Kitchen Retro

I noticed the cupcakes immediately. Though I’m a native New Yorker, I have never watched a single episode of Sex and the City. But I am aware that the movie has just come out and there are premieres going on seemingly everywhere BUT New York City.

I have learned that Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie ate a cupcake at Magnolia Bakery,  to get over romantic disappointment.  Well, now we’re talking! I can relate to this somewhat. I once ate some stale Archway cookies in my college dorm room when I was depressed about my love life back in the 1980s. That’s sort of similar, right? Not as glam, but there’s a certain connection.

Oh, fine. Never mind then. Back to the cupcakes!

I found a couple of genuine retro,  New-York-City-bred cupcake recipes that would console anyone. They are from the 1929 Any One Can Bake, from the Royal Baking Powder Co. of 100 East 42nd Street. Damn tootin’ any one can bake! And anyone can eat an orange or a chocolate cupcake, too. Or a strawberry puff cupcake. And chase the whole lot down with an anise stick, why not? Perfect with a cup of tea and a good chat with someone who will listen to you whine and maybe recite your latest poem about romantic angst. Good times, I tell you. Beats those Archway sprinkle cookies by a mile!

First of all, tremendous thanks to Tarrant at Retro Food, for alerting us all to the fact that it was National Fruit Cocktail Day yesterday! I am not sure if we are celebrating this in Canada (which I plan to use as my excuse for not knowing this), but I would like to mark the occasion with a couple of recipes that pay cakey tribute to the wonder that is canned fruit cocktail. [I am a day late, I have just realized, and in fact today, the 14th, is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day - but no matter!]

The classic rendition is from The Hospitality Cookbook: Favorite Recipes From Ministers’ Wives (1960, reprinted 1969). And if Fruit Cocktail Cake is not hospitable, I just don’t know what is (I rephrased the end of the recipe, which was replete with remarks about how good this is the second day, etc.):

FRUIT COCKTAIL CAKE

1 egg - beat in mixing bowl
1 medium sized (#2) can of fruit cocktail - pour juice and all into bowl with egg

Add to the above:

! cup each flour and sugar
1/2 tsp soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Stir together well. Pour into greased baking pan (or glass) about 8″ by 12″ size.

Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup nuts; sprinkle over top of cake. (You can use more brown sugar and nuts). Bake at 325 degrees about 45 minutes. Good warm with ice cream.

Ida Bailey Allen is a little more daring and artistic in her Money-Saving Cook Book (1947). She says to whip up a 3 egg sponge cake (I reckon any sponge cake or plain cake will work here) and bake it in 2 layers. Then put the layers together with any kind of jam.

“Then with a kitchen fork prick down through the cake on top 10 times to make small holes. Pour in 3/4 cup pineapple juice or use equal parts orange juice and Tokay wine. Chill at least one hour. Then decorate the top with sections of canned pineapple and cherries; or instead, make small insertions and in each stick half a blanched almond nut meat cut in halves lengthwise. To serve, place on a good-sized platter and surround with slightly sweetened, well-chilled fresh fruit cocktail.”

I don’t know about that last bit. it sounds potentially rather soggy.

Slashfood has an article on National Fruit Cocktail Day, too, and apparently the big name here is Libby’s - how fortuitous that I had a Libby’s ad in the previous post! But I would like to point out that Del Monte is also a big, big name in the Fruit Cocktail World, witness the above ad - which suggests another exciting idea for dessert, Crunchy Fruit Baskets. Something bothers me about it, I am not sure what. The name, possibly, or the resemblance to birds’ nests, or the implication that the canned fruit is going to be the high point of the meal.

A selection from a Girl Scouts’ cookbook, Be Prepared (1968), from South Africa. It is really more like a confection than a cake.

MARIE’S LONDON CAKE

1 packet or 8 oz. digestive biscuits
2 oz. butter or Maypole margarine
2 Tb golden syrup
4 1/2 oz. slab chocolate
1 Tb each of finely chopped nuts and glace cherries and angelica
Half an orange or lemon

1. Crumble biscuits finely.
2. Melt butter or margarine, syrup and chocolate together.
3. Mix biscuit crumbs, chopped fruit and nuts with melted mixture.
4. Line a cake tin, 7 inches diameter, with greased sandwich paper base.
5. Pack cake mixture into tin, and pat smooth with cut side of lemon or orange.
6. Refrigerate till firm.
7. Top with coffee flavored cream or coffee icing.

