1 teaspoon combination type
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
Cream until light and fluffy:
4 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
Add one at a time and beat well:
2 eggs
Melt: 2 ounces chocoloate in 1/2 cup boiling water
Cool slightly, then stir these ingredients into the egg mixture. Add the dry ingredients in about three parts alternately with:
1/2 cup sour milk
Add: 1 teaspoon vanilla
Stir the batter after each addition until it is well blended. Bake it in two greased 9 inch layer pans in a moderate oven 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Spread the cake with Seven Minute Morocco Icing."
---Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1946 (p. 542)
[1956]
"Real Red Devils Food Cake
A rich, moist cake...made with cocoa. Developed by Lorraine Kilgren of our staff...
Grease and flour: 2 8 or 9" layer pans or 13 X 9" oblong pan
Sift together into bowl: 1 3/4 cups Softasilk flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1 1/4 tsp. soda, 1 tsp. salt, 1/3 cup cocoa
Add: 1/2 cup soft shortening, 2/3 cup milk
Beat 2 min.
Add: another 1/3 cup milk, 2 eggs (1/3 to 1/2 cup), 1 tsp. vanilla
Beat 2 more min.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake until cake tests done. Cool. Finish with White Mountain or Satiny Beige Frosting or with Chocolate Butter Icing. Temperature: 350 degrees F (mod. oven).
Time: Bake 8" layers 35 to 40 mon., 9" layers 30 to 35 min., oblong 45 to 50 min."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, Revised and Enlarged, second edition [McGraw-Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 151)
[NOTE: We can supply the icing recipe of your choice.]

Of course? There's always chocolate angel food! (Joy of Cooking [1931] p. 234)

Baba

Baba (aka babka) is not one recipe, but several. According to the food historians baba doughs range from simple yeast-based mixtures to complicated alcohol-drenched pastry. The origin of this item (while sketchy) is generally attributed to Slavic peoples. Plenty of legends surround the introduction/invention of "Baba au Rhum." Not so for basic baba. Notes here:

"Babas, cakes, and pastries were adopted by the Russians only in the eighteenth century, although yeast had been used in Russia since ancient times. German and Polish influences are particularly strong in this type of baking. It is perhaps not surprising that Americans are unfamiliar with the variety of babas and kuliches that were well known to Molokhovets [Russian cookbook author, 1861]--Russian cookbooks for Americans rarely contain more than a single recipe for each kind of yeast cake. But Russian cooks also are in danger of losing this aspect of their culianry heritage, which now appears mostly in specialized books on baking. In part, the nomenclature has changed (pirogi has broadened in meaning), but mostly altered tastes and circumstances have diminished the interest in baking."
---Classic Russian Cooking: Elena Molokhovets' A Gift to Young Housewives, translated and introduced by Joyce Toomre [Indiana University Press:Bloomington] 1992 (p. 398)
[NOTE: This book contains several recipes for mid-19th century babas. Your librarian can help you obtain a copy.]

"Baba. A sweetened bread or cake made from a rich dough, baked in tall, cylindrical moulds. The shape is Slavic in origin, and of great antiquity. The 12th-century Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus describes a Baltic pagan harvest-festival bread as a 'cake, prepared with mead, round in form and standing nearly as high as a person'. The word means 'old woman' or 'grandmother' and refers to the vertical form, and anthopomorphic usage similar to the derivation of pretzel and bracelli, because the twist of dough resembles folded arms...If the shape is Slavic in origin, the same may not be true of the actual recipe--it has been suggested by Lesley Chamberlain...that this came from Italy: "The recipe for it probably came to Poland from Italy in the sixteenth century via Queen Bona, as a transplant of the Milanese panettone. Since then much ritual has surrounded the baking of this fragile masterpiece. Precious pastrycooks declared it needed to rest on an eiderdown before it went in the oven, after which baking took place in an atmosphere of maternity. Men were forbidden to center the kitchen and no one was allowed to speak above a whisper."...there are rival claims from the Ukraine. Savella Stechishin...says that baba or babka is one of the most distinctive of all Ukranian breads, traditionally served at Easter. The name 'baba' is the colloquial Ukranian word for woman or grandma, while 'babka' is a diminutive of the same word. (The name 'babka' is more commonly used, as the modern loaves are smaller and the name sounds dantier.)...Stechishin speculates that the baba-bread may have originated in prehistoric times when a matriarchal system existed in the Ukraine...the baba's homeland is generally regarded as being W. Russia and Poland. It is related to other Russian festive breads of cakes, such as Easter kulich...or the krendal which is baked in a figure-of-eight shape to celebrate name days. They, however, are fortified with dried fruits and nuts, while the baba was originaly plain. Polish and Ukranian recipes commonly include other flavors (from ingredients such as saffron, almond, cheese, raisins). Other additions, noticeable in the Baba au rhum and other versions which are now part of the international repertoire, consist in adding dried fruits and...soaking the cake in an alcoholic syrup...after it has been made. These changes seem to have been made in France after the baba emigrated westwards to Alsace and Lorraine. This had happened in 1767 (when the term first appears as a French word) and the baba eventaully became a well-known French confection...To make a baba, yeast is mixed to a liquid batter with flour, eggs, and milk; this is allowed to rise, and then melted butter is beaten in. As for other yeast-risen cakes, much beating is necessary to impart air to the mixture. More eggs are used than in a brioche dough...and the recipe delays the addition of butter until after the first rise to enable the yeast to work to its full effect."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 46-7)

"A baba is an open-textured, yeast-leavened cake, sometimes including raisins, and moistened with rum and sugar syrup. The first reference to it in English is by L.E. Ude, in French Cook (1828). Its origins, which are Polish, have been richly embroidered. It is said to have been invented by King Stanislas Leczinski, whose favorite reading was the Thousand and One Nights, and who consequently named his creation after the character Ali Baba. Less apocryphal, perhaps, is the story that it was introduced into Western Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century by the Parisian pastrycook Sthorer, who encountered it amongst members of the Polish court then visiting France. However that may be, the word itself represents Polish baba, literally 'old woman'..."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 14)

"Baba au Rhum (Romovaya baba). Although the romovaya baba has been adopted into the classical French cuisine, its roots are Slavic, as it was created at the court of the deposed Polish king Stanislaw Leszczynski. The word baba is a pejorative term for "old lady" (the original shape of the cake was said to resemble an old woman in skirts), but the dessert's whimsical moniker belies its true elegance."
---A Taste of Russia: Traditional Recipes from Russia, Darra Goldstein [Robert Hale:London] 1985 (p. 93)

[1828] Ude's recipe
"Baba.
Dilute this paste the same as the brioche. Take eight grains of saffron, which infuse in a little water, and then pour out this water into the paste; add two glasses of Madeira, some currants, raisins, and a little sugar; then make the cakes as you do the brioches. You must butter the mould when you put them in; the oven must be moderately hot, as the babas must remain a long time in; after one hour you must look at them, and preserve the colour by putting some paper over them."
---The French Cook, Louis Eustache Ude, photoreprint of the 1828 ed. published by Carey, Lea and Carey, Philadelphia, [Arco Publishing:New York] 1978 (p. 406)

What is the relationship between baba and savarin?

"Savarin...is essentially an enriched yeast dough baked in a ring mould. A syrup with kirsch or rum is used to soak it whe cool, and the central hole may be filled with fruit or cream. There is also a solid, holeless form, mazarin, which is split and filled with cream. The savarin derived from the E. European baba, as naturalized in Alsace in the 18th century. What happened was that in the mid-or late 1840s one of the brothers Julien, Parisian patissiers, experimented with the baba in a slightly different form. He used the same dough, but removed the dried fruits and soaked the savarin in his own 'secret' syrup. He named his new confection in honour of the famous gastronomic writer Brillat-Savarin, although the name for it does not seem to have been recorded until the 1860s."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 697)

Who was http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/brillat/savarin/b85p/part1.html"> Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin and what did he write?

[1869]
"Savarin.
Put 1 lb of sifted flour in basin;
Make a hole in the middle, and put in 1/2 oz. of German yeast, and 1/4 gill of warm milk; mix it with the flour immediately surrounding it, about one quarter of the whole quantity, to make the sponge, and stand the basin in a warm place;
When the sponge has risen to twice its original size, add 1 gill of warm milk and 2 eggs; work the contents of the basin with a spoon, and mix in another egg; then add 3/4 lb. of worked butter, 14 oz. salt, 1/2 oz. of sugar, and 1/2 gill more warm milk; continue working with a spoon, and adding one egg at a time, until 5 eggs have been used;
Cut 2 oz. of candied orange peel in very small dice, and mix it in the paste;
Butter a fluted cylinder-mould; strew a tablespoonful of chopped almonds on the butter, and half fill the mould with the paste; let it stand, and when it has risen to the top of the mould, put the savarin to bake in a moderate oven;
When done, turn it out of the mould; let it cool for twenty minutes; pour over it some syrup, flavoured with Anisette; and serve."
---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated from the French and Adapted for English by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson, Low, Son, and Marston:London] 1869 (p. 503-4)
[1874]
"Savarin Cake.
Put one pound of dried and sifted flour into a pan, and make a hollow in the centre. Dissolve half an ounce of German yeast in a small quantitiy of warm milk, and set the sponge by pouring this into the hollow, and beating into it with the fingers about a quarter of the flour. Sprinkle four over the batter thus made, put the basin in a warm place, and let the sponge rise slowly to twice its size. Work into it with a spoon or with the right hand a quarter of a pint of warm milk and two eggs, and add gradually three-quarters of a pound of butter beaten to a cream, half an ounce of salt dissolved in a little warm water, two ounces of powdered sugar, the eighth of a pint additional milk, and three more eggs. Lastly, add two ounces of candied peel cut small. The additions should be made very gradually, the eggs being put in one at a time, and the preparation being beaten well until it leaves the sides of the bowl easily. Butter the inside of a fluted mould rather thickly, and sprinkle a table-spoonful of blanched and chopped almonds on the butter. Beat the paste up again, and half fill the mould with it; let it stand in a warm place till it has risen level with the top of the mould. Tie a broad band of buttered paper round the top of the mould, to keep the paste from running over the sides, and bake the cake in a moderate oven. When done enough, turn it out carefully, run a skewer into several parts of it, and our over and into it a thick syrup flavoured with curacoa or any other suitable liquer. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the surface, and send to the table warm. Time to bake, one hour or more. Probable cost, 3s., exclusive of the liquer. Sufficient for five or six persons."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin:London] 1874 (p. 837)
[1919]
French Coffee Cake (Savarin)

Related items? Bundt cake & gugelhopf, kulich, brioche & Sally Lunn.

Banana nut cake

This a very interesting food to research. Bananas have been around since the beginning of time. Sweet nut breads and cakes were eaten by the ancient Roman and Greeks. Who decided to combine these two foods? According to the food historians, banana bread is a relatively is a recent phenomenon. In the early 20th century bananas were very popular and were used in many recipes. Nut breads (also sometimes known as tea cakes, muffins) were likewise popular. The earliest banana-nut combinations recipes we find are for salads!

"Banana bread is said to have been invented by a Depression-era housewife in search of a way to make some extra money at home. It is curious that it took so long to discover, for since the 1930s, banana bread has taken its place on the menu in millions of homes. Grocery stores often provide customers with banana bread recipes when bananas have begun to brown, in a last-ditch attempt to sell their produce. Faced with overripe bananas, many cooks turned them into banana muffins or banana pancakes. Homemade banana bread is considered a thoughtful hostess present, good for breakfast, with a cup of coffee or tea, with lunch or dinner. In the twenty-first century, as fewer women have time to bake, banana bread is quick and easy, and it satisfies the urge to bake something fresh. There are even packaged banana bread mixes available for people without the time or inclination to mash their own bananas."
---Bananas: An American Story, Virginia Scott Jenkins [Smithsonian Institution Press:Washington] 2000 (p. 114-5)

ABOUT BANANAS & BANANA COOKERY

"It seems likely that edible bananas date back several thousand years in India. They were certainly known by repute to the Greeks in the 4th century BC, when the army of Alexander the Great encountered them on trees in India..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 54-5) [NOTE] This book has an excellent history of bananas--ask your librarian to help you find it; there is no mention of the ancient peoples using bananas in their bread/cake recipes.

"Banana fritters with honey sweetened Napoleon's last days on St. Helena, but the cookery writers of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries ignore the fruit entirely....exporting bananas was difficult because transport was so slow."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble:New York] 1992 (p. 668-680) [Ask your librarian to help you find this book too!]

"In The Notions of a Travelling Bachelor, James Fenimore Cooper listed bananas among tropical fruits as common as need be' in New York markets during the 1830s. But the great popularity of the fruit in the United States had to wait until the improvement of refrigeration and transportation facilities, a generation or so after Captain Lorenzo Baker of Wellfleet in 1870 brought the first ship loaded exclusively with bananas into Boston harbor. Breads, pies, and cakes made with bananas--and cookies, too--were soon thereafter being turned out by innovative American cooks."
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones, 2nd edition [Vintage Books:New York] 1981(p. 473)

"When bananas were broadly introduced in the 1880s, tableware designers and glass manufacturers quickly responded by producing special footed serving bowls, called banana bowls or banana boats..."
---Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America, Susan Williams [Pantheon:New York] 1985 (p. 108)

Banana recipes began showing up in popular American Cookbooks in the 1880s. It is apparent that trendy Americans cooks were eager to include this new fruit in their meals. Most of the banana concoctions were simple adaptions of existing recipes. Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [1902] contains isntructions for fried bananas, baked bananas, sliced bananas, banana pudding and banana cake in a special section titled "Hawaiian Recipes." Other cookbooks contain recipes for banana ice cream, bananas en surprise (mashed bananas with strawberries), fruit salads with bananas and, of course, Jell-O molds with bananas inside. The banana split was invented in 1904.

Banana nut bread eventually became a mainstream staple item [ie included in many popular American cookbooks] by the 1920s. This coincided somewhat with the mass marketing of baking powder/soda, ingredients used to create "quick breads" [breads that did not require yeast]. Food companies flooded the American consumer market with recipes [we have one from this Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes [1933] to promote the use of their flour and baking soda products. Eventually these companies manufactured boxed mixes [instant cake mix was introduced in the late 1940s] for banana nut bread. You can still buy these today.

"Banana bread...It was as if an alien ray struck America from coast to coast. Suddenly, in the early sixties, everyone started baking banana bread. It was the strangest darned thing. After all, recipes for banana bread had been around for most of the century. And bananas, like kiwifruit, weren't exactly new. What seems to have happened is that America rediscovered the joys of baking. While most breads required a certain level of skill, banana bread (which is really more of a cake than a bread) was a cinch..."
---American Dish: 100 Recipes from Ten Delicious Decades, Merrill Shindler [Angel Press:Santa Monica] 1996 (p. 98)

American cookbooks printed in the 1960s bear this out. Not only was basic banana bread popular, but variations were featured. The Good Housekeeping Cook Book [1962] has recipes for banana-apricot, banana-date, banana-nut, banana-prune and banana-raisin breads (p. 332).

Mrs. Rorer's Banana Cake [1902]

"Banana Cake
Beat to a cream a quarter of a cup of butter, add a half cup of sugar and one egg; when very light, stir in enough flour to make a stiff dough; roll into a thin sheet and line a square, shallow baking pan. Peel five good, ripe bananas, and chop them very fine; put them over the crust in a pan, sprinkle over a half cup of sugar, the pulp of five tamarinds soaked in a quarter of a cup of warm water; squeeze over the juice of two Japanese oranges, put over a tablespoonful of butter cut into pieces, a saltspoonful of mace, and two tablespoonfuls of thick cream. Grate over the top two small crackers, bake in a moderate oven a half hour, and cut into narrow strips to serve."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sara Tyson Rorer [Arnold and Company:Phildadelphia] 1902 (p. 697)

The earliest recipe we find for banana bread is dated 1933:

Banana nut bread
Recipe makes 1 large loaf, 8X4X2
Temperature: 350 degrees F.; Time: about 1 1/4 hours
2 cups Pillsbury's Best flour
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats
1/2« Pillsbury's Wheat Bran
1/4 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons thick sour cream
1 1/2 cup mashed bananas
1. Sift four, soda, salt and baking powder together; stir in nut meats and wheat bran.
2. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.
3. Combine mashed bananas and sour cream; add alternately with flour to first mixture.
4. Bake in a greased loaf pan lines with waxed paper, in a moderate oven."
---Balanced Recipes, Pillsbury Flour Mills Company, Minneapolis, MN [1933] (breads, recipe #3)
[1947]
Banana tea bread
1 3/4 cups sifted flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 to 3 bananas)
Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Beat shortening until creamy in mixing bowl. Add sugar gradually and continue beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add flour mixture alternately with bananas, a small about at a time, beating after each addition until smooth. Turn into a well-greased bread pan 81/2X41/2X3 inches) and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) About 1 hour 10 minutes or until bread is done. Makes 1 loaf.
---Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book, United Fruit Company, North River, New York [1947] (p. 22)

Birthday cake

Cakes were eaten to celebrate birthdays long before they were called "birthday cakes." Food historians confirm ancient bakers made cakes (and specially shaped breads) to mark births, weddings, funerals, harvest celebrations, religious observances, and other significant events. Recipes varied according to era, culture, and cuisine. Cakes were usually saved for special occasions because they were made with finest, most expensive ingredients available to the cook. The wealthier one was, the more likely one might consume cake on a more frequent basis.

The birthday cakes we enjoy today are inventions of the 19th century. These were enjoyed by middle and upper classes. People with less money and poorly stocked larders also made birthday cakes. Their were not quite the light, fluffy iced concoctions served by their wealthier contemporaries. In all places and times, cooks blessed with creativity and "make do" spirit generated some pretty fine foods in the name of love. This was also true in War time.

The practice of eating cake on a regular basis by "average people" became possible in the 19th century. Why? The Industrial Revolution made many baking ingredients more affordable (mass-production) and readily available (railroads). It also introduced modern leavening agents, (baking soda, baking powder), a variety of cheaper substitutions (corn syrup for sugar; margarine for butter), and more reliable ovens.

Cake history expert Simon R. Charlsey makes this observation:

"Birthday cakes might still in the nineteenth century be of the same kind [as wedding cakes], but as their use spread, their composition became typically simpler. For preference of the child or other person celebrating, or of the cook, or whatever the confectioner had used for a decorated shop cake."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 61)

"The dominant English culture in America shaped birthday patterns for some time. Colonial birthdays were enjoyed by privileged adults, who feasted well, or at the very least, shared a glass of wine and a small slice of fruitcake with friends. Children's parties echoed the adult formats...In the new age of democracy, birthdays did not remain class-limited. As the nineteenth century progressed, a number of factors reshaped the events. The growth of industry, elevated urban material standards, and emering middle class culture amde more elaborate birthday celebrations increasingly attractive. Changing notions of the nature of childhood stimulated a new style of young people's parties...Ice cream and cake became defining elements, whether after a meal or as the centerpiece of a party...Although fruitcakes and rich, yeasted cakes were the traditional English festive cakes, the modern form of birthday cake originated in American kitchens in the mid-nineteenth century. In contrast to their European counterparts, American women were active home bakers, largely because of the abundance of oven fuel in the New World and the sparsity of professional bakers. By the late 1800s, home bakers were spurred further by several innovations. The cast-iron kitchen stove, complete with its own quickly heated oven, became standard equipment in urban middle-class homes. Women in towns had more discretionary time, compared to farm-women, and they had an expanding social life that required formal and informal hospitality. Sugar, butter, spice, and flour costs were dropping. Improved chemical leavening agents, baking powder among them, enabled simpler and faster baking and produced a cake of entirely different flavor and texture. A cake constructed in layers, filled and frosted, became the image of the standard birthday cake. One observer of the early 1900s compared bubbly soap lather to "the fluffiness of a birthday cake" and snowy, frost covered hills to iced birthday cakes...Writing on birthday cakes began with professional bakers and caterers, who were proliferating in growing cities. The cakes of the late 1800s were decorated with inscriptions like "Many Happy Returns of the Day" and the celebrant's name, a tradition that continues into the twenty-first century. Sometimes the cake was home-baked but then decorated by a specialist...The phrase "Happy Birthday" did not appear on birthday cake messages until the popularization of the now-ubiquitous song "Happy Birthday to You" (1910). Cookbook authors began to recommend decorating with birth dates and names and offered instruction on how to make colored frostings...By 1958, A.H. Vogel had begun to manufacture preformed cake decorations. Inexpensive letters, numbers, and pictorial images, such as flowers or bow, with matching candleholders were standard supermarket offerings."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 99-100)

"Small, colored candles became an integral part of the American birthday cake. An American style guide of 1889 directed, "At birthday parties, the birthday cake, with as many tiny colored candles set about its edge as the child is years old, is, of course, of special importance." The modern use of candles on a special cake may be connected to the German tradition of Kinderfest, dating from the fifteenth century, a time when people believed that on birthdays children were particularly susceptible to evil spirits. Friends and family gathered around protectively, keeping the cake's candles lit all day until after the evening meal, when the cake was served. The candles were thought to carry one's wished up to God. This German observance was brought to colonial Pennsylvania and was later reinforced by the influence of British-German fashions from Queen Victoria's court."
---ibid (p. 99)

American cookbooks bear this out. In the last quarter of the 19th century, we find a veritable explosion of simple cake recipes. Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book [1871] contains several of these items. Many have inventive names. Curiously? None of them are called "birthday cake." The recipes provided by Mrs. Porter that are most like today's birthday cakes are: "Silver cake," "Gold cake," and "Little Folks' Joys."

[1871]
"Little Folks' Joys
One cupful of white sugar, one cupful of rich sour cream, one egg, two cupsful of flour, half a teaspoonful of soda, and flavor to taste; bake about half an hour; nicest eaten fresh and warm."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter, 1871 , [Promentory Press:New York] 1974 (p. 242)

The oldest recipe in an American cookbook we find specifically named "birthday cake" was published in 1870.

[1906]
"Birthday Cakes for Children.
One and one-half cups of sugar, a half-cup of butter or clarified drippings, two eggs, one cup of milk, two cups flour, one teaspoon baking powder, one-half teaspoonful of vanilla. Beat together the butter and sugar, add the eggs, then the flour, baking-powder and nutmeg sifted together. Place in small well-greased tins and just before putting into the oven drop a few seeded raisins on top of each cake. Spread on the top a few drops of boiled icing and on top of these some colored candies or cinnamon drops, as they are favorites with the little folks. Aunt Mary."
---The Blue Ribbon Cook Book, Annie R. Gregory [Monarch Book Company:Chicago] 1906 (p. 258)

[1911]
Fannie Merritt Farmer's Catering for Special Occasions devotes an entire chapter to "Birthday feasting." Adult menus do not include cake. Child menus do. Ms. Farmer suggests children's parties include Angel Birthday Cake and Sunshine Birthday Cake. Both are simple, iced angel cakes. The difference? Sunshine cake is a little richer. This recipe includes yolks and almond extract. Recipes here:

Angel cake
Whites 5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat whites of eggs until stiff and dry and add gradually, while beating constantly, sugar (fine granulated) mixed and sifted with cream of tartar. Sift flour into mixture, add vanilla, and cut and fold until blended. Turn into a buttered and floured angel-cake pan and bake in a moderate oven. Remove from pan, cover with White Mountain Frosting, and ornament with small candles placed in flower cases. The little cases may be bought of first-class city grocers or dealers in confectioners' supplies."
---Catering for Special Occasions, Fannie Merritt Farmer [David McKay:Philadelphia] 1911 (p. 222)
[NOTE: Ms. Farmer's the candle decoration notes suggest this practice was primarily enjoyed by wealthy people in 1911. Many middle/laboring-class families and isolated farm cooks could not afford to purchase goods from first-class city grocers or specialty suppliers.]
Sunshine Birthday Cake
Whites 5 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Yolks 3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup pastry flour
Add salt to whites of eggs and beat until light. Sift in cream of tartar and beat until stiff. Beat yolks of eggs until thick and lemon colored and add two heaping beaten whites. To remaining whites add gradually sugar measured after five siftings. Add almond extract and combine mixtures. Cut and fold in flour measured after five siftings. Bake in angel-cake pan, first dipped in cold water, in a slow oven one hour. Have a pan of hot water in oven during the baking, Remove from pan, frost and decorate, same as Angel Birthday Cake."
---Catering for Special Occasions, (p. 228-9)
White Mountain Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla or 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
Whites 2 eggs
Put sugar and water in saucepan, and stir to prevent sugar from adhering to saucepan; heat gradually to boiling-point, and boil without stirring until syrup will thread when dripped from tip of spoon or tines of silver fork. Pour syrup gradually on beaten white of egg, beating mixture constantly, and continue beating until of right consistency to spread; then add flavoring and pour over cake, spreading evenly with back of spoon. Crease as soon as firm. If not beaten long enough, frosting will run; if beaten too long, it will not be smooth. Frosting beaten too long may be improved by adding a few drops of lemon juice or boiling water. This frosting is soft inside and has a glossy surface."
---Catering for Special Occasions, (p. 222)

Contrast the above recipes with this pioneer-era birthday cake [Texas 1851]

"Pioneer Birthday Cake
This recipe was used to make a birthday cake for a small girl eighty-five years ago. There was no flour to be had, and corn was ground on a handmill. The meal was carefully emptied from one sack to another, and fine meal dust clinging to the sack was carefully shaken out on paper; the sack was again emptied and shaken, and the process was repeated labouriously time after time until two cupsful of meal dust was obtained. The rest of the ingredients were as follows: 1/2 cup of wild honey, 1 wild turkey egg, 1 teaspoonful of homemade soda, 1 scant cupful of sour milk and a very small amount of butter, to all of which was added the meal dust. The batter was poured into a skillet with a lid, and placed over the open fire in the yard, the skillet lid being heaped with coals. To a little girl's childish taste the cake was very fine, but looking back through the years, the nonoree said relfectively, "It was none too sweet."
---Cooking Recipes of the Pioneer, Bandera Library Association [Frontier Times:Bandera TX] 1936 (p. 23)

Pound cake

Food historians generally agree that pound cake is a Northern European recipe named for the equal weight of its ingredients. Recipes printed in contemporary American cookbooks follow the same general proportions. The "pound" connection is not obvious today because we now measure with cups, not weight. American cookbooks printed in the early decades of the 20th century helped cooks bridge the gap by including both sets of measurements.

Historic evidence confirms recipes for pound cake first surface in 18th century English and American cookbooks. Then, as now, there were variations on the recipe. Early recipes sometimes included alcohol and currants. Many are flavored with a hint lemon. Then, as now, proportions varied. Many recipes for pound cake call for more or less than a pound! Cup cakes & 1234 cake are related.

"Pound-cake. A rich cake so called as originally containing a pound (or equal weight) of each of the principal ingredients, flour, butter, sugar, fruit, etc."
---Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. Volume XII (p. 247)

"Pound cake. A Plain white-cake loaf whose name derives from the traditional weight of the ingredients--one pound of flour, one pound of butter, one pound of sugar, and one pound of eggs--although these measurements are generally not followed in most modern recipes. Its first printed mention was in 1740 according to Webster's Ninth, and it has remained a popular and simple cake to make to this day."
---Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 254)

"Pound cake a cake of creamed type, is so named because the recipe calls for an equal weight of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs; in old recipes, a pound of each, making a large, rich cake...Pound cake has been favoured in both Britain and the USA for over two centuries. Recipes for it were already current early in the 19th century...The German Sandtorte is similar to pound cake; and a French cake, quatre quarts (four quarters), uses the same principles..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 631)

A survey of pound cake recipes through time:

[1747]
"To make a Pound Cake
Take a Pound of Butter, beat it in an earthen Pan, with your Hand one Way, till it is like a fine thick Cream; then have ready twelve Eggs, but hald the Whites, beat them well, and beat them up with the Butter, a Pound of Flour beat in it, and a Pound of Sugar, and a few Carraways; beat it all well together for an Hour with your Hand, or a great wooden Spoon. Butter a Pan, and put it in and bake it an Hour in a quick Oven. For Change, you may put in a Pound of Currants cleaned wash'd and pick'd."
---The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 London reprint [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 ( p. 139)
[NOTE: this book has been reprinted in recent years. If you want to study other cake recipes from this time period ask your librarian to help you find a copy of this and colonial American cook books. You might also want to compare this recipe with modern ones]
[1803]
Pound Cake, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter

[1817]
"A Pound cake, plain.
Beat a pound of butter in an earthen pan till it is like a thick cream, then beat in nine whole eggs till it is quite light. Put in a glass of brandy, a little lemon-peel shred fine; then pork in a pound and a quarter of flour. Put it into your hoop or pan, and bake it for one hour."
---The Female Instructor or Young Woman's Guide to Domestic Happiness, [Thomas Kelly:London] 1817 (p. 462)
[1824]
"Pound cake.
Wash the salt from a pound of butter and rub it till it is soft as cream, have ready a pound of flour sifted, one pound of powdered sugar, and twelve eggs well beaten; put alternately into the butter, sugar, flour, and the froth from the eggs; continuing to beat them together till all the ingredients are in, and the cake quite light; add some grated lemon peel, a nutmeg, and a gill of brandy; butter the pans and bake them. This cake makes an excellent pudding if baked in a large mould, and eaten with sugar and wine. It is also excellent when boiled, and served up with melted butter, sugar, and wine."
---The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, with historical notes and commentaries by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1984 (p. 161)
[1845]
"Plain Pound or Currant Cake.
Or rich Brawn Brack, or Borrow Brack.
Mix, as directed in the foregoing receipt, ten eggs (some cooks take a pound in weight of these), one pound of sugar, one of flour, and as much of butter. For a plum-cake, let the butter be worked to a cream; add the sugar to it first, then the yolks of the eggs, next stir lightly in the whites, after which, add one pound of currants and the candied peel, and, last of all, the flour by degrees, and a glass of brandy when it is liked. Nearly or quite two hours'baking will be required for this, and one hour for half the quantity. To convert the above inot the popular speckled bread,' or Brawn Brack of the richer kind, add to it three ounces of carraway-seeds: these are sometimes used in combination with the currants, but more commonly without. To ice a cake see the reciept for Sugar Glazings at the commencement of this Chapter, page 449. A roase-tint may be given to the icing with a little prepared cochineal, as we have said there."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton [1845], with an Introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 451)
[1857]
Pound cake, Great Western Cook Book, Anna Maria Collins
[1861]
Pound cake, Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton (recipe 1770)
[1884]
Pound cake, Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln
[1896]
Pound cake, Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Farmer
[1908]
"Pound Cake.
The old rule--and there is none better--calls for one pound each of butter, sugar and flour, ten eggs and a half wine glass of wine and brandy. Beat the butter to a cream and add gradually a pound of sugar, stirring all the while. Beat ten eggs without separating until they become light and foamy. Add gradually to the butter and sugar and beat hard. Sift in one pound sifted flour and add the wine and brandy. Line the cake pans with buttered paper and pour in the well beaten mixture. Bake in a moderate oven. This recipe may be varied by the addition of raisins, seeded and cut in halves, small pieces of citron or almonds blanched and pounded in rose water. Some old fashioned housekeepers always add a fourth of a teaspoon of mace. The mixture may be baked in patty tins or small round loaves, if preferred, putting currants into some, almonds or raisins in the rest. Pound acake is apt to be lighter baked in this way. The cakes may be plain or frosted, and they will grow richer with the keeping in placed in stone jars."
---The New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [Cupples & Leon:New York] 1908 (p. 126)
[1926]
"Pound Cake
3/4 lb butter
3/4 lb sugar (sifted three times)
3/4 lb flour (sifted three times
1 tablespoon whisky
9 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt
Cream together butter and sugar very light and creamy. Stir in whisky. Add well-beaten egg yolks. Add salt and vanilla. Add alternately flour and stiffly-beaten egg whites. Add baking powder to last flour. Begin the baking in slow oven, increase heat as baking progresses, one to one and a quarter hours."
---Every Woman's Cook Book, Mrs. Chas. F. Moritz [Cupples & Leon:New York] 1926 (p. 415-6)
[1936]
"Old-Fashioned Pound Cake
1 pound cake flour (4 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons nutmeg
1 pound butter (2 cups), scant
1 pound sugar (2 1/4 cups)
1/4 cup lemon juice of 2 tablespoons brandy
1 pound eggs (10), separated
Mix flour, baking powder and nutmeg, and sift three times. Cream butter until soft and smooth; add sugar gradually, creaming until very fluffy; add lemon juice and well-beaten egg yolks, beating very thoroughly. Fold in thoroughly the stiffly beaten egg whites, then flour. Turn into greased, paper-lined, loaf pans and bake in slow oven (300-325 F.) For 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Yield: 2 loaves."
---America's Cook Book, The Home Institute of the New York Herald Tribune [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1937 (p. 547)
[1944]
"Pound Cake (8 eggs)
3 3/4 c. sifted cake flour
1 1/2 teasp. baking powder
1 teasp. grated lemon rind
1 teasp. nutmeg
1 3/4 c. butter
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
8 eggs, separated
Sift together flour and baking powder 3 times. Add lemon rind and nutmeg to butter, and work with a spoon until fluffy and creamy. Gradually add 1 3/4 c. of the sugar while continuing to beat with a spoon until light. Beat egg yolks very thoroughly with a hand or electric beater until light-colored and thick enough to fall from beater in a heavy continuous stream. Add to butter mixture and beat thoroughly with a spoon. Beat egg whites with a hand or electric beater until stiff enough to stand up in peaks, but not dry. Add remaining 1/2 c. Sugar, 2 tablesp. at a time, beating after each addition until sugar is just blended. Stir 1/3 of the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then 1/2 of the egg whites, repeating until all are used, beating very thorouhgly with a spoon after each addition. Turn into 2 9" X 5" X 3" loaf pans which have been greased, lined with heavy paper, and greased again. Bake in a moderate oven of 325 F. For 1 hr. 20 min., or until done. Needs no frosting."
---The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Completely revised edition [Farrar & Rinehart:New York] 1944 (p. 702-3)

Cupcakes

Individually portioned confections have a long and venerable history. Diminutive iterations of popular traditional baked goods are particularly enjoyed when portability and ease of service is appreciated. Cookies, tea cakes, petits fours and cupcakes all spring from the basic same idea.

There seem to be two theories about the origin of recipes titled "cupcake:"

1. The name comes from the amount of ingredients used to make the cake (a cupful of flour, a cupful of butter, cupful of sugar etc.).
---This is very similar to how pound cake was named. In fact, the recipes for cup cakes and pound cakes include pretty much the same ingredients and would have produced similar results.

