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Actually this doesn't look like her first cake - I think she's had some practice!

Here’s another cake baking poem – who knew it was such a popular topic for poets? 

I found this poem about cake baking in a 1902 issue of Good Housekeeping.  This poor beginning cook was struggling – without benefit of a quick Internet search – when she baked her first cake.

Her First Cake
by Madeline  Bridges

“Beat to stiff froth, six eggs,” but what,
Oh, what is stiff?  I know I’ve tried to
Beat them until I’ve really got
A tingling arm, an aching side too,
Yet I don’t know for certain if
They’re stiff enough to be called stiff!

“Next quickly cream your sugar and
Your butter.”  Yes; that will be easy,
But must I cream it with my hand,
Making my fingers moist and greasy?
I simply can’t!  It seems to me
A knife or fork might do – I’ll see.

Nothing this stupid book explains.
“Add a few grains of cream of tartar,”
It says.  Ought one to measure grains
By teaspoonful, or half, or quarter?
Well, well!  As long as I don’t know
I’ll shut my eyes and dredge it – so!

“Mix all together, pour in tin.”
Is it the upper or the under
Damper that ought to be shoved in?
“Bake half an hour.”  How Jack willl wonder
To know his little wife can make
All by herself, such lovely cake!

If you’re looking for some delicious cake recipes check out our Kindle cookbook: Favorite Cakes, Cupcakes & Frosting.

Chocolate frosting - nothing better!

We’re putting together a book of poems for the Kindle and what did we come across tonight but a poem about frosting!  Since our Kindle cookbook, Favorite Cakes, Cupcake and Frostings, has plenty of recipes for frosting and icing this seems like a poem best shared here.

This paen to chocolate and frosting, “The Frosting Dish,” is by Edgar A. Guest. Guest was a popular American poet in the first half of the 20th century. His name may be familiar to you if you’re a fan of “Buzza” mottos. These framed verses from the 1910s – 1930s are highly collectible nowadays. Many Buzza mottos feature poems by Guest.

The Frosting Dish

When I was just a little tad
Not more than eight or nine,
One special treat to make me glad
Was set apart as “mine.”
On baking days she granted me
The small boy’s dearest wish,
And when the cake was finished, she
Gave me the frosting dish.

I’ve eaten chocolate many ways,
I’ve had it hot and cold;
I’ve sampled it throughout my days
In every form it’s sold.
And though I am still fond of it,
And hold its flavor sweet,
The icing dish, I still admit,
Remains the greatest treat.

Never has chocolate tasted so,
Nor brought to me such joy
As in those days of long ago
When I was but a boy,
And stood before my mother fair,
Waiting the time when she
Would gently stoop to kiss me there
And hand the plate to me.

Now there’s another in my place
Who stands where I once stood.
And watches with an upturned face
And waits for “something good.”
And as she hands him spoon and plate
I chuckle low and wish
That I might be allowed to wait
To scrape the frosting dish.

Ready to scrape the frosting bowl?  Check out our Kindle cookbook: Favorite Cakes, Cupcakes & Frostings: 200+ Cake, Frosting and Cupcake Recipes from Club, Church & Community Cookbooks

Place settings for 100? Perhaps it will be paper and plastic.

Sometimes when I read about super expensive weddings and lavish receptions I think that we were better off in the days of simple ceremonies followed by receptions at home or in the church basement. This list of Reception Requirements for 100 Guests reminds of simpler times when we weren’t throwing caution – and our budget – to the wind in an attempt to impress.

This list comes from an early 1970s community cookbook and I imagine might be of even earlier vintage.  It’s a helpful rule of thumb – a tweakable, doable list for a DIY function. 

Reception Requirements for 100 Guests

18 quarts salad
12 dozens rolls
10 pints olives, green
4 large cans ripe olives
11 dozen fancy cakes or petits fours
4 lbs. bonbons or mints
4 lbs. salted nuts
3 lbs. coffee (makes 200 cups)
1 gallon cream
1 pkg sugar
Tea and/or punch could be added as desired