You can also do this in a square tin (they suggest a 6 1/2 inches square tin), and each square can be “topped with a suitable decoration.” A candied cherry would be suitable, wouldn’t it? Or a chocolate coffee bean, those are really good.

The ad is from the cookbook. I guess you’d be prepared all right - that is one enormous fridge.

…And some Afternoon Tea Cakes, too. Both dainty, yet substantial. Just like Mrs. Moody, no doubt. The pictures and recipes are from Any One Can Bake (1929), “Compiled by the Educational Department of the Royal Baking Powder Co., 100 East 42nd St., New York City.”

AFTERNOON TEA CAKES
Baked in frilled paper cases

1 egg
3/4 cup sugar
2 Tb butter, melted
1 1/2 squares chocolate, melted
1 cup pastry flour
1 tsp Royal Baking Powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup milk

Separate egg.  Beat yolk well; add sugar slowly, continuing to beat. Add melted butter and chocolate. Sift flour, baking powder and salt and add alternately with milk. Fold in stiffly beaten egg white.

Partly fill the paper cups, set each in muffin tin and bake in moderate oven at 34 degrees for fifteen minutes. Decorate with nuts or cherries in white frosting.

Very nice for parties and when used for children’s party, decorate each cake with a teaspoon of confectioner’s sugar frosting, the sugar being moistened with hot milk, teaspoon butter, flavored and pushed out of spoon with forefinger to make a little mound. On each mound stand an animal cracker.

Makes 32 very small cakes.

MRS. MOODY’S WONDER CAKE

1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups pastry flour
2 tsp Royal Baking Powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 egg whites

Cream butter with powdered sugar; add alternately a little at a time, milk and pastry flour which has been sifted with baking powder. Add vanilla and fold in beaten egg whites. Bake in three buttered layer tins in moderate oven at 325 degrees F, twenty minutes. Increase to 350 F last half of making.

Fruit Filling and Frosting

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
3 egg whites, beaten
1/2 cup muscatel raisins (cut in pieces)
1/2 cup shaved pecans
1/2 cup chopped figs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Boil sugar wirh water until syrup spins a thread at 238 degrees F. Add slowly to egg whites, beating continually until cool. Add raisins, pecans, figs and vanilla. Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.

Makes three 8-inch layers.

I’ll tell you something that I wonder - i wonder if Mrs. Moody stole her recipe from Mrs. Lane of Lane Cake fame, which John Mariani describes in A Dictionary of American Food (1983) as “a layer cake with a fluffy frosting and containing coconut, chopped fruits and nuts in the filling.” The original recipe was first printed in 1898, and the book that I used came out in 1929. Although Mrs. Moody did omit the coconut - so it is a little bit different.

Still, let’s hope that Mrs. Lane has other plans for afternoon tea.

Even spicy Betty Crocker, she of the gingerbread mix, must know that really - honestly - this does not require “easy directions on the package.” I think we just need to look at the picture. Dab on some whipped cream (or Cool Whip, really - that would fit in with the general scheme nicely), and then dab on the strawberry jam. I could do that!

And such a fancy name, too. The jewel part being the jam. And the gingerbread being the, um, gingerbread. Got it.

The final marshmallow critters - Fritz the Dachshund and my personal favorite, George the Giraffe.

GLUE FOR MARSHMALLOW FAVORS

1 1/2 cups unsifted confectioner’s sugar
1 egg white, unbeaten

In small bowl of electric mixer on medium, beat sugar with egg white until mixture is thick enough to hold a definite shape. Keep glue covered with damp cloth until ready to use. Makes about half a cup. When using on favors, let glue dry completely on each part before going on to next part.

FRITZ THE DACHSHUND

1. For body, string 5 large marshmallows on a wooden skewer.
2. Make each leg with 2 mini marshmallows on half of a wooden pick. Insert 2 legs into each end of body; then insert into inverted paper plate, for support.
3. Make head: Cut ears and nose from brown paper. Make slits with wet knife in a large marshmallow: insert ears and nose. Glue small piece of licorice candy to nose; add 2 pieces of licorice string to head, for eyes. Att ach head to body with wooden pick.