2. These cakes were originally baked in cups.
---Old cookbooks also sometimes mention baking cakes in small cups. These cups may very well have been earthenware tea cups or other small clay baking pans. These would easily accomodated baking level oven heat and produce individual-sized cakes. This is not the same thing as contemporary metal cupcake pans, enabling cooks to bake a dozen small cakes in one fell culinary swoop.

Which is true? Both! We have historical evidence (old cookbooks) that support both theories. This food historian agrees:

"Cupcake
The name given in Britain and generally in the USA to any small cake baked in a cup-shaped mould or in a paper baking cup. In the USA the term may have originally have been related to the American measuring system, based upon the cup."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (p. 234)

Small pound cakes baked in individual-portion pans were quite popular in the 18th century. "Queen Cakes" are a good example of these. Food historians tell us this recipe evolved from lighter fruitcakes baked in England.

"Queen cake. A small rich cake made from a creamed mixture with currants, lemon zest, and sometimes chopped almonds, baked as individual cakes. They have been popular since at least the 18th century. Now usually baked in paper cases, traditionally little fluted moulds in fancy shapes were used; Eliza Acton (1845) said that heart-shaped moulds were usual for this mixture."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 644)

20th century cupcake variations are endless. They range from simple to sublime. Baking papers come in designer prints. Individual portions and easy clean-up make cupcakes perennial favorites for classroom birthdays and bake sales. A survey of American cookbooks reveals the interest in cupcakes, as food in their own right, has grown over the years.

Historic cupcake recipes:

[1796]
"A light Cake to bake in small cups.
Half a pound sugar, half a pound butter, rubbed into two pounds flour, one glass wine, one do. [glass] Rosewater, two do.[glass] Emptins, a nutmeg, cinnamon and currants."
---American Cookery, Amelia Simmons, 2nd edition (p. 48)
[1828]
"Cup cake.
5 eggs.
Two large tea-cups full of molasses.
The same of brown sugar, rolled fine.
The same of fresh butter.
One cup of rich milk.
Five cups of flour, sifted.
Half a cup of powdered allspice and cloves.
Half a cup of ginger.
Cut up the butter in the milk, and warm them slightly. Warm also the molasses, and stir it into the milk and butter: then stir in, gradually, the sugar, and set it away to get cool. Beat the eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture alternately with the flour. Add the ginger and other spice, and stir the whole very hard. Butter small tins, nearly fill them with the mixture, and bake the cakes in a moderate oven."
---Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, By a Lady of Philadelphia [Eliza Leslie](p. 61)
[1833]
"Cup cake. Cup cake is about as good as pound cake, and is cheaper. One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, and four eggs, well beat together, and baked in pans or cups. Bake twenty minutes, and no more."
---American Frugal Housewife, Mrs. Child (p. 71)
[1871]
"Cup cake. Half a cupful butter and four cupsful of sugar creamed together, five well-beaten eggs, one teaspoonful of [baking] soda dissolved in one cupful of cream (or milk), six cupsful of flour, nutmeg, one teaspoonful of dry cream of tartar."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter (p. 255)

COMPARE WITH QUEENS CAKES:

[1798]
American Cookery, Amelia Simmons
[1803]
Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter.---click "next" for the rest of the recipe
[1845]
"Queen cakes.
To make these, proceed exactly as for the pound currant-cake of page 451, but make the mixture in small well-buttered tin pans (heart-shaped ones are usual), in a somewhat brisk oven, for about twenty minutes."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton , with an introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 460)

1234 Cake

Culinary evidence confirms the practice of naming cakes for their measurements dates (at least) to the 18th century. In the days when many people couldn't read, this simple convention made it simple to remember recipes. Pound cake and cupcakes are foods of this genre. In fact? They were composed of the same basic ingredients of your 1234 cake.

There are several variations on the recipe for 1234 cake but "yr basic list" goes like this:

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
4 eggs
This combination, it its purest form, produces a chewey dense cookie-type treat reminiscent of medieval jumbals, or sugar cookies. The Internet confirms many cooks "fudge" (pardon the pun) this classic 1234 recipe by adding other ingredients in various proportions. Most common? Baking powder, milk, fruit juice, spices and nuts. These additions affect the taste and texture of the finished product.

Canadian recipe, circa 1877

1,2,3,4,CAKE.
Augusta Simmers.
One cup of butter, two of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs; add a little more flour, roll out very thin on sugar, cut any shape, and bake quickly."
---The Canadian Home Cook Book, Compied by the Ladies of Toronto and Chief Cities and Towns in Canada [Hunter, Rose and Company:Toronto] 1877 (p. 307)

American recipe, circa 1955

1-2-3-4-Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups sifted flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 egg yolks
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 egg whites
Directions: (Makes two 9-inch layers)
Sift together opposite ingredients three times. Set aside. Cream butter; add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour, alternately with milk, beating well after each addition. Fold in vanilla. Beat egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold in carefully. Pour batter into two round 9-inch layer pans which have been lined on bottoms with paper. Bake in moderate overn 375 degrees F. About 25 minutes. This cake may also be baked in three 8-inch layer pans. Cool and frost with Orange Butter Cream Frosting and sprinkle with coconut."
---Duncan Hines Dessert Book, Duncan Hines Institute [Pocket Books:New York] 1955 (p. 23)

We do not find any one person/place/company/cookbook claiming to have "invented" 1234 cake. There is no trademark on the name. In the world of food? This is pretty common.

Bundt cake & kugelhopf

Most foods are not invented. They evolve. The same holds true for bakeware. Food historians generally credit H. David Dalquist of Nordic Ware (Minneapolis MN) for creating the first aluminum pan called "bundt" in 1950. It was not a new invention. It was, rather, an economically produced aluminum version of a traditional European kugelhopf mold. Kugelhopf is similar in method and presentation to brioche, baba, Sally Lunn, and savarin, all popular from the 18th century forward.

The earliest recips we find for "Bunt" or "Bund" cake in America were published in Jewish-American cookbooks long before Mr. Dalquist's first bundt pan hit the market. It is probably no coincidence these recipe appear with ones for kugelhopf.

[1889]
"Plain Bund or Napf Kuchen," , Aunt Babette's Cookbook
[1901]
"Bundt Kuchen,", The Settlement Cookbook, Mrs. Simon Kander
[1914]
"Plain Bund Kuchen,", Neighborhood Cookbook, Council of Jewish Women [NOTE: this recipe directs the cook to bake the cake in a "bund form."]
[1919]
"Plain Bunt or Napf Kuchen," & "Baking Powder Bunt Kuchen,", International Jewish Cookbook, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum

The popular story of the American bundt pan

"In 1950, a group of Minneapolis women, members of Hadassah, approached Nordic Products owner H. David Dalquist and asked him to make an aluminum version of the cast-iron kugelhupf pan common in Euorpe. Obligingly, he made a few for the members and a few extra for the public. Not many of these fluted tube pans sold until ten years later when the new Good Housekeeping Cookbook showed a pound cake that had been baked in one of them. Suddenly every woman wanted a pan just like it. What really put the Bundt pan on the culinary map of America, however, was the Tunnel of Fudge Cake, which made the finals of the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. Bundt, by the way, is now a registered trademark...By 1972 the grand prize winner in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest was a Bundt Streusel Spice Cake and eleven top winners also called for a Bundt pan; that same year Pillsbury sold $25 million worth of its new Bundt cake mixes. It's strange to think that fifty years ago there were no Bundt cakes because there were no Bundt cake pans. Today, more than forty million pans exist in America..."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 458)

"Bundt historic? You betcha: The Smithsonian says the icon cake of '60s comfort food, its creator and the company he co-founded all deserve a place beside our greatest treasures," Tom Webb. Feb. 23--Ruby slippers, space capsules and dinosaur bones -- make some room. The Bundt pan, that made-in-Minnesota creation that became an American icon, is on its way to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. Museum curators are in the Twin Cities this week, where they're gathering up one of the original aluminum Bundt cake pans, invented in 1950 by H. David Dalquist, co-founder of the cookware company Nordic Ware. Some 60 million Bundt pans later, all of America is familiar with O-shaped cakes, drizzled icings and gooey centers. "It's shaped, in some small way, American culture and how we entertain," said David Dalquist, son of the Bundt cake inventor and the current president and CEO of Nordic Ware. While the Smithsonian curators are big on the Bundt, what has really wowed them is the almost perfectly preserved record of an American business that made such an impact on consumer tastes, popular culture and everyday life. The Dalquist family has owned the St. Louis Park-based business for six decades. "At the (Smithsonian's) American History Museum, we collect objects and documents that represent a wide range of important themes in American history and American life," said Paula Johnson, a Smithsonian curator. "The Nordic Ware story really relates to so many of these themes: entrepreneurship, innovation and the changes in American foodways in the 20th century. "It's the whole story, it's the depth and breadth that we're after," Johnson added. "But the Bundt pan was the way in." This week, Smithsonian officials are packing up 30 cubic feet of old paperwork, engineering drawings, recipe books and early advertisements along with sand-cast molds of bunny cakes and Santa cakes, microwave-cooking devices and financial ledgers. "My dad hung on to everything -- he was one of these collectors -- so we literally have boxes of stuff from over the years," Dalquist said. The family basement has been "like an archeological dig for them," he added. The Smithsonian is charged with documenting the story of America, and "it's really hard to do American history without doing food," Johnson said. So museum officials travel the country to preserve pieces of that story a morsel at a time. To date, they've collected Julia Child's kitchen, chocolate molds from Hershey's, a Krispy Kreme doughnut-making machine, a 1928 bread slicer and more. Eventually, it all will wind up at the National Museum of American History, part of the constellation of museums that make up the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. The Smithsonian houses many great national treasures, including the original Star-Spangled Banner, the Wright Brothers' airplane, Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis and the Apollo 11 space capsule. Currently, the American History museum is being renovated. But even when it reopens, Johnson said, visitors aren't immediately likely to find a Bundt pan next to such famed icons as Dorothy's ruby slippers or George Washington's military uniform. "We always collect things, for now and in the future," Johnson said. "We have to take the long view. Even though we may not be able to do a big food-related exhibit in the immediate future, that's always in the back of our minds. ... So we have to start collecting now. This is how we begin." Nordic Ware was founded in 1946 by H. David and Dorothy Dalquist. In its early years, the struggling company specialized in making Scandinavian cookie-making items. Then Dalquist "was approached by a group of local women from the local Hadassah society," said Dana Norsten, the company's spokeswoman. "They had an old-world, heavy, heavy ceramic pan with a hole in the middle, called a Kugelhopf." The women wondered if Dalquist would make a lighter-weight aluminum pan. He did, adding the signature folds and later giving it the distinctive name, Bundt. Yet for years, the Bundt pan wasn't a particularly big hit. Then in 1966, a Pillsbury Bake-off winner used the Bundt pan to create the "Tunnel of Fudge" cake -- and it rocketed the Bundt pan to fame. "It was just like a frenzy," David Dalquist said. In the 1970s, Pillsbury introduced a popular line of Bundt cake mixes. Nordic Ware long ago branched out into other kitchenware lines, including its Micro-Go-Round food rotator, which remains popular. The company still sells a lot of Bundt pans, too. But the kitchenware business has changed dramatically. "We are one of only very few people who are still manufacturing in this country," Dalquist said. "Most of them have moved overseas. It's almost all imported today." The elder Dalquist died in 2005, but his widow and Nordic Ware co-founder has been a rich source of material for the Smithsonian curators. And what would the inventor of the Bundt pan think of his life's work ending up in the Smithsonian? "My dad was kind of a publicity-shy kind of person," Dalquist said. "So I think he'd be amazed that there was so much interest in the company and his products."
---Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota), February 23, 2007, SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

The Kugelhopf connection

Kugelhopf is a yeast-based cake similar to French brioche. It is typically baked in a mold with a funnel-shaped center insert to achieve a tall, round, ring-shaped cake. "Kugel" means "round," in German.

"A kugelhopf is a cake made from a yeast-based brioche-like dough in a characteristic shape, rather like an inverted flower pot with a hole down the middle; it usually contains raisins and currants and is dusted with icing sugar. As its name suggests, it originated in Germany and particuarly Austria (where it is usually called a gugelhupf), but it is now perhaps chiefly associated with Alsace. There are several no doubt equally apocryophal stories concerning its introduction to France from further east, one of which implicates Austrian-born Marie-Antoinette's partiality for such cakes."
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 181)

"Kugelhopf, a rich, light, delicate yeast cake, made from flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. It is related to Brioche, Baba, and Savarin...the identifying characteristic of kugelhopf is its tall ring shape. It is derived from the mould in which it is baked, round and deep, with a central funnel, and flouted with decorative swirls. After baking, the cake is turned out and dusted with icing sugar which catches in the pattern...Kugelhopf is one of the best-known C. European bakery products...It is made in a wide belt from Alsace...through parts of Germany...and Poland; and into Austria...The traditional pattern in C. Europe was for the kugelhopf to be baked for Sunday breakfast, when the village baker had his day off. It is also popular with Jewish communities who have settled in these areas."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford Unviersity Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 441)

"It seems that in "The Bundt Pan Man, Letting Them Eat Cake" [Style, Jan. 11], Hank Stuever wants to have his cake and eat it too. How else could he have come up with the historically incorrect claim that the Bundt pan was "invented" in America (just the "t" in Bundt was invented here)? Stuever writes: "According to an obituary in the Los Angeles Times, the ladies of a Minnesota chapter of Hadassah, the Jewish volunteer organization, sensed the need 55 years ago and went to the Dalquists at Nordic Ware with a request: Please replicate this old ceramic dish that somebody's grandmother had kept for years and years to bake a dessert called kugelhopf." The meanings of "replicate" are "duplicate" or "repeat," a far cry from "invent." Actually, the pan had been invented and used in Europe much earlier. So what did H. David Dalquist really replicate back then? Webster's Third New International Dictionary gives an answer under the German names "gugelhupf," "kugelhopf" or "gugelhopf" : a semisweet cake usually of yeast-leavened dough containing raisins, citron and nuts and baked in a fluted tube pan. And the German Brockhaus Dictionary of 1935 defines the cake baked in a fluted and grooved pan as "gugelhupf," a term used primarily in southern Germany and Austria (and with some linguistic roots traced to Latin). In northern Germany it is called "bundkuchen." Contrary to Stuever's somewhat mystic translation effort in this context, the German word "bund" originated from bundling or wrapping the cake's dough around the pan's center hole. As for the pan's fluted and grooved design, it allows for more of the dough to get exposed to the pan's inner surface than a smooth design would, and provides for a more evenly and deeper heat distribution into the dough. This specific design feature, discovered and applied hundreds of years ago in Europe, apparently was successfully replicated and copied by Dalquist. I grew up in Germany in the 1930s, and my mother baked a gugelhupf about once a month. The gugelhupf and its pan have been ubiquitous in German households for centuries; Stuever's claim that Dalquist gave "the world" millions of Bundt pans is a bit of an exaggeration. Giving them to America would have sounded more plausible. And may H. David Dalquist rest in peace."
--- "Who Brought the Bundt Cake?," The Washington Post, January 22, 2005, Editorial; A15

Why call it "bundt?"

"Bundt: The German word bundt relates to the word for band or bundle, and refers to the banded effect of the flutes (such as would be found in a wheat sheaf or straw wreath, tied at intervals with twine), and probably originated as a harvest celebration cake. Bundt Pan Progenitor. This well-known cast aluminum bundt pan, alternating 8 large scallops with 8 small pointed flutes, first made in 1949 as a "Nordic Ware" product by Northland Aluminum Products of Minneapolis, MN, has been reported over the years as a reproduction of a 19th C. European cast iron bundt pan, brought over- reportedly - by a European immigant to Minnesota. Northland has now registered "Bundt" for their own use. It is not known how long ago the first bundt pan was made, probably in ceramic...Ceramic Progenitor...In 1997, the June 11 issue [of the] Washington Post published an article by Mark Goldman in the food section about bundt pans. Goldman...relates the history of Northland, and the account of H. David Dalquist...[and] about some ladies from the Minneapolis Hadassah chapter who paid him a visit ant told him about a ceramic bake mold used to made Bundkuchens--"party or gathering cakes." They asked if his new company could make such a thing out of aluminum, and the rest is history."
---300 Years of Kitchen Collectibles, Linda Campbell Franklin, 5th edition [Krause Publications:Iola IA] 2003 (p. 187-8)

About Nordic ware

"...As Nordic Ware, the company that invented the beloved Bundt cake pans, marks its 60th anniversary this year, we asked readers to submit stories about the Bundt pans they’ve used for decades in their kitchens. Retired teacher Mildred H. Curtis, 85, of Altus said just reading about our search for Bundt cake memories motivated her to go into the kitchen and pull out her Bundt pan, stored in its original box, along with the recipe book that came with the pan. She quilts at her church each week, and when it’s her turn to provide lunch for the quilters, the menu usually includes a Bundt cake she makes with a German chocolate cake mix embellished with additional ingredients such as canned coconut pecan frosting. “I have given away many of my cooking pans because I do not cook like I used to, but the Bundt pan will be the last to go,” Curtis wrote...Oklahomans are definitely creative when it comes to using their Bundt cake pans, which may be why Nordic Ware has thrived for six decades. It’s not the only company making pans that turn out elaborate cakes, but it has been an industry leader since the Minnesota company began in 1946. In recent years, Nordic Ware has stepped up introduction of new and more elaborately detailed cake pans that now are common in gourmet shops. The Castle pan is one of the newest such designs, Nordic Ware spokeswoman Dana Norsten said...The family-run company started out by making ethnic cake pans like the Rosette Iron, Ebleskiver pan and the Krumkake Iron. That changed in 1950, when the Minneapolis chapter of the Hadassah Society asked company founder, the late H. David Dalquist, to make a “bund” pan similar to one a member had received from her German grandmother. “Bund,” the German word for gathering, was an appropriate name because the fluted cake was often served at a gathering or party. According to Nordic Ware, Dalquist made the pan from cast aluminum and decided to make a few extra “bund” pans to sell at department stores. When Nordic Ware filed for a trademark for the pan, the name was changed from “bund” to Bundt. The rest, as they say, is history. The pans really hit the big time in 1966, when Houston homemaker Ella Helfrich used a Bundt cake pan for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake recipe in the Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest. She won second place in the contest, and Pillsbury fielded more than 200,000 requests for help in finding the Bundt pans. Nordic Ware stepped up production, working around the clock to meet consumer demand. Bundt cookbooks, with recipes created and tested by Dalquist’s wife, Dorothy, followed. When she and her staff baked cakes to test for the cookbooks, “Nordic Ware’s employee lunchrooms were always well supplied with Bundt cakes, and they were delivered to food shelters and churches, as well,” Norsten said. Dorothy Dalquist, 80, still helps promote the company that’s run by her son, David Dalquist. In 1971, Pillsbury rolled out a line of Bundt cake mixes licensed by Nordic Ware. Those mixes eventually disappeared from supermarket shelves in the 1980s. Nordic Ware has reintroduced the cake mixes in more upscale packaging. ... A few new Bundt pan designs are introduced each year. The formed aluminum pans in classic colors have made a comeback in recent years, too. For Bundt cake pan owners who feel motivated to dust it off and bake a cake soon, we share some recipes, from the popular Tunnel of Fudge Cake to a slimmed-down pound cake and even a cherished recipe from a reader."
---"Bundt pan fans; Fluted cakes popular for six decades, Sharon Dowell, The Oklahoman, May 17, 2006, FOOD; Pg. 1E

US Patent & Trademark records state 1951 as the year the bundt pan was introduced to the American public:

Word Mark BUNDT Goods and Services IC 021. US 013. G & S: CAKE PANS. FIRST USE: 19510000. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19510000 Mark Drawing Code (5) WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS IN STYLIZED FORM Design Search Code Serial Number 72241796 Filing Date March 24, 1966 Current Filing Basis 1A Original Filing Basis 1A Registration Number 0826340 Registration Date March 28, 1967 Owner (REGISTRANT) NORTHLAND ALUMINUM PRODUCTS, INC. CORPORATION MINNESOTA 3245 RALEIGH AVE. MINNEAPOLIS MINNESOTA 55416 Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED Type of Mark TRADEMARK Register PRINCIPAL Affidavit Text SECT 15. Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 19870328 Live/Dead Indicator LIVE

Who was David Dalquist?

"H. David Dalquist, whose fledgling Scandinavian cookware company developed its most famous product, the Nordic Ware Bundt pan, with Jewish immigrant cooks, died Sunday of heart failure at his home in Edina. He was 86. The Minneapolis native had worked as a metallurgical engineer for U.S. Steel in Duluth for two years after receiving a degree in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota in the early 1940s. He served in the Navy during World War II as a radar technician aboard a destroyer in the Pacific. After the war, he and his brother, Mark, started a company called Plastics for Industry, said his son, David of Minnetonka. Soon it evolved into Maid of Scandinavia, a specialty cookware company run by Mark, and Northland Aluminum Products, Dave's company, which manufactured Nordic Ware...Said his son, "My dad believed the common person could do great things if you give them a chance," and that included keeping his factory in the heart of a U.S. metropolitan area instead of moving it to a foreign country. Dalquist helped develop thermoset plastic molding technology to make products to use in microwave ovens. "He was very good at recognizing product niches, and what the consumer was looking for," said Gene Karlson, a company vice president."
---"Bundt pan inventor H. David Dalquist dies," Trudi Hahn, Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MM), January 6, 2005, Pg. 6B

What was Tunnel of Fudge cake?

This Pillsbury Bake Off winner is generally credited for putting the bundt cake on the American culinary map.

"Did you know that until Ella Helfrich's recipe for her tunnel of fudge cake won second place the Pillsbury Bake-off in 1966, the bundt cake was virtually unknown? Bundt pans were originally made by Nordic Ware (and they still hold the trademark for the name) which was a small baking supply company that made specialty ethnic Nordic baking pans like the Rosette Iron, Ebleskiver Pan and Krumkake Iron. It wasn't until the tunnel of fudge cake recipe became famous that people started looking for bundt pans, which then was a specialty item. Nordic Ware had to open new production plants and hire workers around the clock to keep up with the demand caused by the recipe. Bundt pans were also given away with Pillsbury products as a special promotion. Now the bundt pan is standard in many kitchens although you can no longer make the exact recipe for the tunnel of fudge cake: it calls for packets of instant icing mix (Double Dutch Fudge Buttercream Frosting Mix) that is no longer made."
Arthur Schwartz, The Food Maven

ORIGINAL RECIPE CIRCA 1966:

"Tunnel of Fudge Cake
1 1/2 cups butter or margarine, softened
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups Pillsbury's Best All Purpose Flour
1 package Pillsbury Two Layer Size Buttercream Double Dutch Frosting Mix
2 cups chopped walnuts or pecans
Oven 350 degrees F. Bundt Cake
Generously grease Bundt pan. In large mixer bowl, cream butter at high speed. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Gradually add sugar; beat at high speed until light and fluffy. By hand, stir in flour, dry frosting mix and walnuts until well blended. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degress F. for 60 to 65 minutes. Cool 1 hour; remove from pan. Cool completely before serving. Tips: Buttercream Double Dutch Frosting Mix and walnuts are essential to the success of this recipe. Since the cake has the softened tunnel of fudge, ordinary doneness tests can not be used. Test after 60 minutes by observing a dry, shiny brownie-type crust. Cake may be baked in 10-inch tube pan at 350 degreees F. for 60 to 65 minutes. Serve cake right side up as for a pound cake. *Pillsbury's Best Self-Rising Flour is not recomended for use in this recipe. High Altitude Adjustment--5,200 Feet. Bake at 275 degrees F. for 60 to 65 minutes."
---A Treasury of Bake Off Favorites, Pillsbury Company, 1969 (p. 62) [recipe booklet]

Updated version, courtesy of Pillsbury:

Carrot cake

According to the food historians, our modern carrot cake most likely descended from Medieval carrot puddings enjoyed by people in this part of Europe. Carrots are an old world food. imported to the Americas by European settlers. In the 20th century carrot cake was re-introduced as a "healthy alternative" to traditional desserts. The first time was due to necessity; the second time was spurred by the popular [though oftimes misguided] wave of health foods. Is today's carrot cake healthy? It can be. It all depends upon the ingredients.

History notes here:

"In the Middle Ages in Europe, when sweeteners were scarce and expensive, carrots were used in sweet cakes and desserts. In Britain...carrot puddings...often appeared in recipe books in the 18th and 19th centuries. Such uses were revived in Britain during the second World War, when the Ministry of Food disseminated recipes for carrot Christmas pudding, carrot cake, and so on and survive in a small way to the present day. Indeed, carrot cakes have enjoyed a revival in Britain in the last quarter of the 20th century. They are perceived as 'healthy' cakes, a perception fortified by the use of brown sugar and wholemeal flour and the inclusion of chopped nuts, and only slightly compromised by the cream cheese and sugar icing whcih appears on some versions."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 141)

"In her New York Cookbook (1992), Molly O'Neill says that George Washington was served a carrot tea cake at Fraunces Tavern in lower Manhattan. The date: November 25, 1783. The occasion: British Evacuation Day. She offers an adaptation of that early recipe, which was printed in The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook (1975) by Mary Donovan, Amy Hatrack, and Frances Schull. It isn't so very different from the carrot cakes of today. Yet strangely, carrot cakes are noticeably absent from American cookbooks right through the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. Before developing a new pudding-included carrot and spice cake mix, Pillsbury researched carrot cake in depth, even staged a nation-wide contest to locate America's first-published carrot cake recipe. Their finding: A carrot cake in The Twentieth Century Bride's Cookbook published in 1929 by a Wichita, Kansas, woman's club. Running a close second was a carrot cake printed in a 1930 Chicago Daily News Cookbook...Several carrot cake contestants also sent Pillsbury a complicated, two-day affair that Peg Bracken had included in one of her magazine columns sometime in the late '60s or early '70s...Whatever its origin, carrot cake didn't enter mainstream America until the second half of this century."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 435)

A survey of carrot cake (& precessor recipes) confirms these items took many forms:

baked in pastry, like pumpkin pie
steamed and served with sauce, like plum pudding
baked in pans and served with icing, like cake

[1747]
"A Carrot Pudding
Take a raw Carrot, scrape it very clean, then grate it, take half a Pound of the grated Carrot, and a Pound of grateed Bread, beat up eight Eggs, leave out half the Whites, mix the Eggs with half a Pint of Cream, then stir in the Bread and Carrot, and half a Pound of fresh Butter melted, half a Pint of Sack, and three Spoonfuls of Orange-flower Water, a Nutmeg grated, sweeten to your Palate. Mix all well together; and if it is not thin enough, stir in a little new Milk or Cream. Let it be of a moderate Thickness, lay a Puff-paste all over the Dish, and pour in the Ingredients. Bake it, it will take an Hour's baking, or you may boil it; but then you must melt Butter, and put in White Wine and Sugar."
---The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 London reprint [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995(p.107)
[1914]
Carrot Cake, Neighborhood Cookbook, Council of Jewish Women
[1930]
"Carrot Cake
Sugar 1 1/3 cups
Seeded raisins 1 cup
Carrots (grated) 1 1/2 cups
Cloves 1 teaspoon
Water (cold) 1 1/3 cups
Butter 2 tablespoons
Cinamon 1 teaspoon
Nutmeg 1 teaspoon
Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and boil very slowly for about 5 minutes. Remove from fire and allow mixture to become perfectly cold (never use while warm) and then add
Walnut meats 1 cup
Pinch of salt
Flour 2 cups
Baking soda 2 teaspoons
Mix well and put in loaf oan and bake for 1 1/4 hours in oven 350 degrees.--Mrs. William Inman"
---Chicago Daily News Cook Book, Edith G. Shuck and Dr. Herman N. Bundesen [Chicago Daily News:Chicago IL] 1930 (p. 47)
[1936]
"Carrot Torte
1 lb almonds
1 lb carrots
2 cups sugar
8 eggs, separated
Rind of one large orange
1 tablespoon orange juice
Cook the carrots, chill, and grate. Blanch the almonds and chop fine. Beat the egg yolks until light and thick. Add sugar gradually, then orange rind and juice, carrots, nuts, combining all ingredeints well, lastly fold in the stiffly beaten whites. Bake in a greased torte pan in a moderately slow oven (325 degrees F.), 45 to 50 minutes. When cool cover with sweetened Whipped Cream...Place in ice-box for several hours and serve."
---The Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander, Twenty-first Edition Enlarged and Revised [Settlement Cook Book Co.:Milwaukee WI] 1936 (p. 459)
[1939]
"Ohio Pudding or Steamed Carrot Pudding
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup finely grated, raw potato
1 cup grated, raw carrot (3 small)
1 cup currants of seedless raisins
1 cup seeded raisins
Mix and sift sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, and soda. Add remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Steam...2 hours in small molds or 3 hours in large mold. Serve with Ohio Sauce."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer [Little, Brown and Company:Boston] 1939 (p.550)
[NOTE: Ohio sauce is made with cream, chopped nut meats, chopped dates and lemon extract (p.610).]
[1939]
"Carrot Cake
Temperature 300F. Time 1 hour. Serving 1 loaf, 9 inches
Part I
2 2/3 cups hot water
2 2/3 cups sugar
2 cups ground carrots
2 cups raisins
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons cloves
2 teaspoons nutmeg
Part II
3 3 tablespoons shortening
4 cups sifted cake flour
2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspooon salt
2 cups chopped nuts
Method:
1. Cook Part I together for 20 minutes.
2. Remove from fire; add shortening, cool to lukewarm.
3. Add flour, soda, baking powder, and salt sifted together.
4. Add nuts.
5. Bake in a well-greased loaf pan at 300 degrees for 1 hour."
---Purdence Penny's Cookbook, Prudence Penny [Prentice-Hall:New York] 1939 (p. 217)

When did the cream cheese icing appear?

The earliest American print references we find to frosting carrot cake with cream cheese are from 1960's:

[1963]
"Cheese Frosting
Another reader recommends a cream cheese frosting for carrot cakes: "Use 4 ounces cream cheese and mix with 1/4 stick margarine. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and half a box of confectioners' sugar. Mix into smooth frosting. Mrs F.F.E. Edgewood Arsenal, Md."
---"Reader Exchange: Carrot Cake Encore," Washington Post, Times Herald, September 10, 1964 (p. D4)
[1968]
"Carrot-Pineapple Cake
Oven 350 degrees F
Sift together into large mixing bowl 1/ 1/2 culs sifted all-purpose flour, 12 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Add 2/3 cup salad oil, 2 eggs, 1 cup finely shredded carrot, 1/2 cup crushed pineapple (with syrup), and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix till moistened; beat 2 minutes at medium speed on electric mixer. Bake in greased and lightly floured 9 X 9 X 2-inch pan in moderate oven (350 degress F) about 35 minutes or till done. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting (see page 86)."
---The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book [Meredith Corporation:Dew Moines IA] 1968 (p. 69)
"Cream Cheese Frosting
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
In small mixing bowl , combine cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. Beat at low speed on electric mixer till light. Gradually add sugar, beating till fluffy. If necessary, add milk to make of spreading consistency. Stir in chopped nuts, if desired. Frosts one 8- or 9-inch square cake."
---ibid (p. 86)
It is very likely other recipes predate this one. If you are a culinary student? Visit your school's library and study the old cookbooks. Also...old magazines/newspaper s can be excellent sources for *first instance.* Your school's librarian will help you access these.

About carrots

Carrots are an "Old World" vegetable. They adapted readily to "New World" soil. Notes here:

"Carrot. A root vegetable of the Umbelliferae family--and thus related to parsley, dill, and celery...although originally native to Afghanistan, is now found all over the world in many shapes, sizes, and colors."
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kennth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas [Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2001, Volume Two (p. 1746)

"The wild carrot, which grows in much of W. Asia and Europe, has a tiny and acrid tasting root. However, when it is cultivated in favourable conditions the roots of successive generations enlarge quickly. So the evolution of cultivars with enlarged roots is easily explained; indeed, what is puzzling is that it seems to have taken a very long time for D. Carota var sativa , as the modern cultivated carrot is know, to appear. The puzzle is all the greater because archaeologists have found traces of carrot seed at prehistoric lake dwellings in Switzerland. Also, the plant is included in a list of vegetables grown in the royal garden of Babylon in the 8th century BC. Here there is a clue: the plant is not in the list of ordinary vegetalbes but in that or aromatic herbs. It was probably being grown for its leaves or seeds, both of which have a pleasant carrot fragrance. It seems likely that this had also been the purpose of carrot cultivation in classical times, for there is little or no evidence to suggest that the Greeks and Romans enjoyed eating the roots. Many writers state that the carrot in something like its modern form was brought westwards, at least as far as the Arab Afghanistan, where the very dark red, even purple, carrots of antiquity are still grown. The introduction is variously dated at the 8th or 10th century AD, ie the period of Arab expansion in to the Middle East and C. Asia. This fits well enough with the fact that the earliest surviving clear description of the carrot dates from the first half of the 12th century, and was by an Arab writer...The first sign of truly orange carrots is in Dutch paintings of the 17th century...Cultivated carrots of the European type were brought to the New World before 1565..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 140)

"Adding to the confusion of early carrot history is the wold white carrot...that is native to Europe and was subsequently naturalized in America. Now popularly known as Queen Anne's lace, the most famous for its ornamental flower, the woody root has been used interchageably with its visually similar cousin, the parsnip...The late-fourth-century Roman cookery book of Apicius lists recipes suitable for either carrots (presumably wild and cultivated) or parsnips, advice repeated nearly fifteen hundred years later in Lettice Bryan's The Kentucky Housewife (1839) that "carrots may be cooked in every respect like parsnips." English carrots were the first to be introduced into the colonies, accompanying colonists to Jamestown in 1609 and early Pilgrims to Massachusetts no later than 1629, where they grew "biger and sweeter" than anything found in Engalnd. Dutch Menonnites brought orange and scarlet carrots with them into Pennsylvania, from whence they spread through the rest of the colonies."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 191)

About carrots/National Geographic
The Carrot Museum (all sorts of interesting facts & trivia!)

Chiffon cake

Chiffon cake is a light confection made with salad oil instead of butter. It has been described as a cross between angel food and rich butter cakes. Food historians generally credit Harry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance salesman, for the "invention" of this new cake in the 1920s. Mr. Baker sold the recipe to General Mills in the 1940s. The corporate version of this cake, promoting two of General Mill's products Softasilk Flour and Wesson Oil, debuted in 1948.

A survey of cookbooks and magazine/newpaper articles confirms Chiffon cake was agressively promoted from the late 1940s to early 1960s. General Mills blitzed the media with Chiffon cake ads (including recipes) beginning in 1948. The earliest mention in the New York Times states: "Cake No. 1 is high and handsome, yellow as an Easter chick, faintly orange-flavored, delicate and most, tender crusted. It's made in the manner of the new General Mills' chiffon cake, which almost every one seems to applaud." (March 22, 1948, p. 26).

