Further adventures in baking: on Sunday the boys were coming round, so I whipped up Tomato Soup Cake from B Dylan Hollis’ essential Baking Yesteryear cookbook (“the best recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s”). I know it sounds odd, but tomato soup cake was a housewife’s staple in the 50s, 60s and 70s (I remember my mother making it when I was a kid), it’s an extremely user-friendly recipe (I’ve made it twice now) and you can’t actually taste the tomato soup (it tastes primarily of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves). Recommended! Watch B Dylan Hollis break it down here.
Decided to make a vintage gelatin … salad? This year. It was so odd putting soda in gelatin, and I didn’t even know canned cherries existed. I actually liked it!
This week’s Retro Recipe is brought to us by the “Harmsworth Community Cookbook.” This specific recipe was created by Mrs. J. S. Paul.
Cake Steps
Place 1 Cup of Brown Sugar over a fire (Follow proper fire safety protocols).
Stir until it smokes, then remove from the fire.
Add ½ Cup of Boiling Water and Stir until it dissolves (This should have syrup consistency).
In a Separate Bowl, Cream ½ Cup of Butter and gradually add 1 ½ Cups of White Sugar, 1 Cup of Cold Water, Yolks of 2 Eggs, 2 Cups of Flour, and Beat for 5 Minutes.
Add 3 Teaspoons of the Syrup, 2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder, ½ Cup of Flour, Whites of 2 Eggs, and Vanilla, and beat them all together.
Icing Steps
1 Heaping Dessert Spoon of Butter, 1 Cup of Milk, and Icing Sugar and mix till paste forms.
I snapped up the cookbook Baking Yesteryear by B Dylan Hollis as soon as it dropped. I've already made his peanut butter bread a few times. Today I attempted his date and walnut bread for the first time. So good! And simple - a very spartan, minimalist (possibly Depression era) recipe.