GEORGE THE GIRAFFE

1. For neck, insert a wooden skewer through centers of 7 mini marshmallows. Insert into apple, for support, while making head.
2. Make head add another mini marshmallow to neck, inserting skewer through side. Glue a mini marshmallow to last marshmallow on neck, flat ends together. Add pieces of licorice string, for eyes. Cut ears from white paper. make slits in head with wet knife; insert ears.
3. Use large marshmallow for body. Insert neck into body. Insert 4 wooden picks on underside of body, for legs; insert legs into inverted paper plate, for support.

And there you have it! For the rest of the marshmallow series:

The whole kit and caboodle: group photo!

Part 1: Lamb and Piglet

Part 2: Snowman and Turtle

Part 3: Poodle and Hippo

Part 4: Elephant and Lion

Part 5: Three Little Seagulls

This is a nice recipe, but the photo is strange. If you want to see gorgeous photos of the best Bundt cakes ever, I refer you to the incomparable T.W. Barritt at Culinary Types.

The weird waiter is in several photos in this book, jealously guarding a Bundt cake in a dark, moody setting. I don’t know who he is or why he is so obsessed.

WALNUT-BOURBON POUND CAKE

2 cups finely chopped walnuts
1/2 cup bourbon
3 q/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
8 eggs
2 cups butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup bourbon

In small bowl, combine walnuts and 1/2 cup bourbon, mix well. Let stand. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and spices. Set aside. In small bowl, beat eggs until they are thick and light. In large bowl, cream butter with sugar until light; beat in vanilla. Add beaten eggs, beating at low speed, then at high speed until mixture is thick ad fluffy. Gradually beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in bourbon-walnut mixture. Turn batter into greased and floured 12-cup Bundt Pan; spread with rubber scraper s that batter is slightly higher at side and against tube. Place a 12″ square of brown paper over pan. Bake 55-60 minutes at 350. Cool in pan 10-15 minutes; turn out on wire rack to complete cooling. Soak 18-inch square of cheesecloth in 1/2 cup bourbon. Wrap cake completely in cheesecloth then in foil. Store several days in an airtight container. Just before serving glaze with Coffee Glaze and garnish with nuts or sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

COFFEE GLAZE

2 tsp instant coffee
scant 3 Tb hot milk
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 Tb soft butter

Dissolve instant coffee in hot milk. In small bowl, combine sugar and butter. Gradually add milk to achieve desired consistency and stir until smooth.\

This recipe is from Over 300 Ways To Use Your Bundt Pans(1973) brought to you by the Nordic Ware Kitchen/Northland Aluminum Products folks in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I love the bossy title of this booklet - Will You Bake Please? For heaven’s sake, get to it. We’re hungry for Coconut Macaroon Cupcakes over here!

Cocoanut Macaroon Cupcakes

3 cups cocoanut
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg white
6 Tb cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg white
candied cherries

Combine cocoanut, 1/3 cup sugar and one egg white in double boiler. Cook over boiling water until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sift flour and baking powder together. Add to cocoanut mixture almond extract, mix well. Beat egg white (second one) until foamy. Add remaining sugar gradually 2 Tb at a time. Continue beating until mixture will stand in soft peaks. Fold into cocoanut mixture. Place paper liners in muffin tin and fill 3/4 full with batter. Top with cherry. bake in slow oven, 325 degrees, 25 minutes.

This sounds good to me. I like a lot of cocoanut (or coconut, if you prefer) in things.

Would You Bake Please?  was put out by the B’Nai Brith ladies of Hamilton, Ontario in 1968 and it is quite delightful and quirky. I think the title is not supposed to be bossy, it refers to them asking each other to contribute to bake sales. But I like to say it to myself in a commanding (and slightly sarcastic) voice. Don’t just stand there! Bake! Bake right now! No, stop what you’re doing. Step away from the laptop!

And one of the husbands is quoted as giving my favorite cooking advice of all time, possibly. In capital letters, so you don’t miss it:

ALL APPLES ARE BASICALLY FOR EATING AND COOKING.

I like the “basically.” There may be other things we can do with apples, that are more complex, but otherwise eat them or cook them. That is all.

Image of Coconut Pyramids from an early 20th century cigarette card, courtesy of the New York Public Library Digital Gallery.