New recipes were introduced two or three times monthly in the New York Times Sunday Magazine section commencing February 1949. This survey also reveals other companies took advantage of the chiffon cake craze. An ad titled "Ever make a cake with Mazola?" published by Corn Products Refining Company (New York Times, March 27, 1947, SM p. 41) states "This is the new "Shadow cake. You'll love its rich chocolate flavor, its wonderful texture. Like the famous "Chiffon" cake, it is easy to make with Mazola, the pure golden oil that "make so many good things...better"." Unlike the General Mills/Betty Crocker ads, this one does not provide a recipe. It invites the reader to send away for a free recipe book.

Who was Harry Baker?

ABOUT CHIFFON CAKE

"Betty Crocker played a part in the notorious rise of one very expensive cake--Chiffon, heralded as "the first new cake in 100 years!" Before 1948, cakes were traditionally classified as either butter or sponge...But an aptly named cake baker, Harry Baker, from Hollywood, California, challenged conventional cake wisdom and started his own mini baking revolution. Baker, originally an insurance salesman and recreational cook, enjoyed all cakes, but dreamed of combining the richness of butter cake with the lightness of sponge cake...Baker's ambitious pursuit took years...in 1927, his efforts brought forth an upside-down cake that was described as light, tender, delicate, glamorous, and delicious, with sensational volume. Dessert lovers clamored for a taste, hoping to name Baker's reputed mystery ingredient. Baker doggedly guarded his secret...As word of Baker's miracle cake spread throughout Hollywood, orders soared beyond his capacity to fill them...Both MGM and RKO granted screen time to his creations, and chiffon cake as added to the menu at the Brown Derby restaurant...Almost twenty years passed before Baker went public with the recipe, timing the sale of his secret of the lifting of wartime restrictions. After reading the Fortune magazine citation of Betty Crocker as the second most popular woman in America, he decided to pay her a visit. Rumors of Baker's Hollywood mystery cake preceded him. Upon his arrival in Minneapolis, intrigued General Mills executives offered him free run of Betty's kitchens...Once samples of his cake had eared the Betty Crocker seal of approval, negotiations began. However, General Mills would not strike a deal until the secret ingredient was revealed. With that, baker exposed his cake for what it was: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, five egg yolks, a cup of egg whites, lemon rind, cream of tartar, and, instead of shortening, cooking oil. While Baker contemplated what he would do with the large (undisclosed) sum, Betty's staffers got to work. Behind closed doors, General Mills' food chemists and home economists fine tuned Baker's somewhat unstable recipe for eleven months. Finally, in 1948, the recipe for Betty Crocker's Orange Chiffon Cake debuted in Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, and McCall's. The Minneapolis Tribune and others broke the news under the headline Mystery Cake--Secred Ingredient X Revealed for Baking Mammoth Chiffon...General Mills conducted market research on the Chiffon Cake and concluded it a success."
---Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America's First Lady of Food, Susan Marks [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2005 (p. 158-162)

"The first dessert the Brown Derby ever served was a cake made by a former bond salesman named Harry Baker. It was a fluffy, golden cake, neither angel food nor sponge, but infinately lighter and more delicious than either. For almost twenty years Baker baked these cakes for the Derby, refusing to divulge the secret of its recipe. In 1947 he took it to General Mills in Minneapolis, and they paid him handsomely for the recipe. Lauched as the first new cake idea in a hundred years," this is the famous Cake, which differs only slightly from the Brown Derby favorite."
---The Brown Derby Cookbook [Doubleday & Company:Garden City NY] 1949 (p. 6)
[NOTE: The chiffon cake recipe from this book is included in these notes, see below.]

"Chiffon. A very light, sweet, fluffy filing for pie, cake or pudding. The word is from the French meaning "rag"...Chiffon pie is first mentioned in American print in 1929...The 1931 edition of Irma S. Rombauer's Joy of Cooking gave a recipe for lemon chiffon, and the Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Cook Book (1975) says that "chiffon cake was invented by a professional baker and introduced in May 1948. Made with cooking oil instead of solid shortening and beaten--not creamed--this light cake was the first new cake to have been developed in one hundred years of baking." Other authorities, however, credit an amateur baker with creating the confection in 1927."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Freidman:New York] 1999 (p. 74)

"...chiffon cake, invented in the 1920s by Harry Baker, a Los Angeles insurance salesman turned Hollywood caterer. Baker sold the formula to General Mills in the 1940s. The secret of Baker's formula was cooking oil, a then unheard-of ingredient in cake."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, volume 1 (p. 163)

"Chiffon Cake. "The first really new cake in 100 years!" trumpeted Better Homes and Gardens which introduced the cake in its May 1948 issue. Neither a sponge cake nor a butter cake, chiffon cake used the newly popular salad oil and was beaten rather than creamed. The cake was invented by a California salesman named Harry Baker in 1927. Although he kept the recipe a secret for many years, the cake became famous in Hollywood where Mr. Baker made it for celebrity parties. He finally sold the recipe to General Mills in 1947--which posted gains of 20 percent on sales of cake flour after the recipe was published. Just about every flavor was popular in chiffon cakes, with lemon and orange leading the pack."
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovgren [MacMillan:New York] 1995 (p. 154)

"In the late 20s, word trickled out of California of a high-rising new cake that melted in your mouth. It's creator, a Los Angeles insurance salesman and hobby cook named Harry Baker, was soon baking his "chiffon cake" for fancy Hollywood functions as well as for the Brown Derby restaurants. But he wouldn't divulge his recipe until General Mills paid him for it in 1947. The "secret ingredient," it turned out, was vegetable oil. General Mills home economists went to work fine-tuning Baker's chiffon cake recipe, experimenting with different flavors. The company printed the basic recipe...in a leaflet in 1948 and again in 1950 in Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, calling this the "first new cake in a hundered years" and describing it as "light as angel food, rich as butter cake."
---American Century Cookbook, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 451)

Selected recipes

[1948]
"You can bake this new cake 4 ways
"Have you tried the new cake? It's not a sponge cake, not a butter cake But a tender, airy combination of the two, called chiffon cake. We've been busy with both hand and beater and electric mixer in the Tasting-Test Kitchen--making this latest cook's wonder in new shapes and sizes, with new flavors, and with both enriched and cake flour. The method of mixing is so different, we will show you photographs from the time we pick up the flour sifter to the moment the cake comes out of the oven. Prop the pictures along side your mixing bowl and bake a Maple Crunch Cake, Pineapple Daisy Cake, or Golden Lemon Cake...Bake it big...Large recipe of new cake fills 9- by 12-inch pan. Trim with posies...Or cut Nut Bars: Dip in thin icing, then nuts. Ice Cream Cake: Cut 1/2 inch-slice as one on board. Toothpick in circle. Fill with ice cream; drizzle with chocolate sauce. Funny-Man Sundae: Cut cake with cooky cutter. Top with ice cream. Eyes are raisins; nose and mouth, cherry; hat, apricot and gumdrop... Bake it angel-size...Large recipe fills your 10-inch angel-cake pan. This is our favorite--Pineapple Daisy Cake. Pineapple juice is used for the liquid. The big cake looks like an angel, below, cuts like a butter cake. Frosting on cake, left, is Pineapple Butter Cream--bits if juicy pineapple in a creamy, rich confectioners' sugar frosting that goes on in soft swirls. Daisies decorate the top and the crystal plate...Bake it square...large recipe makes two 8- or 9-inch layers. Or if you want to make just one layer, we give you a small-size recipe...Baked, its the beginning for a spring shortcake or a Washington Pie. Strawberry Cream Cake, left: Top the cake square with whipped cream or ice cream. Fill the center with big, sugared strawberries...
Golden Lemon Cake
Bake in 8- or 9-inch square cake pan
1 1/8 cups cake flour (1 cup plus two tablespoons)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup salad oil
2 unbeaten egg yolks
3/8 cup cold water (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 cup egg whites (4)
1/4 teaspoon
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Bake in moderate oven 350 degrees F. 30 to 35 minutes. Or bake in 5-by 10- by 3-inch loaf pan in moderately slow overn (325) 45 to 55 minutes.
Pineapple Daisy Cake
Bake in 10-inch angel-cake or 9-by 13- by 2-inch pan
1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup salad oil
5 unbeaten egg yolks
3/4 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
1 cup egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
Bake in 10-inch tube pan in moderately slow oven (325) 55 minutes, then in moderate oven (350) 10 minutes. Or bake in 9- by 13- by 2 inch pan in moderate oven (350) 45 minutes. Frost cool cake with Pineapple Butter Cream Icing: Cream 1/2 cup butter or fortified margarine and 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar. Stir in 6 tablespoons well-drained crushed pineapple and 1 to 2 tablespoons pineapple juice. Beat thoroly.
Maple Crunch Cake
Bake in 5- by 10- by 3-inch loaf pan
1 cup enriched flour
3/8 cup granulated sugar (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons)
3/8 cup brown sugar (packed in cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup salad oil
3 unbeaten egg yolks (medium
3/8 cup cold water
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
1/2 cup egg whites (4)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup very finely chopped pecans or California walnuts
Bake in moderately slow oven (325) 50 to 55 minutes. Spread cool cake with Browned Butter Icing: Melt 1/4 cup butter; keep over low heat until golden brown. Blend in 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, 2 tablespoons cream, 1 teaspoon salad oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1 tablespoon hot water. Stir until cool and consistency to spread."
How to make the new cake, step by step
1. Sift flour. Spoon lightly into measuring cup. Level with a straight knife. Set sifter over big bowl. Add measured flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, sift. Maple Crunch Cake: Mix brown sugar with dry ingredients after they are sifted.
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients. Into the well in this order put the salad oil, egg yolks, liquid, vanilla or other flavoring, and grated peel.
3. Beat with a spoon or electric mixer (use low to medium speed. Beat until satin smooth. Notice how smooth the batter looks in the photograph.
4. Pick your largest mixing bowl. Measure in egg whites. Add cream of tartar. For beating, you can use a rotary beater, electric mixer, or wire whip.
5. Beat the egg whites until they form very stiff peaks. They should be stiffer than for pie meringue or angel cake. Check the egg whites you've been whipping for those in photograph. Note how small peaks hold their shape."
---You can bake this new cake 4 ways," Tasting-Test Kitchen Staff, Better Homes and Gardens, May 1948 (p. 66+)
[1949]
Here are the Chiffon Cakes, mentioned in Chapter 1, which were first introduced at the original Derby more than twenty years ago
"Basic Chiffon Cake, Serves 16-20
2 1/4 cups sifted Softasilk Cake Flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Wesson or Mazola Oil
5 medium-sized egg yolks, unbeaten
3/4 cup cold water
2 tsp. Vanilla
Grated rind 1 lemon (optional)
7 or 8 egg whites
1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar
Sift flour onto paper, then measure. Sift together into mixing bowl the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center of ingredients and add, one at a time, oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla, and lemon. Beat with wooden spoon until smooth. Place egg whites and cream of tartar in large mixing bowl and whip until whites form very stiff peaks. Do not underbeat, as this must be much stiffer than for angel food or meringue. Pour egg-yolk mixture gradually over whipped egg whites, gently folding batter into whites with rubber scraper or heavy spoon until mixture is just blended. Do not stir. Pour into ungreased pan immediately. Bake in a 10-in. Tube, 4 in. deep, for 55 minutes at 325 degrees F. And then for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. If a 9 X 13 X 2-in. Oblong pan is used, bake in 350 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes. Cake is done when top springs back when lightly touched. Remove pan and immediately turn upside down, placing tube part over neck of funnel or bottle to cool. If loaf pans are used, turn upside down and rest edges on 2 other pans. Allow cake to hand, free of table, until cold. Loosen from sides of tube with spatula, turn pan over, and hit edge sharply on table to loosen."
---The Brown Derby Cookbook [Doubleday & Company:Garden City,NY] 1949 (p. 231)
[NOTE: the other recipes in this book are for Orange, Chocolate and Walnut Chiffon cake.]
[1949]
"Fudge Chiffon Cake
Make it light! Make it right with this Betty Crocker recipe and dainty Wesson Oil!
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Mix 3/4 cup boiling water with 1/2 cup cocoa. Cool.
Step 1 Measure (level) and sift together 1 3/4 cups sifted Softasilk cake flour (spoon lightly, don't pack), 1 3/4 cups sugar, 3 tsp. Baking powder, 1 tsp. Salt
Make a well and add in order: 1/2 cup Wesson Oil, 7 unbeaten egg yolks (medium) the cooled cocoa mixture, 1 tsp. Vanilla, 14 tsp. Red coloring (optional)
Step 2 Whip to form very stiff peaks: 1 cup egg whites (7 or 8), 1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar. Do not underbeat.
Step 3 Pour Wesson Oil mixture gradually over whipped egg whites, gently folding with rubber scraper just until blended. Do not stir. Pour immediately into ungreased 10-in. Tube pan, 4-in. Deep. Bake 55 min. At 325 degrees, then 10 to 15 min. At 350, or until top springs back when lightly touched. Immediately turn pan upside down, placing tube-part over neck of a bottle. Let hang, free of table, until cold. Loosen sides and tube with spatula. Turn pan over; hit edge sharply on table to loosen. 16 to 20 servings. Extra luscious with:
Fudge Icing: Melt 3 tbsp. Vegetable shortening (such as nbowdrift) or butter, and 3 one-oz. Squares of unsweetened choclate over hot water. Stir 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar and 1/2 tsp. Salt into 5 tbsp. Hot milk. Add melted chocolate, beat well. Add 1 tsp. Vanilla. Add 1 more tbsp. Hot milk if needed."
---"Betty Crocker's Newest Chiffon!," New York Times, February 13, 1949 (p. SM 51)
[1951]
"Chiffon Cake
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup Mazola Salad Oil
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup egg whites (7 to 8)
Mix and sift first four ingredients. Make a well and add in order, Mazola Salad Oil, egg yolks, water, lemon rind and vanilla. Beat with spoon until smooth. Add cream of tartar to egg whites. Beat until egg whites form very stiff peaks. Gently fold first mixture into egg whites until well blended. Fold, do not stir. Turn batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees F.) 70 to 75 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lighty with finger. Immediately invert pan over funnel or bottle to cool. Let stand until cold. To remove from pan loosen sides with spatula. Frost with Berry or Orange icing. For 9-inch tube cake use 1/2 the above recipe; prepare as directed. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees F.) 1 hour, or until done."
---Mazola Menu Magic [Corn Products Refining Company:New York] 1951 (p. 17)
[1956]
"Chiffon Cake.
Light as angel food, rich as butter cake. "It's the first thing I think of when planning a party," says Dorothy Quinn..."It's so easy to make, everyone likes it, and it can be served in so many glamorous ways."
Set out but do not grease....10 X 13" tube pan or 13X9" oblong pan
Sift together into bowl...1 1/4 cups sifted Softasilk or 2 cups Gold Medal flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2 tsp. Baking powder, 1 tsp. Salt
Make a "well" and add in order...1/2 cup cooking (salad) oil, 5 egg yolks, unbeaten (if you use Softasilk) or 7 egg yolks (if you use Gold Medal Flour), 3/4 cup cold water, 2 tsp. Vanilla, 2 tsp. Grated lemon rind
Beat with spoon until smooth
Then measure into large mixing bowl...1 cup egg whites (7 or 8), 1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar
Beat until whites from very stiff peaks. Pour egg yolk mixture gradually over beaten whites, gently folding with rubber scraper just until blended. Pour into ungreased pan. Bake until top springs back when lightly touched. Invert on funnel. Let hang until cold.
Temperature and Time:
Make 10" tube at 325 degrees F. For 55 min., then at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 min. Bake oblong cake at 350 degrees F. For 50 to 55 mins."
---Betty Crocker's Picture Cook Book, Revised and Enlarged, 2nd edition [McGraw Hill:New York] 1956 (p. 162)
[NOTE: This book also offers chiffon cake recipes for Maple pecan, Butterscotch, Orange, Chocolate chip, Spice, Bit O'Walnut, Holiday fruit, Mahogany (with chocolate), Peppermint, Cherry-Nut and Banana.]
[1957]
"Lovelight Chocolate Chiffon Cake
1 3/4 sifted Softasilk [flour]
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cooking (salad) oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, separated
2 sq. Unsweetened chocolate (2 oz), melted
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. (Mod.). Grease and flour two 8 or 9 X 1 1/2 layer pans or 13X9" oblong an. Sift into bowl flour, 1 cup sugar, soda, salt. Add oil, 1/2 cup buttermilk. Beat 1 min. Add rest of buttermilk, egg yolks, chocolate. Beat 1 min. Fold in very stiff meringue of egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar. Pour into pans. Bake 8" layers 30 to 35 min., 9" layers 25 to 30 min., oblong 40 to 45 min."
---Betty Crocker's Softasilk Special Occasion Cakes [General Mills:Minneapolis]1957 (p. 11)
[NOTES: (1) This booklet also contains recipes for Mahogany and Yellow Chiffon cakes, iced with Brown Beauty, Cocoa Fluff or Peppermint Cream toppings. (2) General Mills also manufactured Wesson Oil]
[1962]
"Chocolate Chiffon Cake
1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 egg yolks
3/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup egg white (9-10)
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, the sugar and cocoa into a large bowl. Make a well in the center and in it put the oil, egg yolks, water and vanilla. Beat until thoroughly blended. Beat together the egg whites, salt and remaining cream of tartar until very stiff. Fold into the chocolate mixture carefully but thoroughly. Pour into a 10-inch tube pan. Bake 1 hour and 10 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean. Invert and let cool in the pan (upside down) for 2 hours. (If tube pan doesn't have legs to keep top of cake away from a rack, put the center part in a bottle. Air must circulate.) Run a spatula around the edges and center tube, then turn out."
---Cakes, Cookies, and Pastries, Myra Waldo [Galahad Books:New York] 1962 (p. 20)

What about Chiffon Pie?

Coffee cake

Coffee cake (also sometimes known as Kuchen or Gugelhupf) was not invented. It evolved...from ancient honey cakes to simple French galettes to medieval fruitcakes to sweet yeast rolls to Danish, cakes made with coffee to mass-produced pre-packaged treats.

Food historians generally agree the concept of coffee cake [eating sweet cakes with coffee] most likely originated in Northern/Central Europe sometime in the 17th century. Why this place and time? These countries were already known for their traditional for sweet yeast breads. When coffee was introduced to Europe (see notes below) these cakes were a natural accompaniment. German, Dutch, and Scandinavian immigrants brought their coffee cake recipes with them to America.
The first coffee cake-type foods were more like bread than cake. They were simple concoctions of yeast, flour, eggs, sugar, nuts, dried fruit and sweet spices. Over time, coffee cake recipes changed. Sugared fruit, cheese, yogurt and other creamy fillings are often used in today's American coffee cake recipes.

"Much of the American appetite for sweet rolls and cakes comes from these specific Germans as well as from the Holland settlements that had so much influence on early New York, New Jersey, and Delaware. All of those colonial cooks made fruity, buttery breakfast or coffee cakes from recipes that vary only slightly from methods used in the twentieth century. They also share some of the responsibility for the national zest for doughnuts..."
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones, 2nd edition [Vintage Books:New York] 1981 (p. 91)

"...Scandinavians were perhaps more responsible than anyone else for making America as coffee-break-conscious as it is, and for perfecting the kind of food that goes well with coffee. German women had already brough the Kaffeeklatcsh to their frontier communities, but it was in the kitchens where there was always a pot brewing on the back of the stove that Scandinavian hospitality and coffee became synonymous...The term coffee klatch became part of the language, and its original meaning--a moment that combined gossip with coffee drinking--was changed to define the American version of England's tea, a midmorning or midafternoon gathering at which to imbibe and ingest....Like the cooks from Central Europe, most Scandinavian cooks have prided themselves on simple forms of pastry making that include so called coffee breads, coffee cakes, coffee rings, sweet rolls, and buns..."
---ibid (p. 163)

According to the book Listening to America, Stuart Berg Flexner, it wasn't until 1879 that the term "coffee cake" became a common term. Historic American cook books bear this out. We find plenty of early American recipes for tea cakes, but the oldest recipes we find for "coffee cake" were published in the last quarter of the 19th century. Curiously enough, these cakes listed coffee as an ingredient!

Coffee cake recipes through time

[1877] Buckeye Cookery, Estelle Woods Wolcox
[1884] Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln
[1896] Boston School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer

Recipes for coffee cake [as we know it today] begin to appear in American cookbooks the turn of the 20th Century.

[1909] Coffee Cake.
Enough for 2 Cakes.
3 1/2-4 cups of flour, 1 pt. of milk, 1/4 lb of butter, 1/2 grated lemon rind, 1/4 lb of sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cent yeast.
Preparation: The milk is made lukewarm and stirred to a smooth batter with 1 1/4 cups of flour, then the yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup of lukewarm milk is mixed in quickly and put in a warm place to rise. After the sponge has risen well, mix in the melted butter, sugar, grated lemon rind, the eggs and the rest of the flour, stir the dough a while with a spoon. Butter 2 tins and put in the dough about 1 inch thick, then set to rise, after this strew on sugar, cinnamon and put on small pieces of butter and some chopped almonds. Bake in medium hot oven to a nice color.
Streusel coffee cake
Preparation of the Streusel.
A piece of butter the size of an egg, 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup of ground almonds, yeast dough like No. 8 [above coffee cake].
Preparation: The dough is prepared as given under No. 8, Coffee Cake. Instead of strewing on sugar, cinnamon and pieces of butter you make sugar crumbs as following: Melt the butter, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and almonds with it and rub to crumbs with the hands. Sprinkle over the cakes before baking."
---The Art of German Cooking and Baking, Mrs. Lina Meier [Wetzel Bros.:Milwaukee WI] 1909 (p. 335-6)

Did you know kuchen is the state dessert of South Dakota?

Crumb cake & Streusel
"Crumble is the name of a simple topping spread instead of pastry on fruit pies of the dish type with no bottom crust, such as are popular in Britain. Recipes for crumble do not appear in old books of English recipes, nor is it recorded until the 20th century. Crumble is much quicker and easier to make than pastry and it seems probable that it developed during the Second World War. It is like a sweet pastry made without water. The ingredients of a modern crumble are flour, butter, and sugar; a little spice is sometimes added...The butter is cut into the dry ingredients, and the mixture spooned onto the pie filling without further preparation...Crumble may have been inspired by a similar cinnamon-flovoured topping traditional in Australia and Central Europe for a rich tea bread or cake. The topping is called Streusel, and the cake Streuselkuchen (German streusen, to scatter). Streusel contains much less flour in proportion to sugar than British crumble, so that when baked it has a crisp and granular rather than crumbly texture, and remains firmly attached to the top of the cake. It is spread over a coating of melted butter on the raw cake, which helps it to adhere."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 230)

"Streusel. A crumb topping of flour, butter, and spices that is sprinkled and baked on breads, cakes, and muffins (1925). The term is from the German, for "something strewn together," although these toppings are certainly of German origin, although they are sometimes referred to as "danish" or "Swedish."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 312)

A little bit of coffee history
"Coffee and coffeehouses reached Germany in the 1670s. By 1721 there were coffeehouses in most major German cities. For quite a while the coffee habit remained the province of the upper classes...By 1777 the hot beverage had become entirely too popular for Frederick the Great, who issued a manifesto in favor of Germany's more traditional drink [beer]...Four years later the king forbade coffee's roasting except in official government establishments, forcing the poor to resort to coffee substitutes, such as roast chickory root...They also managed to get hold of real coffee beans and roast them clandestinely, but government spies, pejoratively named 'coffee smellers' by the populace, put them out of business. Eventually coffee outlived all the efforts to stifle it in Germany. Frauen particularly loved the Kaffeeklatches, gossipy social interludes that gave the brew a more feminine image..."
---Uncommon Grounds : the history of coffee and how it transformed our world, Mark Pendergrast (p. 11-12)

Coffee in Europe

About galettes
The history of bread and cake starts with Neolithic cooks and marches through time according to ingredient availability, advances in technology, economic conditions, socio-cultural influences, legal rights (Medieval guilds), and evolving taste. Where does galette fit in? This is how the food historians sum it up:

"Galette. In Fance, galette is a general term for a 'round flat cake'. And not just any sweet cake, etiher (although one of the best known is the traditional puff-pastry galette des Rois, 'Kings' cake,' baked on Twelfth night), The word is also used for thin fried cakes made from potato, or for pancakes. It comes from Old French galet, 'pebble'."
---An A to Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 136)

"Galette. A flat, round cake of variable size. The galette probably dates from the Neolithic era when thick cereal pastes were cooked by spreading them out on hot stones. In ancient times people made galettes from oats, wheat, rye and even barley, sweetened with honey. Then came the hearth cakes of the Middle Ages and all the regional varieties: the galette of Correze, made with walnuts or chestnuts; the galette of Roussillon, made with crystallized (candied) fruits; the marzipan galette of the Nivernais; the curd cheese galette of the Jura; the puff pastry galette of Normandy, filled with jam and fresh cream; the famous galette of Perugia, a delicate yeasted pastry, like brioche, flavoured with lemon rind (zest) and topped with butter and sugar; and, of course, the traditonal puff pastry Twelfth Night cake (galette des Rois or gateau des Rois). Galettes are not always sweet. In rural France galettes are traditionally made with potatoes (finely sliced or pureed) or with cereals (maize, millet, oats.)."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 540)

"Galette. A flat, round cake; the word being derived from galet, a pebble weatherworn to the shape that is perfect for skipping. Buckwheat or maize crepes are also called galettes in some regions...As a cake, a galette is made of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs in infinite variations, or simply of puff pastry. The glowing galette des rois [in Britain known as twelfth night cake] found in Paris, Lyons, and generally north of the Loire is fashioned almost exclusively from the latter, the classic feuillatage. The kings' they honour are the three Wise Men come to pay homage to the newborn King of Kings in Bethlehem. The appear around the Feast of Epiphany."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 328-9)

Related food? King cake.

ABOUT DANISH
The history of cheese danish is most likely traced to ancient galettes (sweet yeast cakes) and mideastern baklava-type pastries. These foods were often filled with spiced fruits and soft cheese then topped with nuts. About cheesecake/cheese fillings.

"Danish pastries are rich confections based on a yeast dough with milk and egg, into which butter...has been folded by a method similar to that employed for making croissants...Of the various fillings, the most correct' must be the traditional Danish one, remonce; this is a Danish...term which means butter creamed with sugar and often almonds or marzipan too. But confections called Danish pastries are made in vast numbers outside Denmark, and common alternative fillings include differently flavoured sugar and butter mixtures, almond or hazelnut mixtures, jam, creme patrissiere--alone or in any combination, often with dried fruit or candied peel...The Danish name for Danish pastries is Weinerbrod, 'Vienna bread' (the name by which these recipes are known throughout Scandinavia an N. Germany, where they are also popular). "
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 242)

"The Danish pastry (for Danish, as it is often abbreviated in American English) is a comparatively recent introduction from continental patisserie; the first reference to it in English does not appear until 1934. And the connection of this rich confection of yeast dough with Denmark is fairly tenuous; it seems to have originated in Vienna, and the Austrians for some unexplained reason associated it with Scandinavia. The Danes, paradoxically, refer to it as Wienerbrod--'Viennese bread'."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 108)

"Danish pastry...A term encompassing a variety of yeast-dough pastries rolled and filled with cheese, prune, almond paste, fruit preserves, nuts or other condiments. These pastries are a staple breakfast item, especially on the East Coast, where one orders a "Danish" prefixed by the filling desired. Although the pastries may have danish origins, these flaky buns and rolls are more often associated with New York Jewish delicatessens and bakeries. With this meaning the word first appeared in print in 1928. In California Danish pastries are sometimes called "snails," because of their snaillike appearance."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 109)

"The Danes call the pastry Vienna bread because when the Danish bakers went on strike in the late nineteenth century, they were replaced by Viennese bakers who made a light, flaky pastry dough. When the Danish bakers returned to work, they adopted the dough, improving it by adding their own variations and fillings, and making it uniquely theirs." ---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst:New York] 1995 (p. 97-8)

ABOUT BEAR CLAWS
"Bear Claws wasn't the easiest recipe we've tested, but the results were well worth the effort -- we loved them and so will you. Bear claws are made with a sweet yeast dough or Danish pastry dough. Danish pastry comes in a variety of shapes and fillings. The bear claws we made are filled with dates, raisins and nuts. Why are they called Bear Claws? Three or four small cuts are made in the pastry. Gently bending and spreading the pastry forms a bear claw."
---"BEAR CLAWS AREN'T EASY, BUT THEY ARE DELICIOUS," Arlene Burnett, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 29, 2001, Pg. F-2,

"Bear claw. A large sweet pastry shaped like a bear's paw. 1942, San Francisco [Another variety of "snail" pastry], with raisin filling, is (from its shape) known as a "bear claw."
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederick G. Cassidy, chief editor [Belknap Press:Cambridge MA] 1985 , Volume I (p. 186)

Then? There's this:

"Isleta bread. A Pueblo Indian bread shaped like a bear's claw, hence the alternate names "bear claw" or "paw bread."

---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 168) Related foods? Kolache & Kuchen

Lane cake Lane cake is a traditional favorite of the American South. Who invented it, when, and why?

"Lane Cake. A layer cake with a fluffy frosting and containing coconut, chopped fruits and nuts in the filling. The cake was named after Emma Rylander Lane of Clayton, Alabama, who published the original recipe under the name "Prize Cake" in her cookbook Some Good Things to Eat (1898). But, according to Cecily Brownstone, author of the Associated Press Cookbook (1972) and friend of Mrs. Lane's granddaughter, the original recipe is very imprecise. In various forms it has become popular throughout the South."
---Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 181)

Who was Emma Rylander Lane?

"This is cake season, as Valentine’s Day approaches, and for the past few days, I’ve been immersed in 19th-century sweetness. The folks at Auburn University asked me to write about an iconic Southern cake for The Encyclopedia of Alabama, so I’ve been reacquainting myself, of late, with the work of Emma Rylander Lane, who died in 1904. Mrs. Lane wasn’t a self-promoter. She had to be convinced that her cake creation should bear her last name. At first, it was called the Prize cake, since it had captured first place in a baking contest at a county fair in Columbus, Georgia, where Mrs. Lane was demonstrating ranges. Her cake, Mrs. Lane wrote, was “named not from my own conceit, but through the courtesy of Mrs. Janie McDowell Pruett, of Eufaula, Ala.”...It’s a type of sponge cake, made in layers, with a filling of butter, raisins, and whiskey and a boiled, fluffy white frosting of water, sugar, and whipped egg white. For over a century, it has been a special occasion cake in the South and the pride of the state of Alabama. In addition to the richness of the ingredients, part of its allure is its flirtation with the forbidden. Especially in the dry counties of Alabama, feasting on a whiskey-laced dessert was an adventure on the wild side. Home bakers who have objected to the whiskey or brandy in the original recipe have substituted grape juice, especially for children’s birthdays...The recipe was first printed in Mrs. Lane’s book Some Good Things to Eat, which she self-published in 1898. It’s been modified in many ways over the years. Coconut, dried fruit, and nuts are common additions, but they are not included in the original recipe. Mrs. Lane instructed that the Lane cake be made not in cake pans but rather pie tins. She specified “one wine-glass of good whiskey or brandy” for the filling and insisted that the icing be tested with a clean spoon. The raisins were to be “finely clipped.” In Mrs. Lane’s day, her namesake cake would have been baked in a wood stove. “The layers make the cake, not the icing,” says Neil Ravenna, culinary instructor and chef at Miss Melissa’s Café in Moundville, Alabama. “The cake itself is made with egg whites, almost like a sponge cake, so it will soak up all the bourbon and all the other wonderfully tasting things in there.” Most bakers agree that the Lane cake is best if made a day or so in advance of serving, to allow those flavors to blend. In Alabama, and throughout the South, the baking of an elegant, scratch-made, laborious Lane cake is a sign that a noteworthy life event is about to be celebrated. Chef Ravenna shared Mrs. Lane’s recipe with me.

Lane Cake
8 egg whites, 1 cup butter, 1 cup sweet milk, 2 cups sifted sugar, 3 ¼ cups sifted flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1 tablespoon vanilla
Sift the flour and baking powder together three times. Cream the butter and sugar until perfectly light. Add to it alternately, a little at a time, milk and flour, until all are used, beginning and ending with flour. Last, beat in the well-whipped whites and vanilla. Bake in four layers, using medium-sized pie tins, with one layer of ungreased brown paper in the bottom of each tin. Filling: Beat well together 8 egg yolks, one large cup of sugar, and half a cup of butter. Pour into a small, deep stew pan and cook on top of the stove until quite thick, stirring all the time, or it will be sure to burn. When done and while still hot, put in one cup of seeded and finely clipped raisins, one wine-glass of good whiskey or brandy and one teaspoon of vanilla. Spread thickly between the layers and ice. It is much better to be made a day or two before using. Icing: White of 1 egg, 1 cup granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons boiling water. Put sugar into a perfectly clean, bright pan. Pour over it the boiling water, put it on a hot fire and stir carefully back and forth (not round and round as that will make the icing grain) until the sugar is all dissolved. Remove the spoon, wash it clean, dry it, and when the icing has boiled a few minutes dip up a spoonful, pour it back slowly and if it runs from the spoon in a fine thread it is done. Take it from the stove and pour slowly on the well-whipped egg white, beating carefully as you pour and continue beating until it is cool. Flavor to taste, and if the icing runs, put in a pinch of tartaric acid."
---Source.

Recipe evolution
According to the Dictionary of American Regional English (p. 287), the oldest print reference to "Lane Cake" is from 1951:
"Lane Cake. n. [Etym uncert, but see quot 1985] South, eps. AL, GA. A layer cake with a rich filling often including nuts, raisins, and brandy. 1951. Brown. Southern Cook Book 249, Mrs. Merrill's Lane Cake--Four layers--many Southerners claim this famous Lane Cake, which is simialr to the "Rocky Mountain Cake," made extensively in the Carolinas. The difference is in the filling. The Lane Cake has a rich egg-yolk filling with coconut, raisins, and nuts, while the filling for the Rocky Mountain Cake is generally white. it is said that this cake originated in Eufaula, Alabama...1985: WI Alumnus Letters, [Quoting Chicago Tribune article c. 1960;] Who really did invent Lane Cake and what is the original recipe? Emma Rylander Lane who lived in Clayton, Ala. wrote a cookbook called "A Few Good Things to Eat," published in 1898, which included MRs. Lane's "prize recipe,"...Lane cake was served at holiday teas when guests came visiting..."

