Given the current economy, I’m trying to save wherever I can, and I need an occasional treat more than ever. Since this must be pretty much the way people felt during the Great Depression, I turned to one of the few cookbooks from the era that I inherited from my mother. Called All About Home Baking, it was published by General Foods in 1933.
The recipes are thrifty and practical, a big help then and now. It’s less expensive to make cakes or cookies than to buy them, and some of these hardly take more time. Even more important, they taste better. You can tell by the stained pages and scribbled margin notes that my family’s copy of the book has been well used.
Published during the heyday of home economics, the book is rigid in its rules and regulations. “Be orderly,” it directs. “Use good tools.” “Measure accurately.” But despite the nanny tone, the book is well loved. These days, it’s considered a collectible, so if you see a copy, grab it.
Not surprisingly, All About Home Baking is well organized. A chart at the beginning of the book lists basic recipes, descriptions, and variations. Throughout, techniques are clearly explained and pictured so that, after you’ve made one of the basic recipes a couple of times, it’s easy to make the many variations or come up with your own. For example, The “Calumet One-egg Cake” (Calumet is the General Foods brand of baking powder) is described as the simplest version of a butter cake. Its variations include raisin cupcakes, Boston cream pie, nut loaf cake, harvest cake, and golden spice cake.
The Busy Day Cake, described as “Butter cake made by the jiffy-quick method,” can be turned into a Creole tier cake, an Aladdin chocolate cake, and a quick spice cake. After those and other basics come the more advanced cakes – angel food, sponge, and jelly roll – along with their own variations. There’s a section on quick breads and pastries. Again, basic recipes lead to more complex ones. By the end of the book, you’re making “Vanity Fair Coconut Custard Pie,” “Snow-Whirl Chocolate Roll,” and “Cheese Roulettes.”
Actually this is the same way French pastry chefs learn. They perfect the technique for, say, a genoise, then vary the flavorings, fillings, and presentations until they have a repertoire of wonderful desserts based on the original. But the ingredients in All About Baking are nowhere near as expensive as those a French chef might use. The one-egg cakes uses, no surprise, just one egg and only four tablespoons of butter. The “Snow-Whirl Chocolate Roll” uses plain old “Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa,” not single-estate, 60% cocoa fat chocolate. You’ll find all the ingredients in your local grocery store or even your own kitchen cabinets.
I made the basic one-egg cake and it turned out to be light and flavorful, good simply with a little powdered sugar sifted over it, and even better with chocolate frosting.
Overall, the recipes are simple and inexpensive. They were perfect for a time when people had to be careful about expenses, were worried about the future, and needed a lift at the end of the day. In other words, they’re perfect for today.
CALUMET ONE-EGG CAKE
Two cups sifted Swans Down Cake Flour
Two teaspoons Calumet Baking Powder
One-quarter teaspoon salt
Four tablespoons butter or other shortening
One cup sugar
One egg, unbeaten
Three-quarters cup milk
One teaspoon vanilla
Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift together three times. Cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, creaming together until blended and light. Add egg and beat very thoroughly. Add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add vanilla. Bake in a greased pan, 8x8x2 inches, in moderate oven (350 degrees F.) 50 minutes. –All About Home Baking, General Foods, 1933
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