Balmoral Cake was a Victorian-era caraway-seed cake baked in a fancy mold, as seen in the link here. But Balmoral Fruit Cake was a ginger-fruit cake, according to Anna Lee Scott in the 1947 opus Cooking Made Easy: A Domestic Science Course For Users of Monarch Pastry Flour. Monarch was made by the Maple Leaf Milling Co. Ltd., so you will not be surprised to learn that this was a Canadian endeavor.

I have checked all my English, Scottish and non-Anna-Lee-Scott Canadian cookbooks, and found no Balmoral-type cake recipes of the caraway or the ginger-fruit persuasion.  It sounds really good though, and the next time I am making a loaf cake I might try this.

Balmoral Fruit Cake

Yield - 1 loaf

This is a cake you may easily find yourself making with great frequency. It ripens nicely in a day or two, if stored in a closely-covered tin…and will actually keep well for a day or more.

Oven temperature - rather slow, 325 degrees.

Prepare a loaf pan (about 5 by 10 inches, top inside measure).

Pick over, wash ad dry 1 cup sultana or other light-colored seedless raisins.
Prepare 1/4 cup finely-chopped preserved or candied ginger
and 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
Sift, then measure 2 cups Monarch Pastry Flour
Add 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt

Sift [dry ingredients] together once, then sift into a bowl. Add the prepared fruits and nuts and mix lightly until each bit is coated with flour.

Cream until soft 12 Tbs butter (or mixture of butter and shrtening), and gradually blend in 1 cup very fine granulated or fruit sugar; and cream thoroughly.

Beat until light 2 eggs and add to creamed mixture, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the flour-fruit mixture, about one-quarter at a time, combining thoroughly after each addition. Turn batter into prepared loaf pan and spread evenly. Bake in a rather slow oven, 325 degrees, about 1 1/4 hours. Let stand on wire cake rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan.

Balmoral is most famous for being the castle in Scotland beloved by Queen Victoria, and still used by the Queen today. It is the name of several towns around the world, mostly in Australia, New Zealand, and two in Canada - one in New Brunswick, and Balmoral Mills in Nova Scotia. This last is home to the Balmoral Grist Mill - I wonder if the Monarch Flour cake is named for this Balmoral, rather than the royal Scottish one?

When is cake not just cake? When you aim a spritz of fake whipped stuff out of the shaving cream can, that’s when. It’s ready when you are, it is even called Reddi-Wip. (Not suitable for spelling bee receptions, however).

How I love these ads, they are such fun. I love the hyperbole. This is not just fake whipped cream, it is “America’s Favorite Dessert Glamorizer.” It does to the chocolate cake what Maybelline does for your face. It glamorizes it, since “they’ve been taking your chocolate cake for granted.” Yeah, that’s what’s been bothering me. Not the extreme drudgery, the cleaning, the incredibly stupid yellow frilly aprons. It’s that they don’t give the stupid dessert a standing ovation.

Reddi-Wip’s going to change all that. What the hell, it’ll probably change my whole life! The same can will also transform leftover cake and waffles. I don’t know if you can see the amazing recipes at the bottom of the ad but never fear, I can let you in on what is going on down there.

Chocolate Surprise = chunks of stale cake with chocolate pudding dumped on it, topped with you-know-what.

Strawberry Shortcake = biscuit dough spread with butter and brown sugar, rolled up and sliced in 1-inch slices. Bake “as usual” and add strawberries and - some of the stuff in that can of excitement right above the shortcake recipe, yellow like that terrible apron, you do see it don’t you!

And in the middle is my absolute favorite Reddi-Wip masterpiece. Here is Waffles De La Nuit. Waffles De La Nuit! What a fabulous name. Just take a frozen waffle. And - defrost that thing. And slop on some chocolate syrup, maybe some fruit, maybe not. Depends on what you have got on hand that nuit. And finish it off with - that stuff.

That stuff is very modern too, which means it is streamlined and automated and really easy to use. And it “is whipped automatically” - maybe they have a little Mixmaster in the can. Put it on anything - cake, gelatin, pudding, salad - yes, they say salad. Why not on the main course too, because heaven knows that’s probably being taken for granted too.

Believe me, no one will take anything for granted at the table ever again if you lather it with Reddi-Wip.