Our survey of historic American newspapers and mainstream cookbooks reveals recipes titled "Lane Cake" garnered national noteriety in the 1950s. Even then, recipes were few & far between. Why? Possibly because this cake contains an alcoholic kick. Similarity in ingrediets and method suggests Lane Cake descended from popular 19th century White Mountain cakes. Popular period cakes containing alcohol were Fruitcakes (white & dark, brandy & other beverages added to batter & baked in cake. A Christmas holiday favorite) and Tipsy Cakes/Puddings (alcohol added after baking, to be soaked up in cake). Perhaps Mrs. Lane "married" the White Mountain (sponge) and the Tipsy (cream custard & alcohol) to enjoy the best of both recipes? This might also explain why Mrs. Lane instructed cooks to make this cake a day or two ahead for the flavors to mature. We wonder if the judges knew about this recipe's alcoholic content before they awarded it first prize.

Survey of historic recipes & notes

[1877]
White Mountain Cake (similar ingredients & proportions, no specified filling or alcohol):
[1885]
Tipsy cake
[1887]
White Mountain Cake (mentions cocoanut, no alcohol)
[1896]
Tipsy Pudding (custard cream & sherry poured over sponge cake)
[1952]
"Have you ever heard of a "Lane Cake"? It is a favorite down South and has coconut, nuts, and raisins in the filling. I would love to find a recipe for it...This famous cake is claimed by a lot of Southern States...and is similar to the "Rocky Mountain Cake" made in the Carolinas...
Lane Cake
Batter:
8 egg whites, stiffly beaten
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup sweet milk
3 1/2 cups flour
Pinch salt
2 teaspoons baking powder (more if larger amount of flour is used)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift flour, salt, and baking powder together 4 or 5 times. The more the flour is sifted, the lighter the cake. Cream butter and sugar together until foamy. (If sugar is sifted, the cake is better.) Add to butter-sugar mixture the flour and milk alternately, using a little of each. Begin with flour and end using flour. Add vanilla and, lastly, fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in four 8-inch layer-cake pans or three larger pans which have greased brown paper fitted in the bottom. After pans have been greased and floured, bake in 375 degree oven for 30 to 35 minutes, depending on thickness of the layers. Allow cake to set in pans for few minutes, turn out, and fill with the following:
Filling:
8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup raisins, seeded chopped
1 1/2 cups freshly grated coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or other nuts
Pinch salt
1 cup brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat the egg yolks until lemon colored. Add sugar, salt, and continue beating until mixture is light. Melt butter in top of double boiler and add egg-sugar mixture; stir constantly until thickens. Remove from heat; stir in the raisins, coconut, nuts, brandy, and vanilla. Let cool; spread between layers; then ice the whole cake with a white boiled vanilla icing."
---"Lots of Southern States Claim Recipe Rights To This Famous Cake," Ask Anne, Washington Post, February 13, 1952 (p. B6)
"There are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with butter," the old lady of the mountains used to say. There are also more ways of making any one dish than this column could print in a month of Sundays. Recently, we ran a recipe for Lane Cake, oen contributed to "The Southern Cook Book," (University of North Carolina Press) by a lady in Eufaula, Ala. It immediately brought forth this protest from--guess where?--Eufaula, Ala.! Dear Anne: I have just had a letter from my sister, Anne, who lives in Washington. She enclosed a clipping from your column about the famous Lane Cake from the South. She was distressed (and so was I) that the sender of the recipe didn't give the one we used down here in Eufaula, Ala., Barbour County. For generations, this recipe has been handbed down from mother to daughter. An old story goes that Mrs. Lane who lived in Clayton, Ala., made up the recipe. It is as "Christmassy" as the smilax and the holly wreath. Lane Cake is always served with the Christmas egg nog. Here is the recipe used in my famiily for generations. You'll find not cocoanut or brandy in it. Bourbon is what makes Lane Cake tick!
Lane Cake
Whites of 8 eggs, beaten stiff
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 cups sifted flour
1 cup sweet milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 heaping teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
Cream butter well, add sugar, then the liquid and sifted dry ingredients, alternately. Fold in egg whites. Bake in three layers.
Filling: Beat yolks of 8 eggs light. Add 1 cup sugar, 1 stick of butter, softened, 1 cup raisins, and 1 cup shelled pecans. Stir all together and cook until thick in double boiler. Just before filling is done, add 3/4 cup bourbon whiskey. Spread between layers. Cover cake wtih white icing. C.S.G. "The Little Brown House," Eufaula, Ala."
---"Eufaula, Ala., Registers a Protest About recipes for its Famous Lane Cake," Ask Anne, Washington Post, March 2, 1952 (p. S4)
[1955]
"Lane Cake
Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
8 egg whties-beaten
1 tablespoon vanilla
Directions (Makes two 10-inch layers or one tube cake)
Cream butter and sugar together until very ligth. Sift dry ingredients together four times. Add milk to creamed mixture, alternately with the flour. Add vanilla to egg whites and fold into mixture. Bake in two 10-inch layer pans or one tube oan in 350F degree oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until cake springs to touch. Test with straw.
Lane Cake Filling
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
7 egg yolks-beaten
1 cup raisins-chopped
1 cup nut meats-chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 wineglass brandy
Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg yolks and cook in double boiler, stirring ingredients to mixture while it is still hot. Add brandy to mixture and spread over the cake."
---Duncan Hines Dessert Book [Pocket Books:New York] 1955 (p. 65)

Lane Cake reference in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Food historians trace the recipe for Lane Cake to 1898, although cakes with this actual name date in print only to 1951. Harper Lee, writing in 1959, would likely be familiar with this cake. So would most Americans at that time. While the recipe is period-correct in the 1930s, the name is not.

"In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Monroeville, Alabama, native Harper Lee, when Aunt Alexandra comes to live with the Finch family, Miss Maudie Atkinson bakes a Lane cake to welcome her. Noting the cake’s alcoholic kick, the character Scout remarks, “Miss Maudie baked a Lane cake so loaded with shinny it made me tight.” “Shinny” is a slang term for liquor."
---Source.

Marble cake

The first references we find to "marble cake" (light and dark cakes mixed to effect the marble pattern) are from the last quarter of the 19th century. There are several variations on this theme. Harlequin cakes (in checkerboard patterns) take this cake to the next level.

"The cookbook evidence suggests that Victorian American women served cake in the same basic ways that their mothers and grandmothers had. For desserts, women generally baked cake in square pans or "in sheets" and served it in cut squares on cake plates or in pierced-silver cake baskets...Much grander party cakes were required for this new age, and they promptly materialized. First was the marble cake, a logical extension of the American fascination with cake color. When marble cake first appeared, its dark swirls were produced through the addition of molasses, spice, and, in some recipes, raisins or currants. The simpler recipes were prepared using a single whole-egg batter, half of it darkened, but more ambitious recipes produced a more dramatic effect by making use of separate silver and gold batters, the latter darkened. Other bicolored cakes soon entered the scene. Hard-money cake was made by swirling silver and gold batters."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 1 (p. 162)

Recipes through time

[1871]
"Marble Cake.
One pound each of sugar, flour and butter, the whites of sixteen eggs, quarter of a pound of bleached and split almonds, half of a citron sliced and sufficient cochineal (which should be procured at confectioner's, as that prepared by druggists is not so suitable); cream together the buttter and flour; beat together very light the egg-whites and sugar; put all together and beat thoroughly; color onte-third of the batter any shade you like; put well-greased tissue-paper around the mould, then put in half of the white batter, a layer of citron and almonds, the colored batter, another layer of citron and almonds, and the remainder of white batter; bake in a moderate oven."
---Mrs. Porters' New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M.E. Porter, c. 1871, introduction and suggested recipes by Louis Szathmary [Promontory Press:New York] 1974 (p. 219-220)
[1877]
"Marble Cake"
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Esther Woods Wilcox
[1889]
"Marble Cake.
White part.--Whites of four eggs, one cup of white sugar, half a cup of butter, half a cup of sweet milk, two teaspoonfuls fo baking-powder, one teaspoonful of vanilla or lemon, and two and a half cups of sifted flour.
Dark part.---Yolks of four eggs, one cup of brown sugar, half a cup of cooking molasses, half a cup of butter, half a cup of sour milk, one teaspoonful of ground cloves, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, one teaspoonful of mace, one nutmeg grated, one teaspoonful of soda, the soda to be dissolved in a little milk and added after a part of the flour is stirred in; one and a half cups of sifted flour.
Drop a spoonful of each kind in a well-buttered cake-dish, first the light part then the dark, alternately. Try to drop it so that the cake shall be well-streaked through, so that it has the appearance of marble."
---White House Cook Book, Mrs. F.L. Gillette [J.A. Hill:New York] 1889 (p. 261-2)
[1901]
"Marble Cake.
White Part.--Whites of 7 eggs, 3 cups white sugar, 1 of butter, 1 of sour milk, 4 of flour sifted and heaping, 1 teaspoon soda; flavor to taste.
Dark Part.---Yolks of 7 eggs, 3 cups brown sugar, 1 of butter, 1 of sour milk, 4 of flour, sifted and heaping, 1 tablespoon each of cinnamon, allspice and cloves, 1 teaspoon soda; put in pans a spoonful of white part and then a spoonful of dark, and so on. Bake an hour and a quarter. The white and dark parts are alternated."
---The Woman's Exchange Cook Book, Mrs. Minnie Palmer [W.B. Conkey Company:Chicago] 1901 (p. 232)
[1921]
"Marble Cake
3/4 cup of butter or shortening
2 cups sugar. 1 cup milk.
3 eggs. 3 cups flour.
3 teaspoons baking powder.
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. 1/4 cup cocoa.
Cream the sugar and shortening together; add the well-beaten yolks of eggs and beat until very light; add the milk slowly to the mixture. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add half, then half the whites of eggs, which have been beaten until dry, also the remainder of flour and hwites of eggs. Divide into two parts. To the one part you add the sifted cocoa and cinnamon; mix well. Brush pan with melted shortening and dust with flour and put in first a spoonful of the dark and then a spoonful of the light dough. As there is a difference in the flours, it may be necssary to add 1/2 cup of flour to the light mixture. Your mixture must be stiff before putting in pan. Bake in moderate oven 40 minutes. It can be iced if desired."
---
Mrs. Scott's North American Seasonal Cook Book, Mrs. Anna B. Scott [John C. Winston Company:Philadelphia] 1921 (p. 45)
[1941]
"Straight to our kitchen from Mrs. Alcott's old home in New England came the receipt for Marble Cake, and it was tested faithfully and given a place in Mother's collection of cakes suitable for company, and extra nice for family fare. Mrs. Alcott herself made it on several occasions, with Emily as helper and the rest of us, more or less, hanging over the mixing bowls and spoons. Marble Cake was made in two parts, which was novel and interesting. One was light, the other dark, and the batters were arranged in the baking pan by large spoonfuls, light and dark alternating, and the cake was baked in a moderate oven about three quarters of an hour. Mrs. Alcott confessed it was the one and only cake she could make successfully, as dressmaking was her forte; but she was so neat-handed and skillful, and her Marble Cake was so delicious that we decided she was entirely too humble. But here is her receipt:
Marble Cake
Light Part
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour
4 egg whites
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Dark Part
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups flour
2 squares cooking chocolate
4 egg yolks
Dash of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Each part of the cake was mixed separately, flour sifted with the leavening, butter and sugar creamed, and so on. The chocolate was melted in a small saucepan set in a larger one of hot water. When Mrs. Alcott became spooning the batters in the pan, first a spoonful or two of light, then one of dark, it was quite exciting, but it was even more exciting when she took her loaves from the oven, fragrant and delicious, and iced them. The operation went something like this: first a thick white coating of frosting was applied evenly all over the top and sides, and the cake was set aside to dry. Then she would drizzle melted chocolate all over it in streaks, in order further to carry out the marble effect. At times, if the white icing had not entirely set, the chocolate would blend into it in a very realistic way, which was greatly admired."
---Victorian Cakes, Caroline B. King [Caxton Printers:Caldwell, ID] 1941 (p. 120-1)

Pavlova

Both Australia and New Zealand claim Pavlova as their own. Which is correct? That's still a topic of debate. Both sides agree that the cake was named after Anna Pavlova, a famous Russian ballerina. Notes here:

"Pavlova, a type of meringue cake which has a soft marshmallow centre, achieved by the addition of a little cornflour and teaspoonful or so of vinegar and teaspoonful or lemon juice to the meringe mixture after the sugar is folded in...The pavlova has been described as Australia's national dish, but it is also claimed by New Zealand. According to the Australian claim, it was invented in 1935 by Herbert Sachse, an Australian chef, and named by Harry Narin of the Esplanade Hotel, Perth, after Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina who visited both countries in 1926. The built-up sides of the pavlova are said to suggest a tutu. The Australian author Symons concedes that the actual product had made a prior appearance in New Zealand, but suggests that its naming was an Australian act. On the New Zealand side, however, Helen Leach has marshalled evidence to show that:
*The name pavlova was being used in New Zealand as early as 1927, and the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] points out, but that this use referred to a different dessert, whose connection with New Zealand is anyway uncertain;
*the large soft-centered meringue cake which is the pavlova had been developed in New Zealand by 1934 (or possibly earlier), although it was not at first called pavlova; but
*the name and the dish were put together in New Zealand at some time before 1935, thus antedating the Australian activity."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 585, 587)
[NOTE: The Symons book referenced above is One Continuous Picnic, Michael Symons [Penguin:Victoria] 1982 (p. 147-152).]

"It is a well-known fact, and source of heated nationalistic debate, that both Australia and New Zeland lay claim to the invention of the pavlova cake. For over half a century, the dish bearing this name has taken the form of a large, soft-centred meringue, usually topped with cream and fresh fruit. The West Australian chef, Herbert Sachse, claimed to have invented it in 1935, a statement whcih has been thoroughly researched by Michael Symons...New Zealand does not acknowledge a single creator, but was certainly using the name pavlova and making large soft-centred meringues before 1935. The New Zealand evidence is not straightforward, however, and in the interests of historical accuracy (if not trans-Tasman relations), Symons' conclusion as set out below, deserves some reconsideration:

"We can concede that New Zealanders discovered the delights of the large meringue with the marshmallow centre', the heart of the pavlova. But is seems reasonable to assume that someone in Perth attached the name of the ballerina. As Bert Sachse implied, he distilled, or codified, a widespread New Zealand idea, to which was added a catchy name, and all of this was legitimate, common and like the crystallising of genius."

...Of course meringues are a European, not an Australasian invention...The New Larousse Gastronomique attributes them to a Swiss pastry-cook, Gasparini, who invented the small meringue in 1720 in the town of Mehrinyghen, but since the word meringue predates 1720 (OED), the origns of both word and food item clearly need further investigation. The larger meringue cake may have been a nineteenth-century development....It is now clear that New Zealand has won this particular contest, using the name pavlova by 1927, developing the large soft-centred meringue by at least 1934, and putting the name and dish together at about the same time, which was definately before 1935...The evolution of the modern pavlova from the 1920s meringue cake required several transformations:

a shift towards top decoration with cream and fruit, eventually replacing the layered filling;
a change in egg white and sugar proportions and the intorduction of cournflour and vinegar, to promote the soft centre;
the abandonment of the tin in favor of cooking on greaseproof or baking paper alone.

These changes occurred between 1927 and 1950. Simultaneously the name pavlova shifted in its references from a moulded gelatine dish, to small coffee and walnut meringues, to the large soft-centred meringue cake...A simplistic conclusion to this research would be to accuse the late Mr. Sachse of plagiarism. Since we now know that New Zealand cooks applied the name pavlova to the soft-centred meringue cake before 1935, and since Michael Symons established the fact from Sachse's wife that he read women's magazines which contained New Zealand recipe contributions, the case for his creative crystallising of genius' can be strongly challenged. In such a conclusion, all the ingredents are present to stir up national outrage yet again, with the added spice of gender exploitation, and of rivalry between professionals and amateurs...My preferred, more diplomatic conclusion is that we are dealing with a case of convergent cultural evolution."
---"The Pavlova Cake: the Evolution of a National Dish," Helen M. Leach, Food on the Move: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery, Harlan Walker editor [Prospect Books:Devon] 1996 (p. 219-223)

Pavlova origins [New Zealand]

Pavlova origins [Australia]
"The famous Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova toured Australia twice, the second time in 1929 including Perth in her itinerary. While there she stayed at the Esplanade Hotel, one of the leading establishments in the city. Six years late in 1935 Elizabeth Paxton, owner of the hotel, requested her chef create some delicacies to attract the ladies of Perth to the Esplanade for afternoon tea. So it was that Herbert Sachse, born on the goldfields of Western Australia, failed wheat farmer turned cook, came to invent the meringue cake which is now recognised as Australia's national dessert. When the cake was presented, the hotel manager Harry Nairn declared that it was as "light as Pavlova," and the name stuck."How to Cook a Galah, Laurel Evelyn Dyson [Lothian:Melbourne Australia] 2002 (p. 160)

Pineapple upside-down cake

The history of pineapple upside-down cake is an educated guess for most food historians. Culinary evidence (cookbooks & magazines published in the United States) confirms pineapple was a readily available and very popular ingredient in the 1920s. This also happens to coincide with the popularity of the maraschino cherry. Details here:

"Pineapple upside-down cake
Food historians agree that pineapple upside-down cake belongs to the twentieth century but are not so certain about the decade. According to John Mariani's (The Dictionary of American Food and Drink, Revised Edition, 1994), "The first mention in print of such a cake was in 1930, and was so listed in the 1936 Sears Roebuck catalog, but the cake is somewhat older." In Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads (1995), Sylvia Lovegren traces pineapple upside-down cake to a 1924 Seattle fund-raising cookbook...While rooting around in old women's magazines I found a Gold Medal Flour ad with a full-page, four-color picture of Pineapple Upside-Down Cake--a round cake with six slices of pineapple, candied red cherries, and a brown sugar glaze. The date: November 1925."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson (p. 432)

"Who invented Pineapple Upside-Down Cake? Suzanne Vadnais of Camarillo recently sent me some information from the Internet on this question. One of America's classic desserts has an interesting tale behind it, but the question is not totally answered yet. Some turn-of-the-century cookbooks have recipes for fruit upside-down cakes made with apples and cherries. Early recipes were made in skillets, probably cast iron, and cooked on top of the stove, since settlers did not have ovens. These were known as skillet cakes. Even the 1943 "Joy of Cooking" has a recipe for a skillet version of upside-down cake. In 1925, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company (later Dole) ran an ad in several women's magazines for creative and original recipes using pineapple. An Upside-Down Cake from Mrs. Robert Davis of Norfolk, Va., was published in the cookbook of prize winners. But before we credit her with the original recipe, it turns out that 2,500 recipes for pineapple upside-down cake were submitted to the contest! Obviously the idea was not new, but the contest gave the recipe widespread publicity.

Another version holds that James Dole made up a cake using his canned pineapple. That still leaves a gap in the story in my mind. How did 2,500 people get the recipe to submit it to the contest? Maybe food historians will continue to search for the missing link. James Dole certainly had a great influence with his pineapple canning business, for without canned pineapple we probably never would have had pineapple upside-down cake!"
---"Pineapple upside-down cakes: a brief history," Marilyn Godfrey, Ventura County Star (Ventura County, Ca.), March 04, 1998 (p.F2)

About pineapples in the United States
The love and lore of pineapples, like many South/Central American commodities, was introduced to North America by European colonists. New England's classic pineapple decorative motifs reflect this heritage. Fresh fruit delivery was made possible in the mid-19th century by advances in shipping technology.

"The earliest known [English] reference to the presence of a pineapple in North America comes from William Strachey. One of hundreds of brave or deluded men willing to sail into all but the unknown where the climate was harsh, the resources limited and the natives unfriendly, Strachly arrived in Jamestown in 1609 and was soon appointed secretary of Virginia. He had heard tell of a 'dainty' and 'nice' fruit that looke a little like a pinecone...As more and more ships arrived, there were undoubtedly repeated attempts to naturalize the pineapple...The fact was that Virginia and the surrounding area simply did not suit it. To consent to grow outside its natural habitat, the pineapple demands time, attention and a finely tuned climate and soil. In the Aemrican colonies it experienced none of these...Nonetheless, it managed to maintain an imaginative presence thought the many reports of what it was said to be'...It was not long before the struggle for survival in the American colonies receded to such a degree that the great planters could at last, with sufficient time and funds, concentrate on attaining the stylish living so exalted in England...As one of the most prevalent decorative forms in the age in England, it is no wonder that the first pineapples to find a role within American cultural life were those made of stone, silver, wood or porcelain...Preserved pineapple eaten as a sweetmeat had been avialable in the colonies for some time...it was not long before fresh pineapple in all its luscious and exotic reality also became an option for those so long starved of treats--albeit only for the very richest. Pineapple has featured in cargoes coming north from the Caribbean (in particlar the Bahamas) since the beginning of the [18th] century, but it was not unitl the 1750s that they began arriving all through the summer months at ports along the east coast from New York to Charleston and everywhere in between. One day in the summer of 1752...the Virginia Gazette announced the arrival in Williamsburg port of seen dozen pineapples form New Providence in the Bahamas...Local grocers stocked imported fruit--if you had the ready cash..." ---The Pineapple: King of Fruits, Fran Beauman [Chatto & Windus:London] 2005 (p. 125-131) [NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be paraphrased here. Your local public librarian will be happy to help you get a copy.]

"The speed of the clipper ships was reflected in their high freight rates, which meant they carried only luxury goods, high priced enough to be able to absorb the cost...and also destined them to transport perishable cargoes, mostly food--fruit from the Mediterranean, spices from Indonesia, wheat from Australia...In the East, as the speed of coastwise vessels increased, the danger of foods decaying en route diminished, and the North could call upon the produce of the South...by the 1850s ships from Florida were delivering fruits and vegetables there [New York City] twice a month; and by the middle of the century pineapples and coconuts were arriving from Cuba, from other West Indian islands, and even from Central America."
---Eating in America: A History, Waverly Root & Richard de Rochemont [William Morrow:New York] 1976 (p. 154)

"The pineapple was introduced to Hawaii by Captain James Cook in 1790, but it was not commercially cultivated there because of the difficulty of shipping between the islands and the United States. Throughout the nineteenth century the fruit was a rarity for most Americans, even though it was grown in Florida. In the 1880s, however, widespread cultivation was encouraged in Hawaii with the onset of the steamship trade in the Pacific, and in 1903 James Drummond Dole began canning the pineapple at Wahiawa for shipment everywhere. Dole's Hawaiian Pineapple Company had by 1921 established the fruit as the largest crop in those islands...The most popular variety there is the 'Smooth Cayenne', followed by the 'Red Spanish'. Americans eat pineaple fresh, as part of a salad or fruit cocktail, in sherbets, ice cream, and ices, in gelatin, in cocktails, and as a flavoring, including in cordials. Canned varieties include sliced rings, chunks, and crushed pieces. Pineapple juice is extremely popular and often used in mixed drinks like the Mai Tai and Pina Colada. Dishes made with pineapple are often called 'Hawaiian style'."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 242-3)

"The pineapple...originated in South America, probably in the area around the Orinoco and Negro river basins. Technical, it is not a single fruit but the fruits of a hundred or more separate flowers that grow on a central plant spike...In pre-Columbian times, pineapples grew widely in Central America and the Caribbean, where they were called anana. Caribbean Indians introduced the pineapple to early Spanish explorers...The Spanish promptly shipped some pineapples back to Spain, wehre they became an instant sensation...In North America, English colonists imported pineapples from the Caribbean beginning in the seventeenth century. The pineapple became a symbol of hospitality in America; pineapple motifs were common in the decorative arts of colonial America, including in architecture, furniture, gateposts, and silverware. Pineapple recipes appeared in English cookbooks during the eighteenth century and in American cookbooks by the early nineteenth century...Pineapples were also canned in small quantities in Florida and the Caribbean by 1882. The major American pineapple industry started in Hawaii. Pineapples had appeared in Hawaii well before it became a U.S. territory in 1898. Plantations grew pineapples that were shipped to West Coast American cities, but this was expensive. Canning in Hawaii began in 1885 but was of little importance until Jim Dole founded the Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1901...The vast increase in supply created the need to expand the market, and pineapple growers encouraged publication of pineapple recipes, which soon appeared in cookery magazines and cookbooks."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York], 2004, Volume 2 (p. 282)

History of the Dole Company

We have a booklet published by the Dole Pineapple Company in 1927 entitled The Kingdom That Grew Out of a Little Boy's Garden, Marion Mason Hale. It contains many recipes but none for pineapple upside down cake. The closest looking recipe is called "Dutch Hawaiian Pinepple Cake" (p. 43) which features pineapple on the top of a cake, garnished with a cherry. The instructions tell the cook to put the pineapples on TOP of the cake just before cooking.

The oldest recipe we have for pineapple upside-down cake was printed in a U.S. government document in 1931. Here it is:

"Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
Pineapple mixture
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons pineapple juice
3 slices pineapple
Melt the sugar in a skillet over moderate heat, allow it to brown slightly, and stir constantly. Add the butter and pineapple juice and cook until a fairly thick sirup is formed. Place the sections of pineapple in the sirup and cook a few minutes, or until they are light brown, and turn occasionally. Have ready a well-greased heavy baking pan or dish, place the pineapple on the bottom, and pour the sirup over it. Allow this to cool so it will form a semisolid surface, then pour in the following
Cake batter
1/4 cup butter or other fat
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted soft-wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
Cream the fat, add the sugar, well-beaten egg, and vanilla. Sift the dry ingredients together and add alternately with the milk to the first mixture. Pour this over the pineapple. The batter is rather thick and may need to be smoothed on top with a knife. Bake in a very moderate oven (300-325 degrees F.) for 45 minutes. Loosen the sides of the cake, turn it out carefully, upside down. If the fruit sticks to the pan, lift it out and place it on the cake. Serve with whipped cream or hard sauce."
---Aunt Sammy's Radio Recipes Revised, Ruth Van Deman and Fanny Walker Yeatman, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Home Economics, May 1931 (p. 99)

If you would like us to mail you a copy of this recipe (with the cover and title page) please let us know. We will be happy to send it to you.You can compare this recipe with ones in current cookbooks or on the Internet. RecipeSource has 25+ variations. You can also buy a packed mix in some grocery stores to make this cake.

ABOUT PINEAPPLE SYMBOLISM

"Early Europeans commonly called any kind of fruit an apple; and the Spanish thought the "pineapples" they found when they arrived in South America resembled the pinecones that grew on the large stone pines of southern Europe. Pineapples and pinecones have nothing in common botanically, yet their resemblance led people to link them in myth and symbol. Both have been linked to fertility, for example...When the people of the Old World did learn of pineapples, they recognized some of the same symbolism the people of South America and the Caribbean lands recognized. The pineapple symbolized friendship and hospitality to the Caribs. These people often hung pineapples ouside their huts as a kind of welcome mat, inviting people to visit. But in Europe, other factors also came into play. Because pineapples were difficult to cultivate in European soil, the fruit quickly became and expensive product. Europeans began to associate pineapples with nobility because only the rich could afford them. Interestingly, the pinecones of the Holy Land also served as symbols of nobility...In Europe, the pineapple remained a symbol of hospitality and friendship, just as the nobitilty stood for hospitality and friendship as well as wealth and privilege. The link people recognized between pineapples and hospitality led to the use of pineapples as an architectural motif. Images of pineapples adorned entrance halls and dining rooms and served much the same purpose as the pineapples hanign outside huts in the Caribbean. A number of scholars who have identified pineapple motifs on ancient altars have suggested that the pre-Columbian Americans may have invested thei pineapples with religious significance."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 177,179)

Cheesecake & New York cheesecake

Cheesecake is a food rich in history, culture, tradition and ceremony. It is not the invention of a single person but a result of culinary evolution. The origins of cheesecake are grounded in ancient agricultural practice, tempered by local resources, and tweaked by technological advancement. In short, cheesecake is a perfectly good example of the dedicated human quest for good tasting food. Cheeseless cheesecakes (sweet, rich custard pies) began to appear in English cookbooks in the 17th century. Chess pie, a popular Southern American favorite, is descended from these.

Before there was cheesecake, there was cheese...

"...Cheese actually dates back to the earliest domestication of animals, at about 9000BC and it had been made wherever animals produced more milk than people use in fluid form....Archaeologists have established that cheese was well known to the Sumerians (4000BC), whose cuneiform tablets contain references to cheese, as do the Egyptian and Chaldean artifacts. It is as much a staple of the Old Testament as honey and almonds and wine, and is associated with stories of great daring...The Greeks were so fond of cheese that they rewarded their children with it as we give ours candy--and "little cheese" was a special term of endearment. Their Olympic athletes also trained on a diet consisting mostly of cheese....and the island of Samos was noted for cheese-cakes, for which Athenaeus even gives us a recipe: "Take some cheese and pound it, put in a brazen sieve and strain it, then add honey and flour made from spring wheat and heat the whole together into one mass." Wedding cakes of that early era were almost invariably cheesecakes, and at Argos it was customary for the bride to bring little cakes that were roasted, covered with honey, and served to the bridegroom's friends."
---The Cheese Book, Vivienne Marquis & Patricia Haskell [Leslie Frewin:London] 1966 (pages 18-19).

"Every market in Greece sold cheeses to those who could not make their own, and by the fourth century BC the popular fresh white Greek cheeses were being flavored with herbs and spices and baked into all manner of cakes and pies...The Roman Empire used cheese a great deal in cooking....Cato mentions a sauce based on salt which was used to preserve cheese and gives the recipe for a celebration wedding cake, in which the main ingredient was cheese, spiced and flavoured with grape must, fat, aniseed and bay leaves; this was also baked on top of bay leaves which impaired their agreeable aroma to the concoction....Apicus, the foremost Roman gastronome, included a very elaborate dish among his recipes, served cold, in which the cheese was blended with honey, peppermint, watermelon, vinegar and many other ingredients."
---Cheese: A Guide to the World of Cheese and Cheesemaking, Battistotti, Botazzi et al. (pages 12-14).

"Curds were still incorporated in certain cooked dishes which had survived from medieval times. The spiced cheese tarts of that period were continued in tarts of curds which were still known a cheesecakes in the seventeenth century...Fresh curds formed the basis of the filling, supported by eggs, spices and sometimes currants. By the middle of the century, some cheesecake recipes contained neither cheese nor curds, but instead a rich custardy mixture of eggs, butter, flour and unrenneted cream, duly sweetened and spiced....A further development a few decades later was the lemon cheesecake. Its filling consisted of pounded lemon peel, egg yolks, sugar and butter...Orange cheesecakes were made in similar fashion, from the skins of Seville oranges which were first boiled in two or three waters to take off their bitterness."
---Food and Drink in Britain, C. Anne Wilson [Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 172-173).

ABOUT CREAM CHEESE
Cream cheese is a complicated topic. According to the food historians, soft, fresh country cheese (cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta, farmer's cheese, Neufchatel) were probably the first cheeses known to man. Soft cheese were injoyed by Ancient Romans and Greeks. Creamier cheese were produced and perfected by European countries, most notable France. Medieval cookery books contain several recipes which include soft cheese both savory and sweet. When cheesemakers immigrated to the United States, they brought their craft with them. Food historians generally agree that cream cheese, as we Americans know it today, was first manufactured in upstate New York in the latter half of the 19th century. There is, however, evidence suggesting cream cheese was manufactred earlier in the Philadelphia area (1861/D. Bassett Co.).

"Those curds and whey Miss Muffet was addressing herself to before the arrival of her uninvited guest were, of course, the sixteenth century forerunner of our cottage cheese. Even at that time, however, it had a venerable history, for although its origins are obscure, there is little doubt that this sour and separated milk--curds and whey--was the beginning of what we now call cheese...In piecing together the story of how fresh cheeses were first made, it seems likely that early nomadic tribesmen, wandering with their flocks, must at times have had a good deal of sour milk to dispose of. After using what they could, they were faced inevitably with the choice of throwing the rest away or carrying it with them--a hard decision for poor people who had to keep moving to keep alive. At some point or other--some say about 9,000 years ago--these wanderers appear to have realized that milk, like meat, could be more easily preserved and transported if it could somehow be dried. Eventually they hit upon two ways of doing this. One, probably the first, involved the process of evaporation: they put fresh milk into shallow earthenware unensils and exposed it to the heat of the sun. The milk first turned sour and then began to evaporate. The result was a semi-dry acid curd characteristic of the fermented milk preparation we know today as yoghurt. This was also probably the primitive beginnings of cream cheese, for the first cream cheeses were--and some are today--simply dried cream...In any event, the simplest way to make a cream cheese...it is pour heavy cream into a perforated box lined with two loose layers of cheesecloth. In about four days, the cream's superflous moisture will have evaporated or drained away, leaving a firm but spreadable cheese...Many variations of pot cheese and cream cheese can be found in every country that makes cheese...Even India, which makes practically no cheese, has a kind of cottage cheese called Surti and a cream cheese called Surtal. The list is endless..."
---The Cheese Book, Vivienne Marquis and Patricia Haskell [Leslie Frewin:London] 1966 (p. 25-7)

"Cream-cheese. A soft, rich kind of cheese, made of unskimmed milk enriched by the addition of cream; a cheese of this kind."
---Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Volume III (p. 1132) [NOTE: The OED traces this phrase in print to 1583.]

"Up to the eighteenth century a great deal of cheese was eaten in Europe, and especially France. The people of high rank developed a sweet tooth. Sweet desserts became so popular that the only kind of cheese considered elegant was cream cheese heavily sweetened and flavoured with perfumed oils. Rove sheep's milk cheese sprinkled with orange-flower water is still a specialty of Marseilles. Eaten in the evening, it is supposed to be an aid in slumber."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, translated by Anthea Bell [Barnes & Noble Books:New York] 1992 (p. 117)

Martha Jefferson's cream cheese recipe.

