Frostings: 7-Minute Frosting

This frosting is similar to Mom's Beat-n-Eat Frosting, but requires cooking in a double-boiler while beating with a hand-mixer.  It's more labor intensive so Mom made it less often.  But it's really good and worth the extra effort once in a while.  You can substitute 1 tsp cream of tartar for the corn syrup to make it a little less sweet.

          7-Minute Frosting

          1 1/2 cups sugar
          1/3 cup water
          1  Tbs corn syrup
          2 egg whites
          1 1/2 tsp vanilla

          Mix all except vanilla in the top pan of double-boiler.
          Place over boiling water and beat on high for 7 minutes.
          Remove from heat.
          Add vanilla and beat 2 more minutes.

Frostings: Beat-n-Eat Frosting

This was the only white frosting I liked as a kid.  It's light and fluffy, sweet but not too sweet (to my childhood taste buds, at least).  Topped with shredded coconut, it makes a cake look something like a giant Hostess Snowball cupcake.  I remember it as being just as good without the coconut.

           Beat-n-Eat Frosting

          3/4 cup sugar
          1/4 tsp cream of tartar
          1 tsp vanilla
          1 egg white unbeaten
          1/4 cup boiling water
          1 package coconut

          Place sugar, cream of tartar, vanilla and egg white in a small            deep bowl.
          Mix well.
          Add boiling water to egg white mixture.
          Beat with beaters until mixture will stand in peaks.
          Spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.
          Sprinkle all over with coconut.

I remember Mom using her stand mixer to make this in a glass bowl.  She poured the hot water in slowly as the mixer was going on slow speed, then increased the speed to high once all the water had been added.

Cakes: Walnut Wonder Cake

This recipe was written in pencil on a sheet of paper torn from a primary school tablet, the kind we used in 1st and 2nd grades.  As I recall, the paper in those tablets was never white to begin with, but more of a pale tan color.  This sheet of paper has gotten darker with age, making the penciled handwriting (not my mom's handwriting but similar to it) more difficult to read.  The paper was torn in two.  I found the bottom part first and was quite disappointed that it didn't include all the ingredients for what looked like a good cake.  I was happy to find the top part a few days later.

There's an asterisked note at the top explaining about the measurements for milk.  It's very difficult to read, so I'm taking an educated guess that it says to use 1 cup plus 2 Tbs milk if using a solid oil like shortening or butter, but to use just one cup milk without the additional 2 Tbs if using a liquid oil like vegetable oil.

          Walnut Wonder Cake

          2 1/2 cups flour
          1 1/2 cups sugar
          3 tsp baking powder
          1 tsp salt
          1/2 cup softened shortening or butter
          1 cup plus 2 Tbs milk
          1 tsp vanilla
          2 unbeaten eggs

          Sift flour, measure then add baking powder, salt and sugar.
          Stir shortening to soften then add to dry ingredients.
          Add 3/4 cup milk and vanilla and mix until all flour is dampened.
          Then beat 2 minutes.
          Add eggs and remaining milk and beat 1 minute longer.
          Bake in moderate oven (375 F) 20-25 minutes.  Cool.
          Spread walnut filling between layers then cover top and sides of cake with your favorite fluffy
          white frosting.
          Garnish with nut halves.

          Walnut Filling

          Combine in saucepan:
          1 cup ground walnut meats
          1/2 cup light cream
          2/3 cup sugar
          1/4 tsp salt
          2 unbeaten egg yolks

          Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and turns brown.
          Then add 2 tsp butter and mix well.  Cool.

Introduction

Ever since I can remember, my mom kept recipes on 3 x 5 index cards in a bright green, plastic file box.  After her death, that file box of treasured recipes became my responsibility.  What should I do with it?  Pass it on to the best cook of the next generation?  Store it in a plastic tub with other family relics?  Let it sit on a shelf and collect dust?  Transcribe the recipes into a cookbook?  Photocopy the recipes and save the file to CDs for every family member?  As time passed, I rejected each of these alternatives for a variety of reasons.  Then one day I hit upon the idea of sharing them in a blog.  This would make the recipes easily available to almost everyone in my mother's very, very large family, and it wouldn't cost me a fortune in time and money to disseminate the recipes.  It's a win-win, as I see it.  I hope you enjoy reading these recipes and maybe trying some of them.  And maybe they'll jog a few good memories along the way.

For the sake of history, I'm posting the recipes as they were written with the exception of obvious spelling errors or typos.  It's fun to read how things were written so many years ago and learn the terms that were commonly used.  As time allows, I'll try some of the recipes and post the results.  Readers who try these recipes are welcome to post their results in the comments section.

Cakes: Salad Dressing Cake

This recipe was handwritten on a sheet of notebook paper, folded several times and tucked in with the recipes on index cards.  In this recipe, salad dressing is the Miracle Whip stuff that's similar to mayonnaise, not the stuff you put on a green salad (Ranch, Italian, French, etc.) There are no directions, just a list of ingredients, so this one is for adventurous bakers!  I'm guessing it can be baked in a greased brownie pan (8x8 or 9x9) at 350 F for about 30 minutes.  Use a toothpick to test if it's done.

          E. Parker's Salad Dressing Cake

          1 cup sugar
          2 cups flour
          1 tsp baking soda
          a pinch of salt
          1 cup cold water
          3/4 cup baking cocoa powder
          1 cup salad dressing

Cakes: Fluffy Gold Cake

Mom's handwriting on this recipe card looks like she was in a hurry.  Try this recipe for the first time when you're in an adventurous mood and it doesn't matter how well the cake turns out.

          Fluffy Gold Cake

          Sift together into a bowl:
               2 cups Softasilk*
               1 1/2 cups sugar
               3 tsp baking powder
               1 tsp salt
          Add :
               1/3 cup shortening
               2/3 cup milk
               1/2 tsp lemon extract
               1/2 tsp vanilla
          Beat vigorously 2 minutes.
          Add:
               1/3 cup milk
               1/3 cup unbeaten egg yolks (4 medium)
          Beat 2 more minutes.
          Oven: 350 F
          30 to 35 minutes

I'm guessing the "gold" comes from the egg yolks.  Eggs from free-range chickens will probably produce a yellower cake than typical inexpensive commercial eggs.

* Softasilk is a brand name of cake flour.

Cakes: Cherry-O Cake

Why this is called Cherry-O Cake is a mystery.  Perhaps Mom forgot to copy the last ingredient, which was something like 1/2 cup dried cherries or 1 jar maraschino cherries, drained.

          Cherry-O Cake

          2 1/4 cups flour
          1 1/2 cups sugar
          3 tsp baking powder
          1 tsp salt
          1/2 cup shortening
          1 cup milk
          1 Tbs grated lemon peel
          1/4 tsp almond flavoring
          2 eggs

          Sift dry ingredients into a bowl.  Add shortening.
          To the milk, add lemon peel and almond flavoring.
          Pour 2/3 milk mixture into dry ingredients.  Blend then beat 2 minutes.
          Add rest of milk and the eggs.  Beat 2 minutes more.
          Pour into  2 cake pans.
          Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.

Blending shortening into dry ingredients for cake batter seems unnecessarily labor intensive to me.  Maybe the recipe should say softened shortening?  I found a similar recipe that uses softened butter instead of shortening and blended it in using an electric mixer.  The butter sounds better to me than shortening.  That recipe also included maraschino cherries.  Given the high concentration of harmful additives in typical maraschino cherries, I'd opt for dried cherries or bordeaux cherries.