"'Cream cheese although so called, is not properly cheese, but is nothing more than cream dried sufficiently to be cut with a knife' Thus Mrs. Beeton in in 1861. Her comment was pertinent in that the simplest form of cream cheese is made by draining cream through a muslin and leaving it for a few days until it becomes as firm as butter. But what is normally offered as cream cheese is produced in a more sophisticated manner, and is rarely made from cream alone. Most kinds of cream cheese are made from a mixture of cream and milk, inoculated with lactic acid-producing bacteria chosen to produce the desired degree of acidity. The mixture may or may not need rennet to precipitate the curd. Although the bacteria are allowed some time in which to do their work, a cream cheese is not matured...The most important cream cheese, in terms of quality, must be Philadelphia cream cheese; it has long been the principal American variety, and cream cheeses are said to account for a quarter of all cheese eaten in the USA. Well-known French cream cheese include...Fontainbleu, Boursin, Brillat-Savarin, and Explorateur...The Scottish caboc, known since the 15th century, was Sir Walter Scott's favorite kind of cheese. It became extinct but had been revived as a rich cream cheese, made from double cream and given a crust of toasted pinhead oatmeal."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.225)

ABOUT CHEESECAKE
The process for making cream cheese and recipes for cheesecake originated in Europe. They were brought to America by the first waves of European settlers. The English, French, and Germans each developed their own recipes, according to cultural taste and period technology. Certainly, each culture's cheesecakes contribute to the melting pot of American cuisine.

Ancient Roman cheesecake

"Libum means cake'. What kind of cake? It is often talked of by Roman poets, but what they say does not always match Cato's recipe. Libum was sometimes a sacrificial cake such as was offered to household sprirts in the early years of Roman history; it was sometimes a farmhouse cake, served hot; it as sometimes a delicate honey cake that was served at the very end of an elaborate Roman dinner...All the ancient writers associate Libum with honey--all except Cato, and he is the only one who actually gives a recipe...Cato's libum is a delicious savoury cheesecake, very successful when served hot. The cheese that is used can be quite salty and mature...and the resulting texture, with golden-brown crust and soft centre, is similar to that of a modern baked cheesecake. If, on the other hand, we take it that the proper thing was to add honey, a soft unsalted cheese must be chosen: the combination of salty cheese and honey is unappetising."
---The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger, [J.Paul Getty Museum:Los Angeles CA] 1996 (p. 92-96)
[NOTE: This book contains translations of Cato and modernized recipes.]

[1st century AD] Sweet Libum, Cato

"...the earliest actual recipe for a cheesecake is found in the Forme of Cury (14th Century). Hannah Wooley's Queen-Like Closet (1664) gives a cheesecake recipe which sounds quite modern."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 158)

A brief survey of historic cheesecake recipes

[1390:London] Tart de Bry, Forme of Cury
[1545:London] To Make a Tarte of Chese, Proper newe Booke of Cookery
[1669: London] To Make Cheese-Cakes, Closet of The Eminently Leaned Sir Kenelme Digbie Opened
[1720s:London] Chees Cakes, Receipts of Pastry and Cookery For Use of His Scholars, Ed. Kidder
[1803:New York] Cheesecakes after the best manner, Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter (keep paging for more recipes)
[1866:Philadephia] Orange, Lemon, Curd & Cottage-Cheese cakes, National Cook Book, Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson (recipes p.123-5)

Need more details? Ask your librarian to help you obtain the following books:

Cheesecake, Lou Pappas, 1993
Cheesecake Extraordinare, Mary Crownower, 1994
Joy of Cheesecake, Dana Boubjerg & Jeremy Iggers, 1980

NOTE: Not all recipes for cheese cakes were sweet desserts made with creamy cheese. Evidence here:

"Cheese cakes
2 tablespoons butter
3 1/2 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons grated American cheese
Whites 3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
few grains cayenne
Melt butter, add flour, and stir until well blended; then add cheese and cut and fold in whites of eggs beaten until stiff. Season with salt and cayenne. Drop from tip of spoon on a buttered sheet one inch apart and bake in a moderate oven."
---Catering for Special Occasions with Menus and Recipes, Fannie Merritt Farmer [1911] (p. 76)

Philadelphia cheesecake
Primary sources reveal cooking methods relating to early Phildadelphia-area cheesecakes.

"The German element was an influential one in Philadelphia well into the latter half of the 19th century. In many areas of food production, such as bread and biscuit baking, the manufacture of chocolate and mustard, butchering, and tavernkeeping, the Germans reigned supreme. However, love of cheesecake was shared by both English and German-speaking Phildadelphians, and early in the 18th century, this love became something of a local cult at the Cheesecake House. Situated on the west side of 4th Street, on grounds extending from Cherry Street to Apple Tree Alley, the Cheesecake House stood in the middle of a pleasure garden shaded by cherry and apple trees...Even in 1848, nearly a century after it had disappeared, the Cheesecake House was still fondly remembered in the Sunday Dispatch."
---35 Receipts From "The Larder Invaded," William Woys Weaver [Library Company of Philadelphia and The Historical Society of Pennsylvania:Philadelphia] 1986 (p. 18)
[NOTES: (1) This book contains a German recipe for cheesecake (with English translation), circa 1791. If you need this ask your librarian to help you obtain a copy. (2) William Woys Weaver is considered to be a leading expert on Pennsylvania Dutch foodways. The second edition of his book, Saurerkraut Yankees, was recently published. It contains excellent notes regarding the foodstuffs/primary sources connected with this culture and cuisine.]

[1866:Philadephia] Orange, Lemon, Curd & Cottage-Cheese cakes, National Cook Book, Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson (recipes p.123-5)

NEW YORK CHEESECAKE
The history of "New York Style" cheesecake begins with upstate New York creameries which developed a unique American type cream cheese. "New York Style" cheesecake became famous in the 1920s when it was featured by popular Jewish Delis (Lindy's, Junior's etc.) in the greater New York area. Molly O'Neill hits it right on the head: "Just as the city cannot claim to have invented steak, New York can't claim to be the birthplace of cheesecake. But historic detail has never stopped New Yorkers...New Yorkers wave a dismissive hand to...facts...and say that cheesecake wasn't really cheesecake until it was cheesecake in New York."--New York Cook Book, Molly O'Neill [Workman Publishing:New York] 1992 (p. 436)

What makes it New York cheesecake?

"Say Cheesecake
Q. I've heard that the recipe for cheesecake, that classic New York dessert, came here from Italy. A friend insists that it was "invented" here at the turn of the century. Care to get mixed up in this?

A. You're both at least partly correct. New York cheesecake, the kind made famous this century in restaurants like Reuben's, Lindy's and Junior's, is considered by some to be a dense, sweet, creamy adaptation of traditional Italian cakes made with curd or cottage cheese. Recipes for coarser, less sweet ricotta cakes like the Tuscan crostata di ricotta and the Neapolitan pastiera have been around for centuries, according to Matt Sartwell, a resident scholar at the Kitchen Arts and Letters store in Manhattan. In fact, the writings of Cato the Elder, the Roman statesman and moralist of the second century B.C., include a recipe for "savillum," a relatively simple honeyed ricotta cheesecake. But it wasn't until about 1872 that cheesecake baking as we know it in New York become practical and popular, according to "Cheesecake Madness" by John J. Segreto (1996, Biscuit Books). That was when William Lawrence of Chester, N.Y., accidentally developed a method of producing cream cheese while trying to duplicate the French Neufchatel. Soon after, a dairyman living in South Edmeston, N.Y., produced a particularly silky version for the Empire Cheese Company, which was later sold under the brand name Philadelphia Cream Cheese. "The New York-style cheesecake that we know depended on the development of this cheese," Mr. Sartwell said. He added that the graham cracker crust, another American innovation, would have been impossible before the cracker was introduced early this century."
---"Say Cheesecake," Daniel B. Schneider, New York Times, September 21, 1997 (p. CY2)

"Many nineteenth-century American cookery books do include recipes for cheesecake, beginning, as often as not, with the curdling of the milk with rennet. But the silky, cream-cheese cheesecake is something else again, a turn-of-the-century arriviste introduced, for the most part, by Jewish delicatessens in New York City. [Merle] Evans even traces the beginning of "the New York cheesecake saga" to the 1920s and attributes it to "an enterprising delicatessen owner, Arnold Reuben [who] opened a restaruant on 58th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues" at that time. Soon Reuben had rivals, among them Leonard's...Juniors...Lindy's, a Broadway restaurant...According to Molly O'Neill...the smooth, rich cheesecake served at Lindy's in the 1940s became the quintessential "New York Cheesecake," the one by which all others are judged."
---The American Century Cookbook, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 390)

"What we mean when we say cheesecake
In the case of New York Cheesecake, an Eastern-European-style cake made from pot and cream cheeses was claimed as the city's own...Early versions of the cake were probably heavy. In Bronx Primitive, her memoir of growing up in the Bronx, Kate Simon recalls the "cementlike cheesecakes" that her mother made on Fridays. The confection moved from homes to resturants. Bt 1940, cheesecake was the main call at Lindy's, the fabled theater-district restaurant that actors and actresses jammed for late-night dessert. The Guys & Dolls razzle-dazzle that surrounds Lindy's cheesecake may not be the only reason that Lindy's became synonomous with New York cheesecake. Between homes like the Simon's and restaurants like Lindy's, Eastern European cake experienced an unbeatable lightness of being. The recipe for Lindy's smooth cake has appeared in numerous cookbooks... "
---New York Cook Book, Molly O'Neill [Workman Publishing:New York] 1992 (p. 436-7)

About Lindy's:
"Sturgeon Saga of the Main Stem," Meyer Berger, New York Times, May 22, 1949 (p. SM20)
[NOTE: The New York Times Historic database (1851-2001) in an excellent resource for researching New York style cheesecake. Here you will find articles on companies, restaurants, and cheese. If you would like to pursue, ask your librarian to help you find this database.]

Immigrants Helped Create a Cake to Celebrate the Holiday, Linda Morel, Jewish Telegraphic Agency

The Jewish Cook Book, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum [Block Publishing:New York] 1918 contains three recipes for cheesecake: "Topfa Dalkeln. Cheese Cakes (Hungarian)" (p. 222) and "Cheese Cake or Pie" (p. 227) and "Covered Cheese Cake" (p. 250).

Need recipes? Try these!

"Lindy's New York-Style Cheesecake
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 pounds (5 large packages) cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
5 whole eggs
1/4 heavy (whipping) cream
1. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with 1/4 cup of the sugar, 1 teaspoon of the lemon zest, and 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla. Form a well in the center and add 1 egg yolk and all fo the butter. Work with a fork to make a dough. Add up to 2 tablespoons of water, if necessary, to make a pliable dough. Form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, combine the cream cheese, the reamaining 1 3/4 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest, and all of the orange zest and beat well. Add the 5 whole eggs, the remaining 2 egg yolks, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla and beat well. Add the heavy cream and beat well.
4. Roll out one-third of the chilled dough on a floured surface; the dough witll be very moist and fragile. Roll it out in pieces and evenly press them, with your hands, into the bottom of the prepared pan. Don't worry if it looks like it is going to fall apart. Bake until golden, 15 minues, and cool in the pan on a wire rack.
5. Roll out the remaining dough in pieces and evenly shape them to fit the sides of the pan, a piece at a time. Make sure that there are no holes in the curst and try to keep the edges neat.
6. Increase the oven temperature to 550 degrees F. Pour the cream cheese mixture into the crust. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 200 degress F and continue baking or 1 hour. Turn of the heat and keep the oven door open wide. Let the cake cool in the oven for 30 minutes.
Serves 8 to 10.
"Junior's Cheesecake
1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons sifted cornstarch
30 ounces (3 3/4 large packages) cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1/2 cup heavy (whipping) cream
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of an 8-inch springform pan. Lightly coat the bottom of the pan with the graham cracker crumbs and refrigerate the pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and cornstarch. Beat in the cream cheese. Beat in the egg. Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream, beating constantly. Add the vanilla and stir well. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 3 hours. Serves 8 to 10."
---New York Cookbook, Molly O'Neill [(p. 434-5) [Workman Publishing:New York] 1992

ABOUT PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE IN NEW YORK

"William A. Lawrence was in the creamery business in Chester [New York, Monroe County] in 1872 when he entered the cream cheese business...'Legend among the old timers of Chester is that Mr. Green and his cheese making friend were discussing the recipe...and Mr. Lawrence came into the barn, heard them talking, stopped and listened throught a knot-hole in the wall. Heard the recipe given by the Swiss man, and promptly went home and made cream cheese.'...The American product known as cream cheese was made in the manner of Neufchatel, with extra cream added to the mixture. Mr. Lawrence labeled his product Philadelphia cream cheese (not to be confused with Philadelphia Brand cream cheese) because he sent it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to be packaged a shipped to his buyers. Early production amounted to only a few pounds each day. Made in cylinders of about two and three-quarters by one a half inches, the cheeses were rolled in tissue paper and padded with straw for shipping in empty boxes obtained from grocers...Cream cheese production in Central New York began around 1880 at the Crystal Palace Factory in McDonough, R. Johnston and Co. In Afton, and the Empire in South Edmeston. The region was known for fine dairy herds...The high quality cream cheese packed under the label of the "Philadelphia Brand" was made at South Edmeston for nearly one hundred years...The origin of the "Philadelphia Brand" has been the subject of countless debates between legislators as well as cheese makers and local residents who remember the heyday of its manufacture in their valley. Although the word "Philadelphia" was included in the name of the cream cheese made in Chester about 1872 and in Philadelphia, New York, in the 1880s, this brand name was legally established for the cheese made in the Empire Factory in South Edmeston. It signified that the cheese was of the traditional high quality of foods produced in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."
---The History of Cheese Making in New York State, Eunice R. Stamm [Lewis Group:Endicott NY] 1991 (p. 180-2)
[NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be pararphrased here. If you need more details ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (http://www.uspto.gov) Kraft's Philadelphia Brand cream cheese was first used in commerce September 1, 1880 (registration #0392212).

"Kraft company records place the invention of cream cheese in the hands of a New York Dairyman named William A. Lawrence, who first experimented with it and saw potential in the mixture he fashioned from milk and cream in 1872; he called the product Star Brand. The cream cheese became so popular that other dairies in the New York area began manufacturing a smimlar product. In 1880 a cheese distributor named C.D. Reynolds forged a deal with Lawrence for the latter to supply a steady flow of cream cheese. At the same time, Reynolds purchased another cream cheese production facility, the Empire Cheese Company of South Edmeston, New York. The name "Philadelphia" was adopted for the product because the Pennsylvania city was treasured as the seat of high-quality foods, particularly dairy products...In 1924 J.L. Kraft & Bros. Co., which had produced and provided processed cheese to the U.S. government armed forces in World War I, went public as Kraft Cheese Company and entered the cream cheese market. Four years later, Kraft merged with Phenix [Cheese Company], continuing the production of Philadelphia Brand cream cheese and introducing new products like Velveeta pasteurized process cheese spread...Compared to Camembert and other rich, soft cheese of Europe, Philadelphia Brand cream cheese was originally made in U.S. locations that could easily provide production plants with fresh milk and cream...Because of several patented adjustments to the production process in the mid-1940s, the life span of the cheese jumped from an original couple of weeks to about four months...Central to Kraft's success at positioning Philadelphia Brand cream cheese as one of the most recognizable products in the American marketplace was the company's unflappable committment to media saturation and advertising..."
---"Philadelphia Brand Cream Cheese," Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Janice Jorgensen editor [St. James:Detroit] 1994 Volume1: Consumable Products (p. 452-453)
[NOTE: This book has much more information than can be paraphrased here. You librarian will be happy to help you obtain a copy.]

Star-Gazette [Elmira NY] article references William Lawrence of Chester, NY

"Cream cheese became available to everyone after Isaac and Joseph Breakstone of the Breakstone Company produced "Breakstone's Downsville Cream Cheese" (named after the New York Commuity where it was made) in 1920. It became immediately popular among Jewish communities in New York City as a spread for bagels."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 106)

Wedding cake

There are plenty of Web sites offering brief histories of wedding cake, many citing to ancient Roman rituals [crumbling cake on the bride's head], medieval customs [piling cakes to signify good luck and wealth], 17th century improvements [an unkown French chef is often said to have iced the conglomeration of heretofore medieval cake offerings and created the first true wedding cake]. Are these stories true? According to Wedding Cakes and Cultural History by Simon R. Charsley, most of this information was created in the Victorian era in to satisfy late 19th century cultural demands. It is not documented fact. Wedding Cake: A Slice of History/Carol Wilson, Gastronomica, sums the topic up nicely.

"The Victorian myth of origin
The degree to which the wedding cake and the uses to which it is put in twentieth century Britain have become standardized may well mislead when the past is considered. Even the degree of standardisation already present in the later nineteenth century misled J. C. Jeaffreson whose Brides and Bridals [1872] offered a pioneering account of the history of the cake. Other writers have subsequently followed him, sometimes themselves adding to the confusion by misinterpreting his words in terms of the cakes with which they were familiar in their own day...
...Jeaffreson's history is...an interesting example of the myth-making of its period. Like others...he was led by a sense that, to be properly grounded, contemporary practice must have a lineage going back to ancient Rome. This was to make a link with the region of history so special for the identity of European societies as they developed out of the middle ages as to be labelled classical'. At times and amongst people aware of their own imperial status, such links were at a premium...The story Jeaffreson told began, therefore, with an ancient Roman marriage practice involving the breaking of a cake over the bride's head. It jumped to evidence from the England of a thousand and more years later, for the pouring or throwing of grain, and from this to supposed survivals around Britain as late as his own century of the breaking of biscuit, 'cake' or bread' over the bride...
...It was, Jeaffreson considered, with the arrival in England of French confectionery skills and influences at the Restoration in 1660 that the pile of cakes was consolidated with an overall covering of icing and decoration....There is no doubt that this story is fanciful and wrong, though its subsequent repetition shows that he had created a myth which would appear appropriate to those few who have thought to question the cake's origins."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 29-30)
[NOTE: this book examines the culinary history, social traditions and cultural variations of fancy cakes in several cultures. It is well documented and contains an extensive bibliography for further reading]

Does this mean cake was not served at weddings before Victorian times? Of course not!
Across all eras, cultures and cuisines, the very finest foods are traditionally saved for the most important celebrations. Weddings are considered quintessential human affirmations of the continuing march of human life. In ancient times, it was quite possible that honey and other sweet cakes might have been served as part of the wedding feast. Medieval wedding feasts typically included fine cakes and puddings made with dried fruit. Traditional European holiday fruitcakes and plum puddings descended from this tradition. These confections, however, did not assume the elevated position of today's wedding cake. It has been suggested by some food historians the ritual of wedding cake may derive from religious practices. In Christian religions, the sharing of bread-type products (communion) signifies committment. Some other religions have similar traditions.

"In the medieval period neither cakes in the usual modern sense nor icing had yet appeared. Nothing directly equivalent to the wedding cake could thereforh have any part in the celebration of marriages. Feasts and celebations might be held but marriage was simply their occasion. No specialized food object had a place at them, not was there as far as has been recorded any special action of a ritual nature using any food item as part of the wedding. Medieval feasting is nevertheless one of the roots from which cakes and their use in weddings were to grow....Decoratively presented foods and those using imported ingredients of high cost were features of medieval feasting. Dishes, often combining both, were developed in the highest reaches of society where the wealth for their creation was available and display was an important prop to status and power..."
Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Charsely (p. 36)

Recommended reading: Food and the Rites of Passage, Laura Mason editor [Prospect Books:Devon] 2002
Chapter 2: "Bridecup and Cake: The Ceremonial Food and Drink of Bridal Processions," Ivan Day & Chapter 5: "Food and Drink at Irish Weddings and Wakes," Regina Sexton

During the 17th-18th centuries, both the English and Americans feasted on "great cakes," sometimes called "bride's cakes" or "bride's pies" as the event required. These special cakes were also not unlike traditional fruitcake. Our notes on colonial wedding feasts include authentic 18th century British and American recipes for wedding cakes.

19th century wedding cakes:

[1833]
"Wedding Cake
Good common wedding cake may be made thus: Four pounds of flour, three pounds of butter, three pounds of sugar, four pounds of currants, two pounds of raisins, twenty-four eggs, half a pint of brandy, or lemon-brandy, one ounce of mace, and three nutmegs. A little molasses makes it dark colored, which is desirable. Half a pound of citron improves it; but it is not necessary. To be baked two hours and a half, or three hours. After the oven is cleared, it is well to shut the door for eight or ten minutes, to let the violence of the heat subside, before cake or bread is put in. To make icing for your wedding cake, beat the whites of eggs to an entire froth, and to each egg add five teaspoonfuls of sifted loaf sugar, gradually; beat it a great while. Put it on when your cake is hot, or cold, as is most convenient. It will dry in a warm room, as short distance from a gentle fire, or in a warm oven."
---The American Frugal Housewife, Mrs. Child, Boston [1833] (p. 72)
[1845]
"Wedding Cake, No. 1.
Four pounds of flour, four pounds of sugar, three of butter, forty eggs, five pounds of stoned raisins, three pounds of currants, on e ounce of mace, half an ounce of nutmeg, six tea-spoonfuls of rose-water, four teas-spoonfuls of cream of tartar, stirred in the flour, two tea-spoonfuls of saleratus well dissolved. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; beat the yolks and whites separate, add the flour gradually, then the spice and saleratus. Bake it two hours and a half."
"Wedding Cake No. 2.
Four pounds of flour, three pounds of butter, three pounds of sugar, four pounds of currants, two pounds of raisins, twenty-four eggs, one ounce of mace, and three nutmegs. A little molasses makes it dark-colored, which is desirable. Half a pound of citron improves it. Bake it tow and a half or three hours."
Wedding Cake, No. 3
Four pounds of flour, three pounds of butter, four pounds of sugar, thirty eggs, three and a half pounds of currants, one pound of citron, one ounce of mace, a little cinnamon, very little cloves; make it into loaves of convenient size. Bake it two and a half or three hours."
Frosting for Cake, No. 1
Beat the whites of eggs to an entire froth, and to each egg add five teas-spponfuls sifted loaf sugar, gradually; beat it a great while. Put it on when your cake is hot or cold, as is most convenient. A little lemon juice squeezed into the egg and sugar, improves it. Spread it on with a knife, and smooth it over with a soft brush, like a shaving brush."
Frosting for Cake, No. 2
Three and a half pounds of loaf sugar, the whites of twelve eggs, lemon juice, and a little potato starch."
--- The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, Mrs. E.A. Howland [E.P. Walton and Sons:Montpelier VT] 1845 (p. 22-23)
[1879]
Wedding Cake
Four pounds of flour, three pounds of butter, three pounds of sugar, four pounds of currants, two pounds of raisins, twenty eggs, half a pint of brandy or lemon brandy, once ounce of mace, three nutmegs. A little molasses makes it dark-colored, which is desirable. Half a pound of citron improves it, but it is not necessary. To be baked two hours in a half or three hours. An excellent recipe."
Very Rich Wedding Cake
Take four pounds of fine flour, four pounds of fresh butter; sift two pounds of powdered sugar, and grate to it quarter of an ounces of nutmeg; break eight eggs (yolks and whites separately) for each pound of flour; wash and pick four pounds of currants, and dry them before the fire; crush the butter between the hands until it is reduced to a cream, then beat it up with the sugar for fifteen minutes; beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and mix with butter and sugar; beat the yolks half an hour, and mix them in; put in the flour and nutmeg, and beat it up; pour in a pint of brandy, and add a quantity to taste of citron cut in strips; pour it into the baking-tin, and when it has risen and browned, cover with paper, lest it should burn. Great care must be taken in baking this cake to have the oven of the proper heat."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M. E. Porter, facsimile 1879 edition [Promontory Press:New YOrk] 1974 (p. 240-1)
[1861] Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Managment, recipe number 1753 [London]
[1877] Buckeye Cookery
[1884] Boston Cooking School Cook Book
[1896] Boston Cooking School Cook Book

About Mexican wedding cakes & cookies

Groom's cake

Groom's cake seems to be relatively modern tradition that probably originated in the Southern United States sometime in the 19th Century. The traditional cake ingredients and folklore are reflect ancient Wedding cake customs; current recipes and serving ideas reflect modern wedding tastes.

"Already in the 1890s, therefore, a choice of cakes had been established in America. The types could be played with, for commercial and/or symbolic effect. One idea was to give the bridegroom a cake to match the bride's, and this might be simply achieved by renaming the rich fruit style. A 'Lady Cake or Plain Bridegroom Cake' for which the recipe was published in "The British Baker" in 1897 as an importation from 'across the herring pond'...was, however, a white cake. The author explains that it is 'supposed to be cut by the bridegroom and distributed with a glass of wine to the bridesmaids before going to church'. In Britain neither practice nor cake met with any success, but in the United States the two cakes did persist, with the light cake usually being associated with the bride, the dark with the groom. From the mid-century a possible combination of the two has been described from Virginia. The bride's would be on the bottom..."
--Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 23)
[NOTE: this book contains notes to primary sources, ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book [c. 1871] features an interesting collection of cake recipes named for love & courtship. Here you will find recipes for Bachelor's cake (quite similar to groom's cake, see recipe below), Acquaintenceship cakes, Introduction cake, Ancient Maiden's cake, Flirtation cake, Rival cake, Engagement cake, Kisses & Jealousy puffs. This book was reprinted in 1974 by Promontory Press in its "Cookery Americana series.

"Bachelor's Cake
One pound of flour, half a pound of sugar, quarter of a pound of butter or lard, four wine-glasses of milk, half a pound of Sultana raisins, quarter of a pound of currants, the same of candied peel, quarter of a nutmeg, two teaspoonful of ground ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon and one teaspoonful of carbonate of soda; mix well together, and bake slowly for an hour and a half."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M. E. Porter (p. 236)

"Cake historians say the [grooms cake] practice first came to the wedding party in the mid-19th century. About that time the bride's cake--for a long time a single-tier, dense fruitcake--had evolved into a stacked pound cake in the shape of a church steeple. But revelers still desired some of the old-style, rich, fruity cake. Enter: the Bridegroom's Cake. Each guest was given a slice of fruitcake in a box to take home. As the story goes, single women who slipped a slice under their pillow would have sweet dreams of a mate. Today, groom's cakes are baked and iced in the bridegroom's favorite flavors...A groom's cake is a have-to-have in the deep South."
---"A Cake of His Own," Washington Post, April 15, 1998 (p. E01)

"The grooms cake...The tradition of sending wedding guests home with a piece of second cake, called a "grooms cake," has its origins in early southern [U.S.] tradition. It is a tradition that almost disappeared by today is experiencing a revival of sorts. The modern-day groom's cake is often a chocolate cake, iced in chocolate, or baked in a shape, such as a football or a book, that reflects an interest of the groom. It is to be used as a second dessert, it is placed on a separate table from the wedding cake and cut and served by the wait staff. At a small, at-home wedding, it is placed on a separate table from the wedding cake and is served. Having a special groom's cake is a charming personal touch. Some couples ask to have the groom's cake packaged, festively wrapped and tied with a ribbon, in small boxes to send home with departing guests."
---Emily Post's Wedding Etiquette, Peggy Post, 4th edition (p. 339)

"The tradition of the groom's cake dates from the mid-nineteenth century, when guests took home slices of a dark fruitcake that was not served at the wedding. Those who were unmarried would slip their slices under their pillow to encourage dreams about their future mate. Although this tradition has faded, it's still fun to serve a dark chocolate cake along with the white bride's cake."
---Colette's Wedding Cakes, Colette Peters (p. 23)

"A reliable history of the groom's cake is tough to trace. Most bakers thin it's a Southern tradition with Texas roots. The story goes that a bride wanted a chocolate cake for her wedding, but didn't want to sacrifice the white-on-white theme. So the smaller dark cake was assigned to the groom, served separately and decorated more modestly. As it's become more common, the groom's cake has taken on a life of its own. It has design flair, and usually includes radical flavorings to match the decorating style."
---"Here comes the...Groom's Cake," Palm Beach Post, April 15, 1999 (p. 1FN)

Cola cakes

Our survey of historic culinary sources confirms American cooks began using soft drinks in recipes in dawning decades of the 20th century. It is difficult to determine whether these recipes originated in corporate test kitchens or customer's homes. We do know, however, food manufacturers have a reputation for being ingenious marketers. What better way to promote one's product than to capitalize on a popular recipe? Food historians trace gelatin salads made with soft drink in print to 1912. Cake recipes were a later invention, probably sometime after World War II.

Mewspaper articles confirms this genre of cake making belongs to the South. No wonder! Both Coca Cola (Atlanta) and Dr. Pepper/7UP (Dallas) are southern-based companies. Our sources do not confirm the exact person/place/date for the genesis of these cakes. Most generically refer to the cake as "traditional" or "grandma's." How did they start? If one goes with the "community cookbook" theory, then our hunch is that the recipe was invented (by accident or on purpose) by an employee of said company. Many soft drink companies give their employees free samples to take home. If the product's always on hand, it's bound to be used in some creative ways.

The earliest print reference we have for cola cakes dates to the mid-1950s (see survey below). A media-blitz in the 1990s reintroduced these confections as "old fashioned:"

"According to Phil Mooney, archivist for the Coca Cola Company in Atlanta, it is impossible to document just when cooks first took Coca-Cola in hand. It appears to have started around the turn of the century, he said, wand to have been a spontaneous event that evolved from the fact that Coke was on hand in many American kitchens, not unlike the way wine was in the kitchens of France...Of all the recipes, the most widespread, according to the Coca Cola Company, is one for a gooey chocolate cake with miniature marshmallows, pecans and probably more calories per square inch than anyone can count."
---"Yes it's true, Cooking with Coke," Dena Kleiman, New York Times, June 6, 1990(p. C6)

"Something almost mystical and negligibly naughty washes over otherwise calm, collected cooks when they pour a can of soda into a recipe. It doesn't belong there, and the mere inclusion seems illicit and risque. But when culinary art turns into pop art, these masters of the kitchen exhibit an effervescent pride and a willingness to boast of their secret ingredient: the humble soft drink. That giddiness-along with plain good taste-has fueled the popularity of a cookbook produced this past year by the Dr Pepper/7Up Cos. Inc. in Dallas. The 88-page, spiral-bound collection of Dr Pepper and 7Up recipes, created last summer for new shareholders, has been offered free to the public since fall. "We've mailed out more than 10,000 cookbooks since August," says Tom Bayer, a spokesman. "It was such a hit with our stockholders that we wanted to offer it to the public." Although Coca-Cola Cake and Classic 7Up Pound Cake have been recipe box staples for years, and Dr Pepper had files of published recipes going back to the '40s, Bayer says the company wanted to update and expand the offerings, lightening the ingredients for the calorie-conscious. The addition of Dr Pepper, the soft drink created in Waco in 1885, or 7Up "needed to make a contribution to the recipe," Bayer says. "It had to bring its own flavor-texture component to the dish." The company asked Marilyn Ingram, a home economist, to test, update and expand some of the cookbooks' recipes. "We were fairly picky with the recipes we put in," Ingram says. "We made sure they were good recipes and not just a recipe somebody had tossed 7Up in to be creative." For example, she says, "the Classic 7Up Pound Cake was just as outstanding as everybody had said it was." Ingram found that just about every time she used 7Up in a batter, she had good results, especially for fried fish and onion rings. "It seems to really make the batter light and fluffy and crunchy," she says. She developed recipes for certain categories that were shy on offerings, such as vegetables, to go with an abundance of recipes for desserts and beverages."
---"Redesigned Soda Cookbook Just What the Dr. Ordered," Ron Rugghless, Chicago Tribune, May 5, 1994 (P. D4)

"I'm not one to resort to cake mixes and instant fillings, but this recipe convinced me that they are no more of a compromise than frozen chopped spinach. Ottoson's version of the 7UP cake, a standard from the 1950s, is moist, nicely textured, slightly lemony and tastes delectable with the pineapple topping. Unlike many cakes, it tastes better the next day."The Chicago Tribune, September 11, 1994 (p. 12)

A selected dessert table of American cola cake recipes

[1955]
"Cola Layer Cake.
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs, separated
3 cups sifted cake flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup cola beverage
METHOD: Cream shortening and sugar together until ligth and fluffy. Add beaten egg yolks and blend. Sift dry ingredients together; add, alternately with the cola, to the first mixture. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake at 375 deg. 30 minutes in two greased 9-inch layer pans. Cola Fluff Icing
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
12 cuip cola beverage
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
2 egg whites
METHOD: Combine sugar, cola, cream of tartar and salt in saucepan. Boil at 238 deg. until syrup forms a soft ball in cold water. Whip egg whites stiff, add syrup slowly, beating constantly between each addition. Continue beating until icing is fluffy and holds its shape."
---"Baked Potato Topped With Nippy Cheese Enlivens Summer Meal," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 1955 (p. B4)
[1959]
"In the following recipe, dried apricots are cooked in the nationally known beverage, 7-Up, for the brown sugar sauce. The natural lemon-lime flavor of 7-Up is used as the liquid ingredient.
Apricot Up-Side Down Cake
Sauce
1 7-oz bottle 7-Up
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
Simmer 7-Up with apricots 20 minutes. Stir in butter and brown sugar and continue cooking to melt butter. Spread sauce over the bottom of a 9 by 12 by 2 inch baking pan.
Cake batter
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 12 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 7-ounce bottle 7-Up
3 egg whites
Cream buter and sugar until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder and alt together and stir in alternately with 7-Up. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour batter over sauce in baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, 45 minutes. Invert and serve up-side down."
---"Please Your Family This Week With An Apricot Up-Side Down Cake," Daily Defender (Chicago), February 17, 1959 (p. 40)
[1971]
"While nothing quenches thirst like an ice-cold cola--nothing pleases the palate like a warm cola cake. Here's how to use this delightful and unique "baking soda":
Royal Crown Cake
2 cups unsifted flour
2 cups sugar
2 tbsps. cocoa
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup Royal Crown Cola
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Bring the butter and cola to a boil and add to dry mixture. Add the butermilk, eggs, and marshmallows. This will be a very thin batter with the marshmallows floating on top. Bake in a large oblong pan at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes.
Frosting
1/2 cup margarine or butter
2 tbsps. cocoa
6 tbsps. Royal Crown Cola
1 box confectioners sugar
1 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine butter, cocoa and cola and bring to a boil. Pour over confectioners sugar and mix well. Add nuts and vanilla. Spread over cake while hot."
---"Crown cake with Crown cola," Chicago Daily Defender, October 21, 1971 (p. 35)
[1982]
"Now here's a request that really fizzed. Sally Garber of Deerfield Beach asked our readers to come up with a recipe for 7-Up cake with pineapple frosting. We received 72 replies. Apparently, there are 3 versions of 7-Up cake: A pound cake, baked in a Bundt pan, that is made from scratch; a sheet cake made from a mix; and a 3-layer torte, also made from a mix. The pineapple frosting also comes in many versions. Most readers who sent the pound cake recipe said they usually settled for a simple sprinkling of powdered sugar on this rich cake, or perhaps a light glaze. Those who sent the sheet cake or the 3-layer recipe tended to use a pineapple frosting, but some recipes called for a cooked frosting while others were for a buttercream type. Some recipes add chopped pecans along with the pineapple; most also added coconut. And while most recipes called for the frosting to be spread on a cooled cake, others specified that the frosting be spread while the cake was warm -- and one said you should poke holes into the warm sheet cake before pouring on a warm frosting. It wasn't easy deciding which recipes to publish, so we decided to use the first three that we received. It is interesting to note that the recipes came from an amazing number of sources. Dev Steffen of Miami Springs sent a recipe that builds upon a cake mix, which she got from her husband's Aunt Eleanor. Marge Pruessman of Miami sent a recipe she found in a cookbook called What's Cooking Senora?, published in Venezuela. Fran Rives of Jupiter sent a similar recipe, courtesy of her sister in Oklahoma who assisted in the compiling of a cookbook by doctors' wives entitled Doctor's Orders. An anonymous reader sent a recipe for 7-Up pound cake, from a cookbook compiled by members of the Grand Court of Florida Order of the Amaranth. Connie McGee of Pembroke Pines found her recipe in What's Cooking in our National Parks. Mrs. William Randolph got hers from a cookbook published by a group from Brown's Methodist Church in Jackson, Tenn. Why would a recipe call for 7-Up? Is it for the flavor? It would seem that the delicate flavor would be masked by all the other ingredients. Connie Bedell of Fort Lauderdale may have the answer. She sent us this quote, from a cookbook published by The Seven-Up Co. in 1957: "Make a cake with the contents of a packaged mix, using 7-Up instead of the liquid in the recipe. You'll be amazed at how light and airy your cake is." At any rate, here are the recipes. The first is from Mary Jane Altman of West Palm Beach. "It's a little extra effort, but it's worth it," she says. Other cooks who sent similar recipes emphasized that it is important to beat the butter for a full 20 minutes. They also said the cake improves if baked a day before you plan to serve it, and keeps well frozen.
7-UP POUND CAKE
3 sticks of butter (margarine will not do)
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons lemon extract
3/4 cup 7-Up
Cream butter and sugar for 20 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Gradually add the flour and beat well, then add lemon extract and 7-Up. Bake 1 1/4 hours at 325 degrees in a well oiled Bundt pan. Cool 8 to 10 minutes, then dust with powdered sugar. While most of the pound cake recipes didn't call for a frosting, Louise Gotti of Port St. Lucie frosts hers with this:
PINEAPPLE BUTTER FROSTING
1/2 cup butter
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup crushed pineapple with juice
Cream butter. Add remaining ingredients and continue creaming until mixture is well blended and fluffy.
This is Steffan's recipe for 7-Up cake that begins with a packaged mix. Other similar recipes called for a yellow or a lemon cake mix in place of the pineapple, and lemon or vanilla pudding in place of the pineapple pudding. Pat Krenick of Goulds uses an orange cake mix and lemon pudding. Some cooks bake this in a 9-by-13-inch pan; others in three round pans.
AUNT ELEANOR'S TROPICAL CAKE
1 package Pineapple Supreme cake mix
4 eggs
1/3 cup oil
1 small package instant pineapple pudding
10 ounces 7-Up
Mix all ingredients together and beat at medium speed of electric mixer for two minutes. Pour into greased and floured 8- inch cake pans or 13-by-9-inch pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in a 350-degree oven. Note: the baking time varies greatly from recipe to recipe; some call for 40 to 45 minutes of baking.>
PINEAPPLE FROSTING
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 small can flaked coconut
1 small can crushed pineapple
Beat together sugar, eggs and butter until smooth, then stir in coconut and pineapple. Frost on cooled cake.
This recipe for a cooked frosting comes from Krenick, who says the 7-Up cake with this frosting always is requested for family birthdays and special occasions. She got her recipe from friends in Arkansas:
PINEAPPLE FROSTING
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 stick butter
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
1 small can crushed pineapple in heavy syrup
Note: some recipes call for the exact same ingredients, except a large can of pineapple.
Mix ingredients together and cook until thick and transparent. Remove from stove and add 1 cup coconut. When cool, fill and frost cake. Finally, just to be sure we've had the last word on 7-Up cake, here's a recipe from Bedell that will really top it all:
7-UP ICING
2 egg whites
3 tablespoons 7-Up
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tablespoon cream of tartar
Put all ingredients in the top of a double boiler over boiling water. Upper pan should not touch surface of water. Beat with rotary beater until stiff enough to stand inpeaks, (about 5 minutes)."
---"AMERICA IS TURNING 7-UP CAKE," Linda Cicero, Miami Herald, August 5, 1982
[1986]
"Seven-Up Pound Cake.
3 sticks butter
3 c. sugar
5 eggs
3 c. sifted cake flour
3/4 c. 7-Up
1 tsp. lemon flavor,br> Grease a tube pan; dust with flour. Cream butter until smooth and shiny. Add sugar and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy. Add flavor, then eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each. Add flour; mix well. Add 7-Up and mix well. Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees F."
---Food For My Household: Recipes by Members of Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta GA [Cookbook Publishers:Lenexa KS] 1986 (p. 46)

Dirt cake & Mud pie

Food historians generally agree these two rich chocolate desserts are late twentieth century stars supported by a cast of thousands of historic recipes. Pudding and cake combinations are nothing new. Consider the history of the English trifle.

ABOUT PUDDING/CAKE DESSERTS
Puddings and custards trace their roots to ancient cooks. Blancmanges, syllabubs, whips, and creams were popular in Medieval times. Mousses and other creamy sweet desserts were invented in the 18th century. In the mid-late the 19th century, chocolate pudding recipes were quite popular in the United States. These were sometimes suggested for children because of their *healthful* qualities: they included milk and were easy to digest. Arrowroot (another healthy ingredient) was sometimes used as the thickening agent. Packaged pudding mixes were introduced to the American public in the beginning of the 20th century. Jell-O, Knox, and Royal (the gelatin companies!) were the first to put them on the market. Instant pudding mixes were introduced in the early 1950s.

Thoughout history, pudding-type desserts have been served in many ways: moulded in plain or elegant shapes (bombes), used for cake or pie filling (chocolate pudding pie), layered with pastry/cookies/cake (trifles), presented in fancy glassware with decorative garnishes (parfaits), and mixed with other mixes to create a creamier product (pudding cake). German/Austrian chocolate tortes inspired many thicker pudding and cake creations (mud pie).

The earliest recipe we find for modern chocolate pudding pie (an ancestor of Misssissipi Mud and Dirt Cake) was printed in 1932:

"Summertime Chocolate Pie
1 package Royal Chocolate Pudding
2 cups milk
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
whipped cream, sweetened.
Mix Royal Chocolate Pudding with milk; bring to boil. Roll graham crackers to make fine crumbs; add melted butter and sugar; mix well. Spread on bottom and sides of 8" pie pan to make a crust. Pour in hot chocolate pudding mixture; cool, then chill in refrigerator. Before service garnish with whipped cream. Serves 6."
---Royal Desserts, Standard Brands Inc. (The manufacturer of Royal puddings) [1932] (p. 24).

It was/is a common practice of many American food companies to print booklets with recipes using their ingredients. They also placed recipes in popular women's magazines, sponsored radio shows and ran television ads for the same purpose. Sweet Moment Desserts, published by General Foods in 1963 lists several recipes combining Jell-O brand pudding, Dream Whip, and crumb crusts made from various Nabisco brand cookies. It does not include a recipe for "mud pie" or "dirt cake."

ABOUT MUD CAKE/PIE
There seems to be some controversy regarding the history of this particular dessert. Also sometimes known as "Missisippi Mud Cake/pie, Louisiana Mud Pie," many food historians trace this dessert to the 1970s and when it hit mainstream restaurants. The name may belong to the 1970s, and the popularity to the 1980s, but the recipe is certainly older. One of our readers sent us pages from a cookbook published in 1963 containing recipes for "Glorified Brownies" and "Marshmallow Fudge Brownies." These would have approximated Mud cake (with the addition of marshmallows). Our reader also sent us a mud pie recipe from Vickburg, MI circa 1985. Recipes here.

So, who really invented this delicious dessert? We don't know. We do know from primary culinary sources that double-fudge recipes of all kinds and textures proliferated in the early decades of the 20th century. Some were promoted by food companies, many were concocted by creative home cooks, and the balance were crafted by innovative chefs. The standard ingredients of Mississippi mud cake/pie indicate this recipe was "invented" (for lack of a better term) by post WWII home cooks. Why? They are simple items found in most supermarkets assembled without the aid of special equipment. Print evidence places this recipe in the heart of the deep American south.

In the big scheme of things, this is not the first example of top chefs "borrowing recipes" from home cooks in order to create trendy menu items. Happens all the time. Think Waldorf Salad.

This is what the food historians have to say about mud cake & pie

"Where did all this mud stuff start? Not many people are willing as John (Chappy) Chapman...to venture an explanation. Chapman, who grew up in New Orleans has spent all of his life in Gulf Coast towns, said mud pie was invented years ago in the Vicksburg-Natchez area...It was [mud pie]...a pre-baked pie crust filled with "a layer of [baked ] chocolate cake, a layer of chocolate pudding, another of cake, another of pudding, another of cake, topped with chocolate icing." Sometimes people added hot-fudge sauce and/or chocolate ice cream, he said."
---Mississippi Mud Pie (or Cake), Bernadette Wheeler, Newsday [New York], July 13, 1988 Food (p. 7)

"I remember distinctly when and where I first tasted this pie...It was in the mid- 70s at the newly rebuilt Mills House Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina...I naively believed [Mud Pie] to be a creation of the chef. Also sometimes called "Mississippi Mud Pie," this is a Nabisco recipe, which begins with a pie shell made of finely crushed Oreo cookies..."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 381)

"Mississippi mud pie.
A very dense chocolate pie that takes its name from the thick mud along the banks of the Mississippi River. According to Nathalie Dupree in New Southern Cooking (1986), the top is what she calls "Mississippi Mud Cake" should be "cracked and dry-looking like Mississippi mud in the hot, dry summer." It does, however, seem to be of fairly recent origin; according to Mississippi-born food authority Craig Claiborne, writing in 1987, "I never heard of a Mississippi mud pie or Mississippi mud cake until I moved North."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 207)

RECIPES

[1963] Glorified Brownies
1 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Butter
3 T. Cocoa (or 2 sq. Chocolate)
3/4 c. Flour
Pinch of salt
1 c. Nuts
12-15 marshmallows
Mix in order given. Spread in pan and bake 20 minutes at 400F. When done, cut marshmallows fine over top of brownies while still hot and cover with the confectioners' sugar or other favorite fudge icing. Decorate with nuts.--Letha A. Chastain, Pamplico H.S. Pamplico, South Carolina
Marshmallow Fudge Brownies and Icing
Number of servings--8 to 12
1/2 c. Shortening
3/4 c. Sugar
2 eggs beaten
3/4 c. Sifted flour
1/4 t. Baking powder
2 T. Cocoa
1/4 t. Vanilla
1/2 c. Chopped nuts
18 marshmallows, halved
Cream shortening and sugar, add eggs. Beat well. Sift dry ingredients, add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Add vanilla and nuts. Bake in 12X8 pan 20 minutes at 350F. Take from oven and put marshmallow halves on top. Return to oven for 3 minutes. Spread until top is covered with marshmallows. Let cool. Frost with following: Icing
1/2 c. Brown sugar
1/4 c. Water
1 sq. Unsweetened chocolate
3 T. Butter
1 t. Vanilla
1 1/2 c. Powdered sugar
Combine and boil for 3 minutes brown sugar, water, and chocolate. Add butter and vanilla and let cool. Then stir in powdered sugar. Spread on brownies. Cut in squares."--Mrs. Maxine King, Unity H.S. Mendon, Illinois"
---Favorite Recipes of Home Economics Teachers: Desserts edition including Party Beverages [Favorite Recipes Press:Montgomery AL] 1963 (p. 146-7)
[1976] Mississippi Mud Cake
1 c. Butter
2 c. Sugar
1/3 c. Cocoa
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. Flour
1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder 1/3 c. Coconut
1 c. Chopped pecans
1 pt. Marshmallow cream
Cream butter, sugar and cocoa. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Sift flour and baking powder together; add to mixture. Fold in coconut and pecans. Bake in (12X9X2-inch) greased and floured pan at 350F. Until done. While still hot, cover with 1 pint of marshmallow cream. Let cake cool in pan, then spread frosting over the marshmallow cream.
frosting
1/2 c. Butter (room temperature)
1/3 c. Cocoa
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 lb Powdered sugar
4 tbsp. Evaporated milk
Put all ingredients in bowl and beat with electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy." ---She Cooks by Ear: Old Southern Cookery, Frances S. James [S.C. Toof & Co.:Memphis TN] 1976 (p. 60)
[1985] Mississippi Mud Pie
1/2 (8 1/2-ounce) package chocolate wafers
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 quart coffee ice cream, softened
1 1/2 cups fudge sauce or chocolate fudge sauce ice cream toppings
Whipped cream, sliced almonds, or chocolate curls for garnish (optional)
Crush chocolate wafers and set aside. Melt butter in large frying pan over low heat. Add crushed wafers and toss in butter to coat well. Press crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie plate and allow to cool. Soften ice cream and spoon onto wafer crust. Freeze until firm. Top with cold fudge sauce. Store in freezer about 8 to 10 hours. To serve, top with whipped cream and sliced almonds or chocolate curls. Remove form freezer and allow to stand 5 to 10 minutes before service. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.--Mrs. Kenneth Kussmann, New Orleans, Louisiana."
---Vintage Vicksburg, Vicksburg [Mississippi] Jr. Auxiliary [Wimmer Companies:Memphis] 1985.

ABOUT DIRT CAKE
According to newspaper and magazine articles, a recipe called "dirt cake" seems to have originated in the Midwest sometime in the 1980s. None of the articles we checked attribute this recipe to a particular person or food company. Nor do they reveal the story behind the name. It is plausable that "dirt cake" borrowed its moniker from another trendy rich chocolate dessert: "mud pie." Whatever the case, it was an immediate hit. Dirt cake was served at class parties, Brownie meetings, birthday parties and the like. It didn't take long for food companies to cash in on the deal. Dirt cake mixes were first marketed as packaged items in the early 1990's.

The earliest mention we find of a recipe specifically called "Dirt Cake" was printed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette [newspaper], June 15, 1988 in a recipe exchange column. This article references a local reader who sent in a recipe for "Kansas Dirt Cake." The St. Louis Dispatch wrote an article on the topic July 24, 1989, Food section (p. 2): "Tickle Fancy With Dirt Cake." This article states "This recipe is apparently making the rounds of the area..." attesting to its popularity at that time.

[1988]
Kansas Dirt Cake
1 small package of Oreo cookies
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
8-ounce carton Cool Whip
2 boxes (3 1/2 ounces each) instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups milk
Crush cookies and spread half over bottom of a 9-by-13-inch pan. Mix cream cheese and margarine with electric mixer until smooth. Beat in confectioners' sugar. Then fold in Cool Whip. In separate bowl, combine pudding mix, vanilla and milk until smooth and mixture begins to thicken. Fold pudding mixture into cream cheese mixture. Spread over cookie crumbs and sprinkle remaining crumbs over top. Freeze overnight. Let sit at room temperature 5 to 10 minutes before servings.
---Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR), June 15, 1988

Articles from 1990 reference a "new" packaged product called "I Can Bake Dirt Cake With Mud Frosting Mix." This kit was manufactured by Pelican Bay Ltd.. According to the records of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Pelican is the only company to have trademarked this name. Registration#74059580 was first used in commerce January 7, 1990. Pelican is still making this product. Information here.

Eccles cakes

"Eccles cakes, small English cakes similar to Banbury cakes, except that they are normally round in shape and they filling has fewer ingredients; currants, wheat flour, brown sugar, butter and vegetable fat, milk, and salt are standard. The cakes take their name from the small town on the outskirts of Manchester where they were first made and named. Mrs. Raffald (1769), herself from Manchester and the author of one of the best cookery books of the 18th century, had given a recipe for 'sweet patties' which may well have been the confections from which Eccles cakes evolved...The first mention of eccles cakes by name seems to have occurred at the end of th 18th century when a certain James Birch was making them. An apprenctice of his, William Bradburn, had set up a rival operation by about 1813. Evelyn Vigeon...in her brilliant and comprehensive history of these cakes describes the confrontation:

James Birch advertised that he was the original Eccles cake maker removed from across the way, while William Bradburn retaliated with an advertisement claimimg that his shop was the only old original Eccles Cake Shop. Never removed. This rivalry was to the advantage of both manufacturers over the following century since visitors would often buy cakes from both shops to be sure they had indeed tasted the original one.'

The same author traces the later history of these and other Eccles cake establishments...She believes that early Eccles cakes may well have differed from those known now, both in shape (some at least were sold cut in squares) and the nature of the pastry (puff or flaky pastry is now used), and ingredients for the filling. She points out that the fact that Eccles cakes were being exported abroad by 1818 suggests very good keeping qualities, so they may well have included spirits such as brandy and rum in the same way as the nineteenth century Banbury cake'. Chorley cakes are a variation of Eccles cakes, usually somewhat plainer."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 267)
[NOTE: the article noted by Mr. Davidson as the "authority" on Eccles cakes is: The Celebrated Cookie Shop', Evelyn Vigeon, Manchester Genealogist, 29/1 (January) 1993. Your librarian can help you obtain a copy.]

Mrs. Raffald's recipe for Sweet Patties, 1769:

"Sweet patties.
Take the meat of a boiled calf's foot, two large apples and one ounce of candied orange, chop them very small. Grate half a nutmeg, mix them with the yolk of an egg, a spoonful of French brandy, and a quarter of a pound of currants clean washed and dried. Make a good puff paste, roll it in different shapes, as the fried ones, and fill them the same way. You may either fry or bake them. They are a pretty side dish for supper."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, intorduction by Roy Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1997 (p. 79)

Compare with this British recipe, c. 1894:

"Eccles Cakes.--Required: some paste, a filling made by mixing a pound of washed and dried currants, six ounces of moist sugar, two ounces of chopped candied peel, and a saltspoonful of grated nutmeg. Cost, about 1d. Each. The cuttings of puff or flaky paste will do for these, and are often used, though the cakes are nice when paste is made purposely. It should be thinly rolled and cut in rounds; a teaspoonful of the mixture is put in the middle, and the pastry doubled over like a ball; it is then pressed on the board to make round flat cakes, the size of the top of a small tumbler. Three small cuts should be made with a knife, and the cakes finished off like Banbury cakes. NOTE.--The filling for these is sometimes the same as Banbury cakes, or a little grated apple is added to the mixture given, with an increased quantity of sugar if required."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and Company:London] 1894 (p. 1023)

About Eccles
About Manchester

If you would like more information on the evolution and history of British baked goods we recommend these sources:
1. English Bread and Yeast Cookery, Elizabeth David
2. Food in Britian, From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
3. Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (separate entries for specific items)

Realated foods? Portable pies...pasties, turnovers and such.

Election cake

The history of Election Cake is an excellent lesson in food lore. Food historians generally place the origin of Election Cake in 18th century New England, most notably Hartford, Connecticut. As the name implies, the recipe is somehow connected to politics. Culinary experts confirm the original item was not a true cake (as we know it today), but a simple, sweetened yeast bread composed of dried fruit and spices. Amelia Simmons [1796] is often credited for providing the first printed recipe entitled Election Cake. Some contend the recipe was known as early as 1771, others peg it to the 1830s. Other names for this cake are Hartford cake and Commencement cake. Therein concludes the agreement.

What makes the history of Election cake so interesting are the conflicting theories regarding the "why and when" this cake was served. While many people today assume it's a November treat, history tells that's not likely. Elections are moveable feasts. We find several historic references to Election cake placing it anywhere from mid-January to June. The month with the most documentation is May. This is what the food historians have to say:

"So what then is the how, when, where, what and why of Election Cakes? The Connecticut Historical Society provided some answers, but...said...that some conflicts cannot be resolved. "What you can say...is that this is cake traditionally made in conneciton with elections in Hartford form pre-Revolutionary times...the Colonial Records of Connecticut from May 1771 show that one Ezekial Williams Esq. submitted a bill to the Connecticut General Assembly for the cost of making the cake for the election'." To understand why the government of the colony of Connecticut would pay for such a cake, along with other food, you have to know how the Governor of the colony, and later the state, was elected. In early spring, elections were held in Connecticut towns, and in May representatives of the towns gathered in Hartford, the capitol, for the formal counting of the votes, first for Governor, then for Lieutenant Governor and then for other officials. The counting often went on into the night. The representatives came the day before and stayed overnight in Hartford...in every Hartford home, Election Cakes were made to serve the out-of-town lodgers. According to...[The Connecticut Historical Society], housewives planned for Election Day well in advance and made cakes that would keep. By the mid-1800's Election Day had declined as a major festival and around 1875 the date for election of the Governor shifted to January from May..."
---"Election Cake: A Noble Tradition, Marian Burros, New York Times, November 2, 1988 (p. C12)

"Election cakes date from well before the American Revolution. They were very large, enriched yeast cakes, tasting like modern coffee cakes or Hot Cross Buns. In England such cakes were called "great cake" and made for local festivals. The Puritan election cakes were made for Election Day, Muster Day or Training Day. These were spring and September (a second training day) [and] regional gatherings to elect local officials...The custom persisted into the 1820s, but by then the larger cakes were, in Lydia Maria Child's cookbook,'old fashioned'."
---The American History Cookbook, Mark H. Zanger [Greenwood Press:Westport CT.] 2003 (p. 59-61)
[NOTE: this book contains a modernized recipe]

"Election cake. A raised fruitcake of New England, first mentioned by Amelia Simmons in her American Cookery as early as 1796, although, as the name indicates, records show that such cakes have been baked to celebrate Election Days at least as early as 1771 in Connecticut. Although this practice spread throughout the Midwest and West in the nineteenth century, the cake is usually associated with Hartford, Connecticut, and, by the 1830s, was often called "Hartford election cake." There were also "election buns," which were doled out along similar party lines. Cookies, usually of gingerbread, served at such functions were often called "training cakes," because another name for Election day was "Training Day."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 122)

WHAT EXACTLY IS ELECTION CAKE?

Contrary to some reports, Election cake was not invented by American colonists. It was borrowed (and/or adapted) from popular period English yeast breads.

"The American or Hartford election cake is American in name only. The cake itself is a classic English "rich cake," "loaf cake," or "fruitcake," which went by many names and varied many ingredients. Martha Washington wupplies the essential in her many kinds of "great cake," listed in The Booke of Sweet-meats, always beginning with barm, the froth produced by fermenting ale. Amelia Simmons calls these "emptins," a contraction of "emptyings," which meant the yeasty dregs in the bottom of a cask of ale. On baking day, a thrifty housewife would use some of this yeast to make a richer dough than bread and she might use some of her raw bread dough as a starter or sponge for cake..."
---I Hear America Cooking, Betty Fussell [Viking:New York] 1986 (p. 324)

A survey of recipes through time

[1796]
"Election cake
Thirty quarts of flour, 10 pound butter, 14 pound sugar, 12 pound raisins, 3 doz eggs, one pint wine, one quart brandy, 4 ounces cinnamon, 4 ounces fine coriander seed, 3 ounces ground allspice; wet flour with milk to the consistency of bread over night, adding one quart yeast; the next morning work the butter and sugar together for half an hour, which will render the cake much lighter and whiter; when it has rise light work in every other ingredient except the plumbs, which work in when going into the oven."
---American Cookery, Amelia Simmons, facsimile of the Second Edition, printed in Albany, 1796 with an introduction by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] 1996 (p. 43-44)
[NOTES: This recipe is cited by some food historians as the first recipe for Election Cake. In the 18th century, the word plumb was often used interchangeably with the word raisin]
[1839]
"Election cake
Take half a pint of lively yeast, mix with is half a pint of sweet milk and enough flour to make it a good batter; cover it, and set it by the fire to rise. This is called setting a sponge. Sift two pounds of flour into a broad pan, cut up in it a pound of fresh butter, add a pound of powdered sugar, two grated nutmegs and six beaten eggs. When the sponge is quite light, pour it on the flour, &c., make the whole into a soft dough, knead it well, and make it into small flattish loaves. Sprinkle a shallow iron pan with flour, lay the rolls in it close together, put them at first in a very slow oven, that will permit them to rise, and when risen, bake them with moderate heat."
---The Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, facsimile edition [Image Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 299-300)
[1844]
"Hartford Cake
Rub two pounds of butter into five of four; add sixteen eggs, not much beaten, one pint of yeast, and one of wine. Knead it up stiff like biscuit; let it stand till perfectly light. When light, work in thoroughly, two and a half pounds of raisins soaked several hours in a gill of brandy, a gill of rose-water, two and a half pounds of powdered loaf sugar, half an ounce of mace, and a spoonful of cinnamon. Put it in your pans, let it rise, and bake as "Loaf Cake."
---The Improved Housewife, Mrs. A.L. Webster [Hartford, CT] 1844 (p. 113)
[NOTE:Hartford Cake is another name for this recipe. It is interesting to note this author (from Hartford) calls it such.]
[1844]
"Old Harford Election Cake (100 years old)
Five pounds dried and sifted flour.
Two pounds of butter.
Two pounds of sugar.
Three gills of distillery yeast, or twice the quantity of home-brewed.
Four eggs.
A gill of wine and a gill of brandy.
Half an ounce of nutmegs, and two pounds of fruit.
A quart of milk.
Rub the butter very fine into the flour, add half the sugar, then the yeast, then half the milk, hot in winter, and blood warm in summer, then the eggs well beaten, the wine, and the remainder of the milk. Beat it well, and let it stand to rise all night. Beat it well in the morning, adding the brandy, the sugar, and the spice. Let it rise three or four hours, till very light. When you put the wood into the oven, put the cake in buttered pans, and put in the fruit as directed previously. If you wish it richer, add a pound of citron."
---Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt-Book, Catharine E. Beecher, facsimile 1844 reprint [Dover Publications:Mineola NY] 2001 (p. 146)
[NOTE: Miss Beecher was born to a very prominent Hartford family. Her sister was Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.]
[1866]
Election cake, National Cookbook, Hannah Peterson
[1877]
Buckeye Cookery, Estelle Wood Wilcox provides these recipes for Salem Election Cake & Old Hartford Election Cake. Notes in this book indicates both versions are "100 years old."
[1918]
Election cake, Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Merrit Farmer
[NOTE: this recipe is more like modern cake]
[2004]
Election Cake; historic notes & modernized recipe courtesy of the Washington Post

Culinary evidence confirms this recipe was a staple in American cookbooks up until the 1940s. The last recipe we have for Election cake was printed in the 1939 edition of Fannie Farmer's The Boston Cooking School Cook Book. In recent years, the recipe and its history are sometimes printed in newspaper articles the week preceding our current November election date.

Related food? Irish soda bread.

Hummingbird cake

Food historians generally cite Mrs. L.H. Wiggin's recipe published in the February 1978 issue of Southern Living magazine (p. 206) as the first printed reference to "Hummingbird Cake." Mrs. Wiggins did not offer an explanation of the name. Evidence strongly suggests this cake was popular in the south and known by several different (and equally interesting) names.

Why is this delicious cake named such? Our investigation of historic food reference sources, magazines and newspapers confirm theories abound, but did not uncover an authoritative answer. One article we found suggested the humming referred to the fact people hummed when they eat this cake. This, of course, is possible, but it seems an unlikely source for the name of this cake.

How old is Hummingbird Cake? An investigation of ingredients firmly places this dessert in the 20th century. Pineapple was actively promoted in the early decades of the 20th century.

This is what the food writers say:
"But the sweetest import from below the Mason-Dixon line might be hummingbird cake, which has started popping up at popular baking spots around town with little fanfare - fine Southern upbringing indeed. To many Southerners living in New York, the concoction of mashed banana, pineapple, pecans, and cream cheese icing weighing more than your average one-year-old serves as a sweet, immediate reminder of home. The impressive looking three-layer treat seems like it would be tough to make, but is, in fact, quite easy; it can be whipped up in a little more than an hour. The exact origin of the cake remains a mystery. In 1978, a Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, N.C., submitted the recipe to Southern Living magazine, the Southern belle bible of gracious hostessing, and the cake became renowned. "It is still our most requested recipe," says Donna Florio, a senior writer at the magazine."
---"The Recipe for Hummingbird Cake, Food & Drink," ELIZABETH SCHATZ, The New York Sun, November 13, 2002 , Pg. 1

"IT SEEMS as if just about everyone but yours truly had a recipe for the Cake That Doesn't Last. Then a reader clued me with a December 1972 date and I found our copy in the older files. Meanwhile we have been swamped with telephone calls and letter, far too many to credit individually. Be assured, however, that all assistance was appreciated. Elizabeth Bartlett of North Little Rock, the first to reach us via telephone, said that the cake also is known as Hummingbird Cake. The bird connection puzzles me, just as it does Juliet Macy of Bull Shoals, who describes the cake as very rich and heavy. Macy also said it is a delicious cake, an evaluation with which everyone seems to agree. Virginia Raney of Russellville, who has made the cake many times, said, " Sure enough, it doesn't last!' Pat Jefferson of Paron, noting that it is a family favorite, added that it has replaced fruit cake at their holiday table. Never Ending Cake is the name turned in by Pauline Isley. A Benton respondent supplied Jamaican Cake, a title that might not be far afield considering the ingredients. Ella Sheets knows it as Granney's Best Cake. Nothing Left Cake is the name supplied by Patricia H. Downes of Jacksonville, who, with her 8-and 11-year-old sons, prefers it sans icing. More than 75 copies of the recipe have been received, most of them identical. The variations _ notably in mixing directions, oil measurement and additional fruits _ are incorporated in the recipe that follows. Cake That Won't Last."
---Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock, AR), April 3, 1985

We wonder if hummingbird cake was named in reference to how these birds eat. These tiny creatures are drawn to intensely sweet food sources. They engage the food source quickly and disperse when sated. Some of the descriptions we read regarding how this cake attracts people and is consumed quickly reminds us of hummingbirds eating patterns. PLEASE NOTE: This is our theory, not a documented fact.

Mrs. Wiggins' recipe [1978]

"Hummingbird cake
3 cups all-pupose flour
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups salad oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts, divided
2 cups chopped bananas
Cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl; add eggs and salad oil, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened. Do not beat. Stir in vanilla, pineapple, 1 cup chopped pecans, and bananas. Spoon batter into 3 well-greased and floured 9-inch cakepans. Bake at 350 degrees F. For 25 to 30 minutes; remove from pans, and cool immediately. Spread frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle with 1 cup chopped pecans. Yield: one 9-inch layer cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 (16 ounce) packages powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Combine cream cheese and butter; cream until smooth. Add powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Yield: enough for a 3 layer cake.--Mrs. L.H. Wiggins, Greesnboro, North Carolina"
---"Making the most of bananas," Southern Living, February 1978 (p. 206)

The Kentucky Derby Cook Book [Kentucky Derby Museum:Louisville KY, 1986] contains a recipe for Hummingbird Cake on p. 204. A note printed in this book states "Hummingbird Cake. Helen Wiser's recipe won Favorite Cake Award in the 1978 Kentucky State Fair."

Ice Box Cake (aka Refigerator Cake)

Our survey of historic cookbooks confirms ice box recipes (cakes, pies, cookies) became popular in the 1920s. Cakes were promoted as festive party fare (they were easy to make and pretty to present); cookies as convenience items (think: slice and bake). As technology progressed and America became electrified, Ice Box items were renamed Refrigerator. Mainstream cookbooks generally made the name switch in the late 1930s/early 1940s. Recipes also evolved...from homemade cake and filling to box mixes with brand-name ingredients. Nabisco's Famous Wafer chocolate cake is an excellent example of corporate promotion capitalizing on a trendy recipe.

Who invented the Ice Box Cake?
History does not record this person. Culinary experts agree most recipes evolve from extant formulas. Such is the case with Ice Box Cake. This rich confection descends from 19th century ice cream bombes which descended from Colonial Era Charlottes which descended from Renaissance-era Trifles. Notes here:

"Icebox cake is an adaptation of either a charlotte or Bavarian cream, or a mixture of both. It always calls for whipped cream in some form and freqently for butter. Nuts are often added and the mould is either decorated or put together with some sort of a cake mixture, as macaroons, sponge cake, angel cake, or lady fingers. In any case the dessert is so extremely rich that it should be served only in small quantities in a meal containing very little fat."
---Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cook Book, Ida Baily Allen [Garden City:New York] 1924 (p. 602)

A SURVEY OF CHOCOLATE REFRIGERATOR ICE BOX CAKES THROUGH TIME

[1917]
"An absolutely new confection is the refrigerator cake, which is being served occasionally at parties in Kansas City when the hostess takes a vacation from Hooverizing, for the ingredients are expensive. However, it makes a very large cake. The unique feature is that no baking is required, and the cake is served cut in wedge shaped pieces like pie. In fact, it is really more like a very sumptuous pudding. To make it, take half a pound of unsalted butter (which can be purchased at the larger markets), one half pound of powdered sugar, one-half pound of crushed macaroons, one-half pound of blanched almonds, one-half dozen eggs, and one and a half dozen lady fingers. Beat the egg yolks till thick and lemon colored; beat the whites till stiff; cream together the butter and sugar, chop the almonds and crush the macaroons. Mix all together. In a round loaf cake pan arrange the lady fingers, split in halves around the edge, so that they all form an upstanding border. The pour in the cake batter. The best pan to use is a large one that has removable sides and bottom. The success of the cake depends largely on the thorough beating given the yolks of the eggs. They would be beaten until as thick as mayonnaise. Instead of being baked the cake should stand in the refrigerator for at least thirty hours before being cut. Serve with whipped cream piled on top."
---"Ever Eat Refrigerator Cake? Instead of baking you put it in the ice box," Kansas City Star, October 19, 1917 (p. 2)
[1919]
"Ice Box Cake
There are two recipes for icebox cake in the new Stevenson Memorial Cook Book whcih,a s we knwo, has been put out for one of the best of causes...
One dozen lady fingers; one tablespoonful sugar; three eggs, separated; one cake sweet chocolate. melt chocolate in double boiler with tablespoonful of warm water. Add mixture of yolks of eggs and sugar, well beaten, a little vanilla, and lastly, well beaten whites of eggs. Dip each ladyfinger in mixture, arrange in form which has been wet with cold water, and fill in. Place in icebox over night. Serve with whipped cream."
The other recipe is for a larger cake ang gives fuller directions: "Three cakes sweet chocolate, three tablespoonfuls powdered sugar, three tablespoonfuls hot water, two dozne ladyfingers. Melt chocolate, sugar and water in double boiler and add half beaten yolks of six eggs. Line a mold with ladyfingers and pour half the mixture on them, then fill with ladyfingers, repeating with the chocolate mixture. Make twenty-four hours before serving. Just before serving whip one half pint of cream and put on top of cake. Grate a little chocolate over all."
---"Ice Box Cake," Jane Eddington, Chicago Daily Tribune, December 1, 1919 (p. 24)
[1923]
"Ice Box Cake
(Rich but oh, so good! If you are trying to reduce, turn the page.)
One-fourth cup water
One-half cup sugar
Two squares chocolate
Four egg yolks
One cup butter
One cup powdered sugar
One teaspoon vanilla
Four egg whites
Two dozen lady fingers.
Cook the water, sugar and chocolate together in a double boiler until the mixture is smooth. Add the beaten egg yolks. Cook for one minute, beating constantly. Cream the butter, and slowly add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Beat the egg whites very stiff and add to the first mixture. Line a square cake pan with waxed paper. Arrange lady fingers, split, around the sides and across the bottom. Add a layer of the cake mixture. Add another layer of the lady fingers and place the rest of the mixture on top. Set in an ice box with whipped cream. It is delicious but very rich."
---Bettina's Best Desserts, Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles Le Cron [A.L. Burt Company:New York] 1923 (p. 36)
[1924]
Chocolate Icebox Cake
Follow the recipe for almond icebox cake, omitting the nuts and adding to the creamed butter and sugar a half pound of grated sweet chocolate, melted."
"Almond Icebox Cake
3/4 cupful fresh butter
1 1/4 cupfuls sifted powdered or confectioner's sugar
3 eggs
1 cupful finely chopped toasted almond meats
1/2 pint heavy cream
1/2 teaspoonful almond extracts
12 macaroons
1 1/2 dozen single lady fingers
Beat the butter to a cream and work in the sugar, almond extract, and egg yolks. The add the egg whites, whipped stiff, and the copped nut meats, and combine the mixture with the cream, which should be whipped stiff and folded in. Line a three-pint mould with waxed paper, put a layer of macaroons on the bottom, interspersing them, if desired, with whole toasted almond meats, to form a design. Line the sides of the mould with lady fingers, arranging them vertically, put half of the cream mixture in the mould, of this lay the remaining macaroons, adding the balance of the mixture, and set in the coolest part of the refrigerator for twenty-four hours. To serve, unmould and garnish with additional sweetened whipped cream, putting it on by means of the pastry bag and tube."
---Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cook Book, Ida Baily Allen [Garden City:New York] 1924 (p. 603)
[1931]
"Ice Box Cake.
To be made with Lady Fingers, Sponge Cake, or Angel Food and Custard. Line a bowl with wax paper. Place lady fingers (or slices of cake) around the sides and over the bottom. Put part of the custard into the bowl, then a layer of cake, then custard and last cake. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 12 hours, or more. Invert the contents of the bowl onto a plate, cover the cake with whipped cream and serve it.
"Fillings for Ice Box Cakes...
Chocolate Custard:
3/8 pound sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons water
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
Melt the chocolate, add the sugar, water and egg yolks. Cook this mixture over hot water or over a low flame until it is smooth, stirring it constantly over hot water or over a low flame. Cool the mixture and fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites."
---Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer, fascimile 1931 edition [Scribner:New York] 1998 p. 266)
[NOTES: Also contains a rcipe for Cocoa Custard filling. The 1953 edition of this book calls this recipe "Refrigerator Cakes. The recipe & fillings are virtually unchanged.]
[1937]
"Chocolate Refrigerator Cake
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 1/3 cups sweetened condensed milk
1 egg, separated
1/3 cup chopped preserved ginger
2 tablespoons ginger syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Ladyfingers, split
Heavy cream, whipped
Melt chocolate in top part of double boiler, stir in condensed milk and cook until thickened. Stir 2 tablespoons chocolate mixture into beaten egg yolk; then add to remaining chocolate in double boiler and cook 3 minutes longer; cool. Stir in ginger, ginger syrup and vanilla and fold into stiffly beaten egg white. Line bottom and sides of mold or loaf pan with waxed paper, then with ladyfingers, round side out. Fill center with chocolate mixture, and if a loaf pan is used, arrange additional ladyfingers and chocolate mixture over top. Chill in refrigerator at least 4 hours. Unmold, slice and serve with slightly sweetened whipped cream. Approximate yield: 4 to 6 portions."
---America's Cook Book, Compiled by the Home Institute of The New York Herald Tribune [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1937 (p. 710)
[1944]
"Chocolate Refrigerator Cake
(For a Party)
1 7 oz pkg. Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablesp. Granulated sugar
3 tablesp. Cold water
3 eggs, separated
1 c. Heavy cream, whipped
1 teasp. Vanilla extract
1/2 teasp. Peppermint extract (optional)
18 lady fingers, split
Melt chocolate in top of double boiler. Add sugar and water, and mix well. Remove from heat. Stir gradually into egg yolks, and beat smooth with a spoon. Cool. Meat the egg whites stiff, and fold into the cooled chocolate mixture. Fold in the whipped cream and extracts. Arrange some of the lady fingers on the bottom of a loaf pan 10" X 5" X 3", and pour in some of the chocolate and whipped cream mixture. Then alternate layers of lady fingers with the chocolate mixture until the loaf pan is full and all lady fingers and chocolate mixture have been used, having lady fingers on top. Chill in refrigerator fo 24 hrs., and serve with or without whipped cream. Serves 12."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Completely Revised 7th Edition [Farrar & Rinehart:New York] 1944 (p. 653)

See also: Refrigerator Pie

Kolache

The art of stuffing dough with with sweet and savory fillings is ancient. Sweet pastries, such as kolache, harken back to Medieval days. Most European countries and cuisines adapted this simple formula to incorporate local ingredients and please local tastes. The names of the recipes are different but the basic idea is the same. About pie (& related foods..esp.check baklava) & galette (yeasted sweet cake filled/topped with fruit & nuts).

ABOUT KOLACHE
"Kolachy, kolache. A sweet flaky pastry usually made with a cream cheese and butter dough, occasionally with a yeast-risen dough. Kolachys have several traditional fillings, including poppy seed, cream cheese, jam, nuts, and berries or other chopped fresh fruit...Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia."
---International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst Books:New York] 1995 (p. 163)

"The oldest ritual leavened loaf which came into being soon after the Slavs embraced Christianity is shaped in a round, ring or like a cart and is called kolach in Bulgarian and Macedonian or kolac in Serbo-Croat and Slovenian, from the old Slavonic word for wheel, kolo. The term has been disseminated far beyond the Slavic languages; it has becom kulac or kullac in Albanian, kakacs in Hungarian, extended further to mean all types of breads, cakes and yeast cakes. Leavened bread, made from the finest flour, is used by the Orthodox Church for communion."
---The Melting Pot: Balkan Food and Cookery, Jaria Kaneva-Johnson [Prospect Books:Devon] 1999 (p. 231)

"With the records written in Latin, traces of everyday life buried in medieval kitchen refuse, and no extant cookery books from the [Medieval] period written in Polish or even claiming to be Polish, how do we arrive at the Polish table with a firm sense of cultural identity? Surely medieval Poles understood who they were and readily recognized certain foods as peculiarly their own. But perhaps this identity was also an evolving one, just as the Polish language itself was evolving at the time. During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Polish was heavily influenced by Czech, from which it borrowed many words and concepts. Was food likewise influenced by this same flow of ideas? The appearance in Polish of the Czech terms like kolace (from Latin collatio) would suggest this."
---Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscoveirng a Cuisine of the Past, Maria Dembinska, revised and adapted by William Woys Weaver, translated by Magdalena Thomas [University of Pennsylvania Press:Philadelphia] 1999 (p. 9)

"The Polish term for flat cakes, plaki, derives from the Latin placenta (cake) and covers a variety of forms without conveying a fixed meaning other than flat shape...Special recipes were prepared for Good Friday in waver irons...They were unleavened and generally eaten on fast days. Special recipes were prepared for Good Friday and stamped with appropriate religious symbols. There were also flat cakes baked with apples, evidently something akin to an apple pizza, and related in for to the kolace of Moravia."
---ibid (p. 117)

ABOUT KOLACHE IN AMERICA

"Kolache. Also "kolach" and "kolacky." A sweet pastry bun filled with cheese, poppyseeds, sausage, or, more commonly, jam or fruits like cherry, apricot, peach, pineapple, or prune, first mentioned in print in Willa Cather's novel My Antonia (1919). It is of Czechoslovak origins (the Czech word is kolace) and, as "kolacky," entered print about 1915. Kolaches are most popular in West Texas, where Czech immigrants settled in 1852."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 177)
[NOTE: Recommended reading: Cather's Kitchens: Foodways in Literature and Life, Roger L. and Linda K. Welsch. Sorry, no authentic Cather recipe. "We found no recipes for kolaches in the Cather files, but that isn't surprising: they were a part of the Czech kitchens she visited and described rather than those in which she grew up." (p. 82)]

ABOUT TEXAS-STYLE KOLACHE
If you want to hook in the local angle (is this if a history/sociology class?) you might want to include some background on Czech immigration. Czechs in Texas

"Between 1850 and 1920 thousands of Czechs left their homes in Moravia and Bohemia to come to Texas in search of a better life. Todat you can visit towns like Fayetteville, Praha and Hallettsville where the Czech language is in everyday use...The Czechs who settled in Texas in the middle and late 19th century were known mainly for two things. First, wherever they settled they worked hard and became useful, productive citizens. Second, the Czechs, or Bohemians as they were known, knew how to celebrate...In the 1880s pratically all Czech Texans libed in rural areas. Almost all were farmers who settled in a geographic triangle bound by Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. Some others made their homes in the lower Gulf coast and the Texas panhandle...Czech Texans continnue to celebrate weddings with a magnificent feast...Czech sausage, colaches, potatoes and other traditional favorites are still served...Today a typical menus might include soup, baked pork loin, sauerkraut, boiled potatoes and kolaches for dessert."
---The Melting Pot: Ethnic Cuisine in Texas, Institute of Texas Cultures [University of Texas at San Antonio:San Antonio] 1977 (p. 37-8)

Kolache festival, Caldwell, TX
Czech Heritage Society of Texas

Kolache is also quite popular in Nebraska. Sample pioneer-era recipe:

"Kolaches
Scald one pint of milk, let cool to lukewarm. Dissove one and one-half cakes compressed yeast in one-fourth cup lukewarm water to which one teaspooon of sugar has been added. Let rise while milk cools. Add dissolved yeast to cooled milk and make a sponge. Let rise until light. Cream together one cup sugar one one cup butter. Add three egg yolks and two whole eggs, well beaten, and two teaspoons salt. Add to the sponge and mix well. Stir in nour enough to handle well. Let rise until light and roll out to one-half inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter. Make a depression in the center and fill. Let rise and bake in a quick oven. Any of the following fillings can be used:
Fruit filling: Mash stewed prunes. Add sugar and cinnamon to taste, and sprinkle with coconut or chopped nuts. Apricots, peaches, apples, or any canned fruit may also be used.
Poppy seed filling: Gring poppy seed and boil it in just enough water to keep moist. Then add sugar, cinnamon, and maple syurup to taste; raisins; and three or four gingersnaps, ground.
Cottage cheese filling: Combine grated rind of lemon, one-half cup sugar, one tablespoon cream, two egg yolks, and one pint of dry cottage cheese."
---Nebraska Pioneer Cookbook, Compiled by Kay Graber [University of Nebraska Press:Lincoln NE] 1974 (p. 86-7)

Related food? Danish & Kuchen

Kuchen

Apfelkuchen descended from a long line of sweet yeast breads. Food historians tell us ancient bakers in the middle east often used fruits and nuts in their breads, cakes, pastries, and cookies. This tradition was also practiced by the Ancient Romans, who are credited for spreading fruits (apples) and recipes throughout Europe.

Apfelkuchen in a German word that literally translates into "apple cake." There are dozens of variations on this simple theme ranging from apple chunks in basic dough to complicated compotes encased in batter cakes. While the title of this particular cake is German, the recipe is also known in other European countries. The central core is generally this: apfelkuchen is a simple recipe, one enjoyed by the 'average' person.

Recipes for kuchen of all types were introduced to America by settlers of Northern European descent. Most notably are the Germans, who settled here in great numbers.

"Kuchen can usually be translated as cake (large or of biscuit size)...Although Kuchen often refers to something less fancy than a Torte, one of the most famous Kuchen is very fancy indeed. This is the Baumkuchen...Streuselkuchen (crumble cake) can be a palin rubbed-in cake..with cinnamon-flavoured crumble topping. A more elaborate version, called Apfelstreuselkuchen, has a layer of apple...pure between two layers of crumble."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 802-3)

"Kuchen. The German word for cake or pastry. Kuchen is a cake or pastry made with a sweetened yeast-risen dough that is either topped with a mixture of sugar and spices or nuts or filled with fruit or cheese before baking. Kuchen is the classic coffee cake and is served for both breakfast and dessert."
---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst:New York] 1995 (p.167)

"Kuchen, any of several varieties of coffee cake, were the pride of every nineteenth-century immigrant German baker, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Each cook or housewife had a yeast-based "kuchen" dough, which she would shape into rectangular crusts and top with either fruit or cheese, or she would twist with cinnamon and nuts into a streusel or coffee cake, or roll up jelly-roll style in to Schenecken...By the end of the century, baking powder came into use and replaced yeast in many kuchen. Quick breads and cakes gradually replaced the slower yeast-raised doughs. In May 1906, the Ladies' Home Journal ran an article on kuchen by Lola D. Wangner. "There seems to be a steadily-growing fondness among us for the German coffee-cakes or kuchen...They are to be found on many of our breakfast-tables on Sunday morning. These cakes are peculiar to Germany, every part of the Fatherland having its own methods of making them, and there are more than one hundred recipes."
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 308)

HISTORIC RECIPES

[1884] Dutch Apple Cake
[1889] Apple Cake (Kuchen)
[1919] Apple Cake (Kuchen)

Related food? Coffeecake (scroll down for notes on crumble & streusel), Kolache & Danish

Tortes

Culinary historians generally agree that torten, a specialty of Austria and neighboring regions were known in the early 19th century. Sacher torte, a rich chocolate confection, is perhaps one of the most well-known. Linzer torte and Dobos torte are also quite popular. French gateau is closely related.

What is torte?

"Torte. The German word for cake. Tortes are usually made with flour, sugar, eggs, and gutter, but often ground nuts or bread crumbs are substituted for some or all of the flour. Tortes have a moist quality that keeps them fresh for several days. A torte may be either a multilayered cake or a dense-textured single-layer cake...Tortes originated in Central Europe."
---International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst Books:New York] 1995 (p. 304)

"Torte is a German word which corresponds fairly closely to gateau. Its sister-word, Kuchen, can usually be translated as cake (large or of biscuit size); but in this case the connection see also quiche, by derived term. Torte appears in the title of many celebrated Central European confections, including sachertorte."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 802)

"Nineteenth-century Danubian nations...created the riches and creamiest layer cakes, or torten in Europe. Vienna was the undisputed capital of the confectioner's art."
---Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking Through the Ages, William Harlan Hale [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 662)

About sponge. Desserts composed of layers of sponge and cream were known in the 16th century. About English trifle.

About Dobos torte

"Dobostorte, named after Dobos, a famous Hungarian chef who created it in 1887, is made by building up five or more thick circles of savoy sponge sandwiched with layers of a creamed filling, often flavoured with chocolate. The top layer of cake is covered with a layer of sugar caramel, marked into portions."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 802)

"Jozsef C. Dobos, born 1847, was pround of the fact that an ancestor on his father's side was the chef of Count Rakoczi. Toward the end of his life he opened a fabulous food specialty shop in Budapest, where he stocked over sixty different cheeses and twenty-two kinds of champagne and managed to import every rare seasonal delicacy imaginable. Famous far and wide was his showmanship, whether it was a machine of his own invention that projected a clock face on the sidewalk, or his stunt of hollowing out a fifty-kilo cheese, pouring in a magnum of the finest burgundy, leaving it in the shop window until the wine had completely soaked into the cheese, then selling pieces to the passionate epicures who flocked to buy from him. It was in this shop that he created and sold his famous Dobos torta in 1887. He had devised a packaging for sending this delicacy to foreign countries. Soon everybody started to imitate this cake, mostly with very bad results. This prompted him to publish the authentic recipe in 1906, donating it to the Budapest Pastry and Honey-bread Makers Guild. The sensation of the Millennium Exposition in 1896 was the Dobos Pavilion, where guess what was baked and served! One of the four major works he published is his Hungarian-French Cookbook. It sands as a classic. The world remembers thte anniversaries of battles and birthdays of great composers--what what city other than Budapest would stage a full-scale festival to commemorate the seventy-fifth birthday of a torte? In 1962, Dobos torta had this unique honor when the Hungarian Chefs' and Pastry Chefs' Association placed a wreath on Dobos' grave to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the creation of the Dobos Tortae. After this, in the Hungaria Cafe-Restaurant, they held a banquet, reproducing one of his great dinners; and for two days the Vorosmarty Pastry Shop sold only cakes and tortes of his creation. His grandson was presented with a heart made of traditional honey bread, and a six-foot-diameter Dobos torta was paraded by pastry chefs through the avenues of Budapest. Dobos died in 1924."
---The Cuisine of Hungary, George Lang [Atheneum:New York] 1982 (p. 61-3) [NOTE: This book contains a modernized recipe for Dobos Torte.]

About Linzertortes
Jindrak, an Austrian company famous for its linzertortes, traces this recipe back to 1696. It attributes this tasty flaky pasty and fruit recipe to a 300 year old cookery book [author/title not cited].

"Nineteenth-century Danubian nations...created the riches and creamiest layer cakes, or torten in Europe. Vienna was the undisputed capital of the confectioner's art...The Linzertorte, whose descent is obscure, could well be the contribution of Linz, the capital of upper Austria which like Vienna and Budapest is located on the banks of the Danube."
---Horizon Cookbook and Ilustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the Ages, William Harlan Hale [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 662)

"Another well-known Austrian pastry, the Linzertorte, takes is name from the medieval city of Linz, which, like Vienna, stands beside the Danube and prospered as a trading center. The Linzertorte itself is a raspberry-filled delight that has become increasingly popular here in the United States. It has inspired miniature Linzer Tarts, and, more recently, Linzer Hearts, filled cookies that allow just a bit of raspberry jam to peek through a heart-shaped opening in the center..."
---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [Ohio University Press:Athens] 1998 (p. 241-242):

American Heritage [magazine] June 1965 attributes the introduction of Linzertortes to America to Franz Holzlhuber

"In 1856 Holzlhuber, an enterprising young Austrian from the vicinity of Linz, started for America. He had very little money but was equipped with a zither, a sketchbook, some education in the law and in draftsmanship, and the promise of employment in Milwaukee as conductor of an orchestra. Somewhere between New York and Wisconsin, he lost both his luggage and the letter confirming his job, which, it turned out, was no longer available. Nothing daunted, he went to work as a baker-introducing (so he said) the Linzer Torte to America..."

About Sachertorte
Classic folklore surrounding the origin of the Sachertorte here:

"Sacher torte. A famous Austrian cake served on festive occasions in German-speaking countries. It is a rich chocolate sponge cake glazed in apricot, and spiced with bittersweet chocolate. It was first produced in 1832 by Franz Sacher, chef to Prince von Metternich, and is reputedly the only cake in the world that was ever the subject of a court case."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 679)

[NOTE: This book contains a brief description of the case. It also refers to another book, Festive Baking in Austria, German and Switzerland by Sarah Kelly.]

"Sachertorte. A famous Viennese gateau, created at the Congress of Vienna (1814-5) by Franz Sacher, Metternich's chief pastrycook. Sachertorte (literally, Sacher's cake')...For years, Vienna was divided into two camps by the sachertorte controversy. The supporters of the sachertorte as it was served at the Sacher Hotel--two layers separated by jam, the top being iced--were led by the descendants of Franz Sacher, who regarded their verion as the only authentic one. On the other side were the customers of the famous Demel patissiere, who based their claim on the rights acquired by Eduard Demel from Sacher's grandson, who authorized the so-called true' recipe (the cake is simply spread with jam, then covered with icing), as published in Die Wiener Konditore by Hans Skrach. The Sacher Hotel finally won the court case that fascinated Vienna for six years. Demel replied by claiming that his was the Ur Sachertorte (the original cake)."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 1010)

Sponge cake

Opera cake, Madeleines, Lady fingers & Genoise

Food historians generally agree that sponge cake (as we know it today) was probably a European recipe invented in the early 19th century. Prior to this there were recipes for 'biscuit bread' or 'sponge fingers' which would have produced a similar product. Sponge [spunge] cake and it's many variations were used ingredients a several popular Renaissance-era desserts such as English trifle and fooles. Gervase Markham, Robert May, and Elizabeth Raffald [early 17th century English cookbook writers] included recipes for "Fine bread," "Bisquite du Roy," and "Common biscuits," that are close to sponge cake.

"Sponge cake.
a light cake made by the whisking method in which egg yolks are beaten with sugar, then flour and other ingredients added...The term 'sponge cake' probably came into use during the 18th century, although the Oxford English Dictionary has no reference earlier than a letter Jane Austen wrote in 1808 (she evidently like sponge cakes)...Towards the end of the 19th century something called a 'sponge-cake pudding' began to appear, but then became simply sponge pudding."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 748)

"Savoy, a type of sponge cake...The Savoy biscuit arrived in England early in the 18th century. However it did not arrive alone. Other similar 'biscuits', named according to their supposed origins--Naples, Lisbon, or Spanish biscuit--also became popular in England at that time, and the differences between them, if differences there were, no doubt perplexed people then as they do now. When Mrs. Mary Eales gave a recipe for 'spunge biscuits' in her Receipts (1718), the situation became clearer, since this phrase conveys to British ears the correct impression, whereas terms such as 'Savoy biscuit' suggests something different. Morever, Mrs. Eales specified that the biscuits should be baked 'in little long pans', which corresponds to the shape of modern sponge fingers (or Boudoir biscuits)"
---Oxford (p. 702)

OPERA CAKE
L'Opera cake/gateau is a 20th century recipe with Ancient roots. Not unlike Tiramasu.

The practice of layering cakes with sweet substances (honey), intoxicating liquors (wine) and accented with nut flavorings (almonds) was a particular favorite of ancient middle-eastern cooks. The Romans adopted/adapted this recipe and took it with them when they conquered Europe. It is no accident that 16th century English cooks created "trifle." Chocolate and coffee (were introduced to Europe in the 16th-17th centuries but (due to economics) were not incorporated into recipes until the 19th century. According to the Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson (p. 748) sponge cake was also created in the 19th century. Also related to L'Opera gateau are Genoise (almond-flavored sponge with various decorations and fillings) and Savoy (sponge made by beating egg yolks and whites beaten separately). About sponge cake.

"Opera gateau is an elaborate almond sponge cake with a coffee and chocolate filling and icing."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated, [Clarkson Potter:2001] (p. 814)

"A classic for the past twenty years, the Opera was created for those who unabashedly choose chocolate and butter cream over fruit desserts. What makes this low, flat cake more modern than any of its predecessors is its shape (usually square or rectangular), and its undecorated sides that show all the layers. L'Opera is traditionally composed of layers of Biscuit Joconde, an almond sponge, that have been thoroughly soaked with coffee syrup...Some pastry shops decorate the top with the word Opera, written in panach with all the swirls that the French love so much..."
---New French Baker, Sheila Linderman [William Morrow:New York] 1998 (p. 66)

"Opera cake. This is a classic chocolate-coffee cake that I believe was first made in the 1930s for an important French-American reception held at the Paris Opera."
---La Nouvelle Patisserie, Jean-Yves Duperret [Viking:New York] 1988 (p. 155)

MADELEINES (sponge recipe)
The food historians haven't quite determined the exact origin of the Madeleine as of yet. Their connection to Marcel Proust is his reference to them in the opening lines of his autobiography Remembrances of Things Past. Proust's original text.

"In culinary lore, Madeleines are always associated with Marcel Proust, whose autobiographical novel, Remembrance of Things Past, begins as his mother serves him tea and "those short, plump little cakes called petits madeleines, which look as though they had been molded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell." The narrator dips a corner of a little cake into the tea and then is overwhelmed by memories; he realizes that the Madeleines bore "in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast tructure of recollection." ...But Madeleines had existed long before Proust's boyhood. Numerous stories, none very convincing, attribute their invention to a host of different pastry cooks, each of whom supposedly named them for some particular young woman. Only three things are known for sure. One is that Madeleine is a French form of Magdalen (Mary Magdalen, a disciple of Jesus, is mentioned in all four gospels). Another is that Madeleines are always associated with the little French town of Commercy, whose bakers were said to have once, long ago, paid a "very large sum" for the recipe and sold the little cakes packed in oval boxes as a specialty in the area. Finally, it is alow known that nuns in eighteenth-century France frequently supported themselves and their schools by making and selling a particular sweet...Commercy once had a convent dedicated to St. Mary Magdelen, and the nuns, probably when all the convents and monastaries of France were abolished during the French Revolution, sold their recipe to the bakers for an amount that grew larger with each telling."
---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [Ohio University Press:Athens] 1998 (p. 178)

"Madeleine, a small French cake associated with the town of Commercy in Lorraine...Legends about the origin of the name are critically discussed by Claudine Brecourt-Villars [Mots de table, mots de bouche, Paris:Stock 1996]. Madeleines have earned themselves an immortal place in literature, as the taste on one dipped in limeflower tisane provided the basis for Marcel Proust's celebrated reference to them, and the phrase a madeleine of Proust...The name madeleine has also been applied, for reasons which are obscure, to an English product: a small individual sponge cake in the shape of a truncated cone, covered in jam and dessicated coconut, and surmounted with a glace cherry."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 468)

"Madeleine...The origin of this seashell cake so strictly pleated outside and so sensual inside" (Marcel Proust) is the subject of much discussion. It has been attributed to Avice, chef to Tallyrand, the French statesman, who had the idea of baking a pound-cake mixture in aspic moulds. Other authorities, however, believe that the recipe is much older and originated in the French town of Commercy, which was then a duchy under the rule of Stansilaw Leszczynski. It is said that during a visit to the castle in 1755 the duke was very taken with a cake made by a peasant girl named Madeleine. This started the fashion for madeleines (as they were named by the duke), which were then launched in Versailles by his daughter Marie, who was married to Louis XV. The attribution of the cake to Madeleine Paumier, cordon-bleu to a rich burgher of Commercy, seems doubtful."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 709)

"Madeleine...A chronicler of the history of pastry-making ways that the great pastry-cook, Avice, when he was working for Prince Talleyrand, invented the madeleine. He had the idea of using tot-fait or quatre-quarts mixture for little cakes baked in an aspic mould. M. Boucher and Careme approved of the idea. He gave the name of madeleines to these cakes.' (Lacam, Memorial de la patisserie.). Other authorities, however, hold that far from having been invented by Avice, these little cakes were known in France long before his time. They believe that they were first made at Commercy, and were brought into fashion about 1730, first at Versailles and then in Paris, by Stanislas Leczinski, father-in-law of Louis XV, who was very partial to them. The recipe for Madeleines remained a secret from a very long time. It is said that it was sold for a very large sum to the pastry-makers of Commercy who made of this great delicacy one of the finest gastronomic specialties of their own."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne, edited by Charlotte Turgeon and Nina Froud [Crown:New York] 1961 (p. 603-4)

Recipes for madeleines have changed over time:

[1890's]
"1290. Madeleines
These are made with the same kind of batter as Genoese cakes, to which currants, dried cherries, candied peel or angelica may be added. When the batter is ready, let it be poured into a sufficient number of small fluted or plain dariole or madeleine moulds (previously buttered inside); these must be placed on a baking-sheet spread with some charcoal ashes, to the depth of half an inch, and then baked in an oven of a moderate heat. When they are done, turn them out of the moulds, and dish them up in a pyramid form. These cakes may also be partially emptied, then filled up with some kind of preserve, and the small circular piece, removed previously to taking out the crumb, should be replaced."
---Francatelli's Modern Cook, Charles Elme Francatelli [David Mckay:Philadelphia] 1890s (p. 442)
[1941]
"French Madeleine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups butter, melted
Rum, if desired
Vanilla extract or lemond rind
Work the eggs and sugar in a double boiler until creamy and lukewarm. Remove from the fire and beat until cold. Add the flour gradually, mixing with a wooden spoon, the butter and the rum, if desired, vanilla extract or grated lemon rind. Butter and flour the Madeleine molds, fill them 2/3 full. Bake in a hot oven about 450 degrees F. Yields 24 to 30 small Madeleines."
---Cooking a la Ritz, Louis Diat [J.B. Lippincott Company:Philadelphia] 1941 (p. 424-5)
[NOTE: Mr. Diat also offers a recipe for "Viennese Madeleine," which includes marzipan, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, melted butter and cornstarch.]

About sponge.

ladyfingers

The recipe for ladyfingers (aka biscuits a la cuilliers, boudoir biscuits) originated in Europe (likely England, France, Italy, or Spain); the name is English. Food historians tell us these small sponge cakes were "invented" in the 18th century. About sponge cake/biscuits.

"Ladyfinger. A light sponge-cake biscuit. The name comes from the usual shape of the confection, which is long and narrow, light and delicate...The word often appears in the possessive, "Lady's finger," and the plural, "ladies' fingers," and was first mentioned by John Keats in his poem The Cap and Bells (1820). Ladyfingers have long been a popular confection in America, where some recipes call for the pastry to be pushed through a pastry tube."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 179)

"Boudoir biscuits are in effect the same as sponge biscuits or sponge fingers, ladyfingers (N. America) and savoy biscuits (an older term). They are long, finger-shaped, crisp sponge biscuits based on whisked egg and sugar mixtures with a crystallized sugar topping. In France they are also called biscuits a la cuiller. Helen J. Saberi (1995) has investigated the history and significance of the unusual name "boudoir biscuits'. Although boudoir entered the English language from French long ago and its application to these biscuits could therefore have arisen in England, it seems clear that the French were the first to use the name. Boudoir comes from the French verb bouder, to pout, and normally refers to a woman's private room where she would receive only her intimate friends--who could pout and nibble sponge fingers as much as they wished in this cloistered environment."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davison [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 90-1)

"Ladyfingers are dry, airy cakes, often with a sugar crust which are made by piping a stiffly whipped egg-and-flour batter into diminutive oblongs. The sponge batter used for lady fingers was developed in Europe by the seventeenth century to produce Naples or Savoy biscuits. Introduced to colonial America under those names, the cakes were often baked in specially designed tins or paper cases of varying sizes and shapes. The term "ladies' fingers" was used in America no later than the 1820s, although recipes for Savoy biscuits, in which one puts the batter "into the biscuit funnel, and lay it out about the length and size of your finger."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 25)

The line from Keats read thusly:
"Fetch me that Ottoman, and prithee keep your voice low," said the Emperor; "and steep some lady's-fingers nice in Candy wine."

Ladyfingers and similar products are used to compose English trifles, Zuppa Inglese, and Tiramisu. Notes here.

A SURVEY OF LADY FINGER RECIPES THROUGH TIME:

[1828]
"Biscuits a la Cuilliere. Take a silver spoon, and use the same paste as above (Savoy Biscuits, cold). To dress savoy biscuits, and biscuits a la Cuilliere, you must glaze them with fine sugar, and bake them in a very temperate oven."
---The French Cook, Louis Eustache Ude, English facsimile 1828 reprint [Arco Publishing:New York] 1978 t(p. 417)
[1869]
Finger Biscuits.
Break 6 eggs; put the whites in the whipping bowl, and the yolks in a basin; To the latter add 1/2 lb of pounded sugar, and stir for five minutes; Whip the whites very firm; then put them in the basin containing the yolks, adding 5 oz. of sifted flour; mix thoroughly. Take a sheet of stiff paper, and shape it into a funnel; secure it with sticking paste; and when dry, fill it with the biscuit paste; close the top, by folding over the paper, and cut off the end of the funnel, making an opening 3/4 inch diameter; Force some of the paste out of the funnel, on a sheet of paper, in the shape of a finger 3 inches long, 1 inch wide; leaving an inch space between each biscuit; dredge come sifted sugar over them; put them on a baking-sheet, and bake in a moderate oven for ten minutes; let the biscuits cool on the paper; then take them off, and dress them on a dish; The biscuits are flavoured by the addition of vanilla, lemon, or orange flower."
---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son, & Marston:London] 1869(p. 204)
[1875]
"Lady Fingers. Whisk four fresh eggs thoroughly, the whites and the yokes separately. Mix smoothly with the yolks three ounces of powdered sugar and three ounces of flour, add the whites, and afterwards a quarter of a pint of rose-water. Beat all together for some minutes. Have ready a well-buttered baking tin, form the paste upon it with a spoon in "fingers," three inches long and three-quarters of an inch wide, sift a little powdered sugar over them, let them stand five or six minutes to melt the sugar, then put them into a moderate oven, and bake until they are lightly browned. When cool, put them in pairs, and keep them in a tin canister closely covered until wanted for use. Time to bake, about twenty mintues. Probable cost, 8d. Sufficient for two dozen fingers."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875 (p. 352)

The other food sometimes referred to as "Lady fingers" [by the British] is okra. If this is the food you want, check here for notes.

Genoise
Genoise is one of several types of sponge cake. According to the food historians, this cake was *invented* in the early 19th century. About sponge cake. There are also other confections known by this geographic appelation. Genoa Cake, for one. These are somewhat similar in ingredients.

The Genoa connection
Presumably, these recipes are connected with the Italian city of the same name. This busy trading port served as one of several crossroads for importing/exporting foods from Arab countries throughout Europe. These included ingredients generally found in geneoise: almonds, currants, raisins, citrus and spices.

"Genoa's position in the Mediterranean in summed up in the medieval proverb genuensis ergo mercator, a Genoese therefore a trader. In the eleventh century, the Arabs beban losing their position to the Normans in Sicily. The decline of Arab supremacy meant the rise of the other powers like Genoa. But by the late fourteenth cetnury, Genoa was in danger of falling to foreign domination and decadence. The enterprising Genoese avoided this fate by exploring new ways to assure a prosperous future. Commerica interests from northern Europe, with their expertise in building mountain roads, found Genoa suitable for their entry into the profitable shipping trade, and by the fifteenth century Genoa was the leading financial city of the world. Genoa played an early role as an intermediary between Seville and the New World and forged an alliance with Spain in 1528...The Ariadne's thread throguhout Genoses history is the concern for a reliable food supply...The Genoses were their own principal customers of food, and the luxuries of the East--which made them rich--were reexported at high profit. Genoa traded with whomever could provide food."
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 348)

What makes Genoise special and how is used?,br> "Genoise. A type of sponge cake...but is not to be confused with Genoa cake, which is really a type of light fruit cake. Whole eggs are beaten with sugar until thick, and the flour then folded in. This type of sponge may be simply dusted with icing sugar and eaten plain; or split and filled with jam and cream, or butter icing. The top may also be iced. Sheets of genoise are used to make Swiss rolls. Genoise-type mixtures are also made into sponge fingers...and French Madeleines."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 334)

"Genoese Sponge, genoise. A light sponge cake that takes its name from the city of Genoa. Genoise sponge is made of eggs and sugar whisked over heat until thick, then cooled and combined with flour and melted butter. It can be enriched with ground almonds or crystallized (candied) fruits and flavoured with liqueur, the rind (zest) of citrus fruits or vanilla. Genoese sponge...differs from ordinary sponge cake in that the eggs are beaten whole, whereas in the latter the yolks and whites are usually beaten separately. Genoise sponge is the basis of many filled cakes. Cut into two or more layers, thich may be covered with jam, cream, or fruit puree. It is coated, iced (frosted) and decorated as required."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkston Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 55)

Sample historic recipes:

[1869]
"Genoise Cake.
Put in a basin:
1/2 lb. of pounded sugar
1/2 lb. of sifted sugar
1 small pinch of salt,
the grated peel of a lemon,
4 eggs;
Mix the whole, with a wooden spoon;
Melt 1/2 lb. Of butter in a stewpan; pour it in the paste; and mix thoroughly; Slightly butter a plain-pudding mould; put the paste in it, and bake for three quarters of an hour; ascertain if the cake is done, by inserting the blade of a small knife;--if it somes out damp, the cake is not quite done, and should be left in the oven a few minutes longer; Turn the cake out of the mould; let it cool; and serve."
--Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated from the French and adapted for English use by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son, and Marson:London] 1869 (p. 203)
[1875]
Genoese Cake.
Melt half a pound of butter by letting it stand near the fire. Mix thoroughly half a bound of flour, half a pound of sugar, a pinch of salt, and the finely-minced rind of a lemon. make them into a paste with a wine-glassful of brandy, four eggs, well beaten, and the clarified butter. Beat for te minutes with a wooden spoon. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pie-dish, and bake in a moderate oven. When the cake is sufficently cooked (this may be ascertained by pushing a skewer into it, and if it comes out dry and clean it is done enough), take it out, and cover it with sugar and blanched almonds (see Genoa Cake). Time, three quarters of an hour to bake, a quarter of an hour extra to brown the almonds. Sufficient for a pudding-dish two inches deep and five inches square. Probable cost, 1 s. 6 d., exclusive of the brandy."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1975 (p. 247-248)
[1875]
Genoa Cake.
Mix a quarter of a pound of currants, a quarter of a pound of raisins, a quarter of a pound of candied lemon, orange and citron together--all being finely minced--as much powdered cinnamon as will stand on a threepenny piece, six table-spoonfuls of moist sugar, half a pound of flour, and the finely-chopped rind of a fresh lemon. Beat these ingredients for several minutes, with half a pound of clarified butter, four well-beaten eggs, and two table-spoonfuls of brandy. put the mixture in a well-buttered shallow tin, and bake about three-quarters of an hour. Mix the white of an egg with a table-spoonful of sherry. Brush the top of the cake with this, and strew them finely--chopped blanched almonds on the surface. Put it in the oven a few minutes longer, to brown the almonds slightly. Probable cost, 1s. 10d., exclusive of the brandy. Sufficient for a tin two and a half inches deep, and four inches square."
---ibid (p. 247)

Texas sheet cake

Food historians have not quite determined the true origin/history of the Texas Brownie/sheet cake. They do, however, confirm chocolate cake & brownie-type desserts are early 20th century recipes. Why? That's when the price of chocolate declined to the point where it was readily available to general public. What was heretofore considered an expensive treat was now a common cooking ingredient. Cooks let their imaginations fly!

About devils' food
About brownies

This is what the food historians/writers have to say on the subject:

"Texas sheet cake. One of my all-time favorite cookbooks is a little spiral-bound paperback called Food Editors' Hometown Favorites published in 1984 by the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Association. It is appears this heavenly chocolate cake spread with fudge-pecan icing. it was contributed to the book by Dotty Griffith, food editor of the Dallas Morning News. But the accompanying headnote says the recipe was also submitted by food editors all over the country. Some attribute the cake to Lady Bird Johnson. Others say it got its name because it's as big as Texas--well, not quite. The cake couldn't be easier to make, it's suprisingly light, but my, it is sweet."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the Twentieth Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 459)
[NOTE: This book includes a recipe.]

"WHAT'S COOKIN'?
Question: Where does Texas Sheet Cake get its name?
A) From the super-chocolatey taste, as big as Texas.
B) From the fact that the taste is so intense, people can eat only a small piece - meaning one cake will serve a Texas-size crowd.
C) From its overall richness - a big taste in a big cake from a state that was supersizing things long before fast-food places were.
D) All of the above.
The answer, if you've ever tasted the famous cake, has got to be D. Texas Sheet Cake is chocolate through and through, rich and decadent. As for whether it originally came from Texas, I couldn't find a definite answer. But Lone Star cooks were smart to get their state's name on something that tastes so good."
--- "A chocolate cake from the land of the supersized," Ann Burger, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), January 28, 2001, G, Pg. 6

Texas Sheet Cake: Hospitality in A Cake/ Pat Mitchell

Sheet vs. Sheath cake?
Food historians ponder this linguistic puzzle. Without definate conclusion. It appears somewhere in middle of the 20th century the terms sheet and sheath were interposed. A survey of historic culinary sources confirm recipes for Shealth/Sheet Cake in the American South are quite similar. They are generally rich, chocolate-based cakes with equally rich icing.

"When it comes to desserts, Texans have plenty to brag about. From such delights as Texas Sheet Cake and Buttermilk Pie to sweet favorites like Peach Cobbler and German Chocolate Cake, the Lone Star State's signature desserts are as remarkable as the state itself. Everyone has a favorite, of course, but one of the most universally loved desserts is the Texas Sheet Cake or Texas Sheath Cake, depending on whose recipe box you're looking in. Cooking instructor and cookbook author Lenny Angel says she got her recipe for Texas Sheath Cake in 1963 two years before she moved to Texas from Nebraska. "My mother, who lived in Illinois, mailed it to me. Texas Sheath Cake has become the birthday cake for my family. My son John adores it so much we had it at his wedding as the groom's cake," she says. "I have run into zillions of people in my classes that love that cake. I think it's a family favorite of so many you hardly ever meet anyone who doesn't know that cake." Angel theorizes that the real name of the cake is Texas Sheet Cake, noting that bakeries often sell "sheet" cakes of various flavors. "I think someone had bad ears and didn't hear right, and that 'sheath' was an offspring of sheet," she says. Angel, whose family now refers to the cake simply as Texas Cake, says she tried to broaden their culinary horizons by baking "the new white Texas cake not too long ago. My family nixed it. I loved it, but they didn't," she says."
---"Sweets from the Heart of Texas," Karen Haram, San Antonio Express-News (Texas), May 21, 1997, FOOD; Pg. 1, Part F

Compare the above description with this southern recipe, circa 1967:

"Mrs. Elkins' Sheath Cake
2 cups sugar
2 cups sifted flour
1 stick margarine
1/2 cup shortening
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift sugar and flour into large bowl. In saucepan, bring next 4 ingredients to rapid boil; stir into sugar and flour. Mix in other ingredients. Pour into greased 11X16 inch pan. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees F. 5 minutes before done, make icing.
Icing:
1 stick margarine
4 teablspoons cocoa
6 tablespoons milk
1 box confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans,br> Bring cocoa, margarine and milk to boil. Remove from heat, adding sugar and vanilla. Beat well. Add pecans and spread over hot cake while still in pan.--Mrs. William P. Dilworth, III"
---Hunstville Heritage Cookbook [Junior League of Hunstville Inc.:Hunstville AL] 1967 (p. 260)

Victoria sandwich cakes

Culinary evidence confirms sandwich cakes originated in the 19th century. Essentially composed of sponge cake filled with jams or soft creams, these were popular Victorian tea treats. Like so many popular English desserts, they descended from Renaissance-era trifles. Tipsy cake is a version with alcohol.

"A sandwich cake is a sponge cake consisting of a layer of filling, such as cream or jam, sandwiched between two layers of sponge....Victoria cake."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 300)

"The Victoria sandwich, or Victoria sponge as it is also known, was named after Queen Victoria of Great Britain, and seems first to have come on the scene after about a quarter of a century of her reign: the first known recipe for it is given in Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861) (although from its placement in the book she seems to regard it more as a dessert dish than a tea-time cake). Essentially it consists of two layers of light sponge cake with between them a filling of jam, or sometimes cream."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink (p. 358-9)

"Victoria sandwich cake named after Queen Victoria, is a plain cake made by the creaming method...closely related to pound cake. Although sometimes referred to as Victoria sponge cake', it is not a true sponge cake in the sense that Savoy or Genoise are. Usually it is cut in half and spread with jam and/or cream to give a sandwich. The top is usually dusted with sugar."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 826)

About sponge cake

Mrs. Beeton's orginial recipe:

"1560. Victoria Sandwiches.
Ingredients.--4 eggs; their weight in pounded sugar, butter and flour; 1/4 saltspoonful of salt, a layer of any kind of jam or marmalade.
Mode.--Beat the butter to a cream; dredge in the flour and pounded sugar; stir these ingredients well together, and add the eggs, which should be previously thoroughly whisked. When the mixture has been well beaten for about 10 minutes, butter a Yorkshire-pudding tin, pour in the batter, and bake it in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Let it cool, spread one half of the cake with a layer of nice preserve, place over it the other half of the cake, press the pieces slighly together, and then cut it into long finger-pieces; pile them in cross bars on a glass dish, and serve.
Time.--20 minutes. Average cost, 1s 3d
Sufficient for 5 or 6 persons. Seasonable at any time."
---Mrs. Beeton's Cookery and Household Management, Isabella Beeton [1874] London (p. 775-6)
"Lemon Sandwiches.--Required: a cake mixture, and a lemon filling as below. Cost, according to quantity. Take a mixture as given for Swiss Roll, Sponge Cake, Geneva Cake, or any other similar sort. Bake on two shallow tins, so that when done it shall be only a quarter of an inch thick. Turn the two pieces out upside down, on sugared papers, and spread the mixture, then put together, and cut in any shapes to taste. To prepare the filling, allow a small lemon, two ounces of castor sugar, and a beaten egg; the proportions must be doubled or trebled according to the size of the tins used for the cakes. The lemon juice is first to be heated in a saucepan, and the sugar stirred in, then the grated lemon rind, and the beaten egg of the fire; set by to cool before using. For richer sandwiches, use the curd given for lemon cheesecakes, but this will be more generally preferred."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and Company:London] 1894(p. 1032)
[NOTE: This book also contains recipes for orange sandwiches]

Related recipe? lady fingers

Tipsy parson

Tipsy Parson (aka Tipsy Cake, Tipsy Pudding) descends from Renaissance-era English Trifle. This particular multi-layered sponge cake and cream dessert is soaked in alcohol (brandy, sherry, etc.). The "tipsy" refers to what might happen to the diner who eats too much of it! None of our sources offer explanation regarding the "parson" portion of the name. About English trifle.

"Tipsy cake is a traditional English dessert, first cousin to the trifle. As its name suggests, its key ingredeint is alcoholic: it consists essentially of sponge cakes soaked in sweet sherry or some other dessert wine, decorated with almonds, and with custard poured round it. The first reference to it was reportedly by the writer Mary Russell Mitford in 1806: 'We had tipsy cake on one side, and grape tart on the other.'"
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford Univeristy Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 344)

"Tipsy cake, a sponge cake or Victoria Sandwich Cake soaked with cherry syrup and decorated with cream. Popular since the late 18th century, it belongs to the British tradition of cake, cream, and alcohol puddings such as trifle. Eliza Acton (1845) gave Tipsy Cake the alternative name of Brandy Trifle. Florence White (1932) whent one step further and combined what was known as hedgehog cake with tipsy cake into a hedgehog tipsy cake. Versions exist in other countries such as the Spanish bizcocho borrecho a la crema, a type of sponge cake soaked in syrup flavoured with rum and orange liqueur, and filled with a lemon-flavoured custard."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 799)

"Tipsy. Also, "tipsy parson" in the South. A sponge cake spread with almonds, soaked in sherry , and served with custard (1570). It was a dish of the late nineteenth century. The name apparently refers to the alcohol content, which if taken in large doses would make the imbiber "tipsy" or slightly drunk."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 327)

"Tipsy Parson or Tipsy Squire comes from colonial Virginia. A dessert obviously very like the English trifle, its name is a double play on words. Since it contains sherry it could, conceivably, bake one who overindulged a bit "tipsy," but it is equally true that a pudding made of cake and custard may wobble drunkenly if turned out of its mold."
---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [Ohio Univeristy Press:Athens OH] 1998 (p. 203)

ELIZA ACTON'S RECIPE [1845]

"Tipsy Cake, or Brandy Trifle.
The old-fashioned mode of prepariang this dish was to soak a light sponge or Savoy cake in as much good French brandy as it could absorb; then to stick it full of blanched almonds cut into whole-length spikes, and to pour a rich cold boiled custard round it. It is more usual now to pour white wine over the cake, or a mixture of wine and brandy; with this the juice of half a lemon is sometimes mixed."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 reprint with an introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 396)
Compare with this American recipe, circa 1877.

Related food? Victorian Sandwich Cakes.

Wacky cake & Dump cake

Wacky cake (aka Cockeyed Cake)is an interesting study in culinary chemistry. What sets Wacky Cake apart from other chocolate cakes? Vinegar and method. WWI-era Dump Cakes likely provided inspiration. They do not, however, include vinegar.

It is interesting to note that two popular 20th century American food history books (Jean Anderson's American Century Cookbook and Sylvia Lovegren's Fashionable Food) place this recipe in the 1970s. Culinary evidence confirms this recipe existed in the 1940s. Wacky cake is but one example of the tradition of "make do" cakes that were popular during times of short supply. Contrary to popular opinion, eggless, butterless cakes were not invented at that time, they were revived from WWI days (which were revived from pioneer days). Dump Cake is another descendant of Wacky Cake in method.

"Dump cake. A cake made by "dumping" the ingredients directly into the baking pan, mixing them, and baking the batter."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 117)

The earliest reference we find to Dump cake is from a Duncan Hines company cooking brochure published in 1980 (sorry, we don't own a copy).

"Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake. In a way, this is a variation on Chocolate Pudding Cake...But it takes the "quick-and-easy" one step further: The cake is mixed in the baking pan. That's part of the wackiness. Another is that the batter contains vinegar and water, but no eggs. Like Chocolate Pudding Cake, this one is shortened with oil instead of butter or margarine."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 467)

RECIPES

[1912]
"Dump Cake
Dump into a dish all together the following articles: One cup butter, two cups sugar,three eggs, four cups flour, one pound chopped raisins, one teaspoon soda in a cup of cold water, two teaspoons cream tartar. Any spice you choose. Mix well. Bake in two deep pans."
---"Tried Recipes," Christian Science Monitor, January 31, 1912 (p. 6)
[1943]
"Hole-In-The-Middle Cake
1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
2 T cocoa
1 t soda
1/2 c melted butter
1 c sour milk or cream
1 egg
1 t vanilla
Sift dry ingredients and make a deep hole in the middle. Add sour milk, egg, butter, and vanilla, and mix well. Bake in 350 dgtree oven 40 min.
Icing
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
lump of butter
milk to moisten
Boil until it reaches the soft ball stage. Remove from fire and beat throroughly. Helen Olheim."
---The Connecticut Cookbook, Woman's Club of Westport [Harper & Brothers:New York] 1944 (p. 210)
[1949]
"Wacky cake. A favorite recipe of Mrs. Donald Adam, Detroit, Michigan.
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons shortening
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water.
Sift flour, Measure. Add sugar, cocoa, soda and salt. Sift into greased and waxed paper lined 9X9X2 inch pan. Make 3 grooves in dry ingredients. Put shortening in 1 groove, vinegar in the second, and vanilla in the third. Pour over cold water. Beat until almost smooth. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for 30 minutes. Makes 12 servings."
---New York Times, November 17, 1949 (p. 23)
[NOTE: This recipe was included in a display ad for The Time Reader's Book of Recipes, Time magazine, (E.P. Dutton:New York)]
[1960]
Cockeyed Cake
(This is a famous recipe, I believe, but I haven't the faintest idea who invented it. I saw it in a newspaper years ago, meant to clip it, didn't, and finally bumped into the cake itself in the apartment of a friend of mine. It was dark, rich, moist, and chocolatey, and she said it took no more than five minutes to mix it up. So I tried it, and, oddly enough, mine, too, was dark, rich, moist, and chocolatey. My own timing was five and a half minutes, but that includes hunting for vinegar.)
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water
Put your sifted flour back in the sifter, add to it the cocoa, soda, sugar, and salt, and sift this right into a greased square cake pan, about 9X9X2 incues. now you make three grooves, or holes, in this dry mixture. Into one, pour the oil; into the next, the vinegar; into the next, the vanilla. Now pour the cold water over it all. You'll feel like you're making mud pies now, but beat it with a spoon until it's nearly smooth and you can't see the flour. Bake it ad 350 degrees F. for half an hour."
---The I Hate to Cook Book, Peg Bracken [Harcourt, Brace & World:New York] 1960 (p. 104)
[1978]
Wacky Cake or Crazy Cake
Cake
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cold water
Frosting
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup sifted confectioners' (10X) sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teasoon vanilla extract.
1. Cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Sift four, sugar, cocoa, soda, and salt together into ungreased 8X8X2-inch baking pan.
3. Make three wells in mixture with spoon: one large, one medium, and one small. Into large well pour oil; into medium well, vinegar; into small well, vanilla. Pour water over all and stir with fork until smooth; do not beat.
4. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until springy to touch
5. Frosting: Melt butter in saucepan, add 10X sugar, cocoa, salt and vanilla and beat until smooth. If too stiff to spread, thin with few drops hot water.
6. As soon as cake tests done, transfer to wire rack and spread at once with frosting. Cool cake before cutting.
---Woman's Day Old-Fashioned Desserts [1978], as reprinted in The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 467)

Cake icing and frosting

In their most basic form, confections of all kinds can be traced to ancient cooks. Sweetmeats were popular in Medieval times. The history of modern confectionery is generally traced to Renaissance Europe, where white sugar (although available) was very expensive and highly prized. At that time, sugarpaste and marchepane (marzipan: a paste of almonds and sugar shaped into elaborate forms) were sometimes used to decorate elaborate cakes. Food historians generally trace modern icing, named such because the finished product, a glaze (aka glace), was supposed to look like ice, to 18th century England. What is the difference between icing and frosting ?

"In medieval times, icing--a sprinkling of sugar--was put on top of savoury as well as sweet foods: fish pies, for instance. But the iced cakes we are familiar with today started to emerge in recognizable form in the seventeeth century; in those days, once the sugar had been applied (either directly, or to a layer of beaten egg white), the cake was returned to the oven for a while for the icing to harden. That was still the case in the eighteenth century, when the term icing is first actually recorded in Elizabeth Raffald's Experienced English Housekeeper (1769)...The term icing has also in the past been applied to marzipan, as used for topping cakes: Mrs. Beeton give a recipe for this almond icing'. Of roughly equal antiquity with the term icing is frosting, which is the preferred word in American English. The term icing sugar is first recorded in 1889; American English also uses confectioners' sugar."
--- An A to Z on Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 168)

Mrs. Raffald's icing recipes [1769]
"To make Almond Icing for the Bride Cake
Beat the whites of three eggs to a strong froth; beat a pound of Jordan almonds very fine with rosewater. Mix your almonds with the eggs lightly together [with] a pound of common loaf sugar beat fine, and put in by degrees. When your cake is enough, take it out an lay your icing on and put it in to brown."
"To make Sugar Icing for the Bride Cake
Beat two [pounds of double-refined sugar with two ounces of fine starch, sift it through a gauze sieve. Then beat the whites of five eggs with a knife upon a pewter dish half and hour. Beat in your sugar a little at a time, or it will make the eggs fall and will not be so very good a colour. When you have put in all your sugar beat it half an hour longer, then lay it on your almond icing and spread it even with a knife. If it be put on a s soon as the cake comes out of the oven, it will be hard by that time the cake is cold."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald [c. 1769], with an introduction by Roy Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1997 (p. 135)

[NOTE: Mrs. Raffald's icing recipes are the precursors to Royal icing.]

"Davidson...surveys the evolution of icing in England in the 18th century and 19th centuries and identifies Mrs. Raffald (1769) as the first author to provide for the combination of cake, marzipan, and royal icing. Her cake was a bride cake', which had also been known as a 'great cake' and only acquired the name wedding cake' in the 19th century. However, until the late 19th century, icing was reserved for special cakes. An 18th century icing was usually made by beating the ingredients together in a mortar, spreading the mixture over the cake, and drying it in a low heat. Mrs. Glasse (1747) writes : with a Brush or Bundle of Feathers, spread it all over the cake, and put it in the oven to dry; but take Care the Oven does not discolour it.' In North America the term frosting' has a slightly longer history than icing', but the two terms became interchangeable and icing' has now become the perfect usage.'"
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 394-5)
[NOTE: this book has information on they differenty types of icing/frosting. If you need more information please ask your librarian to help you find a copy.]

"Though cake icing had begun, perhaps only in the highest circles, in the seventeenth century, until the early nineteenth century if anything were to be iced it was most likely to be marchpanes in the early period, tarts rather later. Only a simple glazing was involved when the term 'ice' first began to be used. The earlier decorated marchpanes already referred to were, as has been seen, to be washed over with a rosewater syrup before being put into the oven for that will make the 'Ice'. The same should, however, also be done with a cake as soon as it came out of the oven...The addition of white of egg was the beginning of new things an there was always more than one possibility...The spicing of icings was...already on its way out in the eighteenth century. A simple version, merely a pound of sugar to the whites of seven eggs, was offered by the first Scottish cookery book (McLintock 1736)...Starch began occasionally to feature at the same period. It was often taken up subsequently and came to be added to commercial icing powder when this began to be manufactured in the mid-nineteenth century. Also in the nineteenth, lemon juice was substituted for the earlier flower-waters and the passion for whiteness projected some into including the powder blue. The concern with whiteness had been explicit, despite the somewhat different initial connotations of the term ice, since icings in the modern sense developed out of glazes. Icing was, until much more recent times, an item of lavish display in itself, its whiteness and direct indicator of the quality and expense of the sugar from which it was produced...By then, colouring was a possibility, as it had not been at the earlier period, and for that an inferior sugar could be used. By then too, perhaps with a change in the ovens used, ...'Cakes should never be put into an an oven after being iced,'... Modification was made over time therefore, and there was some more radical experimentation continuing too. Hannah Glasse tried adding starch and some gum tragacanth as another way to Ice a great Cake in a confused entry of her first edition. In her third, To Ice a Great Cake she proposed something altogether different, twenty-four whites to one pound of sugar, put onto a cold cake: If does not do well hot....The effect would have been what in modern terms woud have been a soft meringue rather than icing...Even in the eighteenth century there had therefore been a good deal of experimentation. Fondant icing was available but mixtures normally termed royal icing remained the standard in Britain."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History, Simon R. Charsley [Routledge:London] 1992 (p. 67-69)
[NOTE: this is one of the best book on the topic of icing/frosting. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy. Chapter 6: Confectionery and Icing, pages 64-81)

Icing vs. frosting
Why two names for the same basic item? The general concensus of the food historians is that icing is the traditional European term. Frosting is a broader American appellation which includes cooked, fluffy coatings. Notes here:

"Icing. A preparation of icing (confectioner's sugar used to coat sweet goods). Glace and royal icing are the traditional types., but the term covers a variety of cake coverings, including American frosting--a whisked mixture of egg whites and sugar syrup, prepared over hot water to give a foamy, soft and sweet surface when cooled. Frosting sets slightly on the surface when cooled."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and upadated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (P. 617)

"Frosting. The American term for icing, used as a noun to describe the mixture applied as a cake covering and filling, and a s a verb to describe the process fo applying it. Frosting covers soft icings and cake fillings, such as buttercream, chocolate icing, or glace icing, but not royal icing, which is known by the came name. Outside America, the soft cake covering and filling made by whisking sugar syrup into egg whites is usually called American frosting."
---ibid (p. 529)

" Frosting is an alternative term to icing often used in the United States. It seems first to have been applied to pulverised sugar, perhaps with starch added to reduce caking, when this began to be manufactured commercially in the mid-nineteenth century. American interest in icings/frostings has typically been greater than British; a far wider range is generally offered by American cookery books than by British."
---Wedding Cakes and Cultural History (p. 144)

"Icing. A term often interchangeably with "frosting" and preferred in America to describe the sugar-and-water mixture used to decorate and cover cakes..."Frosting" actually precedes "icing" in print, the former appearing around 1610, the latter in 1760, with icing considered a somewhat lighter, decorative glaze than frosting. But in America it became normal to used "icing" (and the verb "to ice") to describe either form of the confection."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 166)

Icing types
A survey of late 19th and early 20th century American cookbooks reveals a variety of different frosting recipes. It is an interesting study of flavoring, texture, ingredients, and imagination. If you are interested in researching this, check the full-text cookbooks linked from the Food Timeline (They are indicated by italics).

[1869] Icing, Complete Confectioner, Pastry Cook and Baker, Eleanor Parkinson
[1884] Frosting, Boston Cook Book, Mrs. Lincoln

Buttercream

An extensive survey of late 19th-early 20th century American cookbooks confirms buttercream icing (as we know it today) is a modern recipe. Why this time period? Food historians suggest it might have been the result of product availability and corporate promotion. The two main factors that set buttercream apart from traditional icings of the day (besides the butter, course!) are that it does not require cooking or eggs. During World War I eggs were very scarce and eggless recipes proliferated. Perhaps there is a connection?

"Butter cream frostings. Strangely, thse easy icings don't seem to have been in the repertoire of nineteenth-century American cooks, who chose to bind powdered sugar with raw egg white or yolk. Or to cook their frostings. In searching through several dozen cookbooks dating back to 1880, I found a butter frosting only in the 1915 Larkin Housewives' Cook Book...The Larkin Company, "Pure Food Specialists," sold chocolate, sugar, salt, assorted flavorings, and just about everything else the cook needed...Mrs. Fred W. Gurney of North Attleboro, Massachusetts, ...submitted her Mocha Frosting--the first butter cream I've been able to locate...A similar mocha frosting appears in the 1918 edition of "Fannie Farmer,"...By its 1923 edition, "Fannie" had added four more butter creams. And by the 1930s, these were the frostings cooks had come to rely on. For good reason. They were quick, versatile, and foolproof."
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 486)

Precursors to modern buttercream are late 19th century cake fillings/frostings employing rich cream. These recipes would have produce a more liquidy type of frosting than we know today, but the finished product was probably pretty close:

"Cream frosting.
From Mrs. Mary Payton, of Oregon, Lady Manager.
One cup of sweet thick cream, sweetened and flavored with vanilla. Cut a loaf cake in two and spread the frosting between and on top. This tastes like Charlotte Russe."
---Favorite Dishes: A Columbian Autograph Souvenir Cookery Book, Compiled by Carrie V. Shuman, facsimile of 1893 edition [University of Illinois Press:Urbana] 2001 (p. 172-3)
Icing without eggs, Inglenook Cook Book, Elgin Illinois, 1906

The earliest recipe we find for a buttercream-type was printed in a company cookbook in 1908. Note: it is not called buttercream!

"Mocha Filling and Frosting
6 tablespoons butter
2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons dry cocoa
3 tablespoons liquid coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Beat the butter to a cream, adding one cup of the sugar; then sift and add the cocoa. Beat well, put in the coffee and remaining sugar, and then the vanilla. Spread between and on top of layers of cake."
---Rumford Complete Cook Book, Lilly Haxworth Wallace [Rumford Chemical Works:Providence RI] 1908 (p. 155)
[NOTES: The Rumford company made baking powder. This recipe appears to be very similar to the one referenced by Ms. Anderson. Interesingly enough? It also comes from New England.]
Fannie Merritt Farmer'sBoston Cooking School Cook Book [1918] lists several frostings, some with butter; most without.

Fondant

Royal icing
Royal icing descends from 18th century glace and sugar paste. Recipes for these confections present themselves under several names and and various permutations. Royal sugar sculpture elevates this substance to veritable works of art.

While recipes creating "royal icing" type coatings exist in 18th/19th century British & American cookbooks, the oldest print reference for a recipe with that title was published in 1896. Prior to this, our sources reveal this item was titled "Ornamental Icing."

Why the name?
None of our sources divulge this information. Our survey of historic American newspapers (Historic Newspapers/ProQuest, Americas Historic Newspapers/Readex) and cookbooks confirm the popularity of Royal Icing surged in the dawning decades of the 20th century. Curiously? We find no references to Royal Icing in the Times [London] historic database. Possibly this is an American appellation?

What is Royal icing?
"Royal Icing. The harding type of icing used for coating wedding, birthday and celebration cakes; it being almost an airtight casing, cakes coated with this type of icing will usually keep for a very long time. It consists of icing sugar and whites of eggs beaten together until they become almost as light and pliable as stiffly whipped cream. A little blue is sometimes added to give that expert whiteness, and acetic acid to haste its drying or hardening proces.."The Master Dictionary of Food & Cookery, Henry Smith [Philosophical Library:New York] 1951 (p. 204)

"Royal icing. An icing made from confectioners' sugar, egg whites or dried meringue powder, and a few drops of lemon juice, which dries to a rock-hard finish. Royal icing is used for long-lasting delicate cake decorations such as fine line piping and flowers. The icing can be tinted with food coloring. United States."
---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries, and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst Books:New York] 1995 (p. 264-5)

"Royal icing, made with egg whites and icing sugar, is a completely different preparation to glace icing, used for coating marzipan-covered fruit cake and for adding piped decoration. Royal icing dries to a fairly hard consistency and it keeps for several months."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 618)

Compare these recipes:

[1845]
"Ornamental Frosting," Housekeeper's Assistant/Ann Allen
[1884]
"Ornamental Frosting," Boston Cooking School Cook Book/Mrs. D.A. Lincoln
[1896]
"Royal Icing
Take the whites of 2 or 3 eggs, being very particular to remove every particle of yolk; place in a clean bowl; now stir in sufficient of the very finest pulverized sugar, to make a medium thick paste: now add 10 or 15 crips of citric acid (procure come dry citric acid at any drug store, and dissolve it in water); lemon juice may also b used, but the acid is best; this is to produce a gloss, also to whiten the icing; now with a fork or spoon beat this paste until it is very light and stiff, so stiff that when you take out the spoon the icing will stand up in drops: then it is done; do not add any more sugar after beginning to beat it, as it would make it very heavy. The object is to produce as stiff an aicing as possible, and at the same time to have it light and spongy. Fancy Cook."
---"Housekeeper's Department," Boston Daily, April 12, 1896 (p. 27)

What are the differences/similarities between Royal icing and Buttercream frosting?
Royal Icing is traditionally made with egg whites, sugar, lemon juice. It produces a hard product well suited for decoration. Butter Cream recipes are all over the map. Original Butter Cream recipes featured sweet butter; subsequent recipes sometimes subsitituted synthetic shortenings. A few also included dairy cream. Butter Cream frostings produce a softer, moister covering condusive to conveying flavor rather than artistic decoration.

The egg white factor:
We're not finding any titled "true butter cream" but we do find several examples with and without egg whites. We even found one with egg yolks! Early 20th century professional texts generally include egg white. Home cookbooks often omit this ingredient, esp. as the century progressed. It may help to compare Royal and Butter Cream icings published in professional texts:

"Royal Icing
Beat up well in an earthen bowl with wooden spatulas, 3 lbs. of icing sugar and 8 eggwhites. Add a few drops of aecetic acid, lemon juice or cream of tartar. When partly beaten the icing can be used for covering wedding cakes using a rather stiff icing for first coat and a softer icing for second coat so it can be spread nice and smooth. It will aquire a nice gloss if dried before the open oven door mouth. For decorating icing continue beating till icing stands up well and can be drawn to points. When icing is to be used for decorating with fine tubes the sugar best be sifted or some of the icing can be presssed thru a fine clean sieve. This icing dries quickly and must therefore be covered up with a damp cloth or a plaster of paris cover which is soaked in water. Add a little blueing to icing to make it look whiter."
---Practical Cake-Art, Fred Bauer [Fred Bauer:Chicago IL] 1923 (recipe no. 64)

"Butter Cream.
2 1/2 pounds of icing sugar, 1 pound of good sweet butter, 2 ozs. corn starch, 5 eggwhites. Rub sugar and butter till light and creamy add starch and then the whites of eggs gradually, flavor with vanilla."
---ibid (recipe no. 49)

"Royal Icing
Take from 3 to 4 egg whites of eggs to 1 lb. XXXX sugar and a pinch cream of tartar. Put in a cake mixer and beat until it stands up well. This icing is used for decorating fancy wedding and birthday cakes. Also all kinds of flowers. In making flowers with this icing it is best to run them on wax paper until dry, then remove them and place on the cakes."
---Master Cake Baker, Cleve Carney [Calumet Baking Powder Company:Chicago IL] 1927 (p. 83)

"Butter Cream Icing
4 lbs. Confectioner's Sugar
1 pt. Cream (about)
1 lb. Sweet Butter
These ingredients are creamed up in a cake mixer until light. More butter may be added and less cream if desired, or a good lemon or vanilla custard may be added in the place of the cream or milk."
---ibid (p. 85)

"Royal Icing ingredients: egg white, icing sugar, juice of lemons or Fleischmann's Cream, vanilla (p. 444)
Several recipes for Butter Cream are offered:
1. Raw Butter Cream: sweet butter, icing sugar, egg white, vanilla
2. French Butter Cream: icing sugar, sugar-yolk, sweet butter, icing sugar, vanilla
3. French Butter Cream (2): icing sugar, egg white, sweet butter, icing sugar, vanilla
4. Boiled French Butter Cream (1): sugar, glucose, water, sugar-Yolk, sweet butter or part shortening, flavor to suit.
5. Boiled French Butter Cream (2): sugar, glucose, water, whole egg, butter, flavor to suit.
6. Boiled Butter Cream: granlated sugar, water, Fleischmann's Cream, egg white, sweet butter, vanilla.
7. Butter Cream (stock): granulated sugar, water, corn starch, water.
---A Treatise on Cake Making [Fleischmann Division, Standard Brands Inc.:New York] 1935

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