American Cake - Cake #40: Hummingbird Cake

Time Period: 1963 - 1979

You might think that the books in American Cake all originated in America. Not so! Some of these cakes simply embody the melting pot attitude of America. That is, taking a recipe from someplace else, putting our own spin on it, and then basically declaring ownership. This is essentially what happened with Hummingbird Cake, a dessert invented by Jamaica in order to advertise their airline and tourism attractions. This concoction of tropical flavors, including banana and pineapple, was introduced at promotional parties on the East Coast to show off how fun and appetizing a trip to Jamaica could be. I don't know how successful the tourism angle was, but as a cake, it certainly took off in the States.

 

Apparently, this cake is called "The Cake That Doesn't Last" in Oklahoma, and I can easily see why. While time- and dish-consuming to make, this cake is absolutely delicious. It's got a strong banana flavor, counter-balanced by spices and pecans. The pineapple is somewhat lost, but contributes some needed moisture. Enrobed in cream cheese frosting with additional toasted pecans on top, any plans we had of sharing a slice with others flew right out the window. I guess that means despite the effort it takes, this will definitely be one of the keepers.

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American Plate - Bite #57: Scrapple

Americans are forever playing around with the ostentation of our foods. Dishes that began as peasant fare in the Old Country are elevated to haute cuisine (along with their prices), while others that were once reserved for royalty are now served in every home. Scrapple certainly had humble beginnings; once the farmers had slaughtered and carved away the best parts of their pigs to sell, they took the leftover parts and cooked them with grain. This mixture was then solidified in a loaf pan, sliced, and cooked again.

Not very fancy, is it? Despite its origins as a simple, cost-cutting way of feeding the farmstead family, though, scrapple has held on as a popular dish in households, diners, and has even made its way to fine restaurants. I've had it in all three of these forms, which has given me ample opportunity to experience all it has to offer.

And what it mostly has to offer is a feeling that your arteries are about to explode. I'm sorry to say that it won't be replacing the more widespread breakfast meats in my heart, which is thankfully still functional, since I don't regularly eat scrapple. Imagine concentrating the fat from eight sausage patties or strips of bacon into one serving, then sweeten it up by pouring maple syrup on it, and you have the sensation of scrapple.

Scrapple is very regionally popular in the northeast, so my reaction may be rooted in not being raised there, and I could see myself ordering it again someday if I need a calorie bomb for whatever reason, but otherwise, this side can stay in the realm of Laura Ingalls Wilder.

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American Cake - Cake #39: Orange Chiffon Cake

Time Period: 1946-1962

Though several of the cakes in this project were developed elsewhere and updated and/or perfected in America, chiffon is truly a homegrown bake. The style was invented by Harry Baker (no pun intended), who moved to LA in the '20s and began selling his cakes to local restaurants. He kept his technique (using vegetable oil instead of butter) a secret, finally selling it in 1948. This substitution made giant waves in the baking community, and now, using oil as the fat has become commonplace in all types of cakes.

So, how to put this? Do I not have the proper equipment? Am I not following the instructions correctly? Is Anne Byrn bad at conveying information when it comes to this family of cakes? Is it a combination of these factors? Because I have had terrible luck with every cake so far that depends on whipped eggs as the leavening agent. If I'm not supposed to grease the pan so that the batter can climb, how the hell is it supposed to get out of the tube pan?

I'll keep experimenting, and while it tasted fine and I was able to rescue it by turning into bread pudding, this one will join its angelic brethren at the bottom of the ranking.

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American Plate - Bite #55: Cracker Jack

Sometimes, it seems as if some of these American Bites caught on in the popular consciousness because of sheer, dumb luck. A spark hit at just the right time and place, and suddenly, it's an American institution. Sometimes, though, it takes hard work and a string of innovations to build something from an idea to an icon. Cracker Jack definitely belongs to that latter category. People have always found things to snack on, but until Cracker Jack came along, it was usually fruit, cheese, or nuts.

In 1872, Frederick Rueckheim opened a popcorn/candy business with his brother in Chicago. Innovation #1: Experimenting with just the right combination of popcorn, peanuts, and molasses to find one that was tasty, and that wouldn't fuse into an unchewable mass. The snack was a hit at the Chicago World's Fair, so the brothers trademarked the name ("crackerjack" meaning something super-cool) and expanded the business in 1896. Transporting the mixture in warm weather was an issue, though. Innovation #2: A friend of theirs named Harvey Eckstein introduced the brothers to packaging the snack in double-layered wax paper inside individual serving-sized sealed boxes. It worked so well that Eckstein's name joined the company.

Innovation #3: A hit song. Though cracker jack had been a standard offering at baseball parks for a time, once the now-familiar tune name checking it was penned around 1908, there was no stopping its cultural imprint. There's always way to improve on advertising, though, and the Rueckheims copied the Quaker Oats idea of including a coupon in each box. Innovation #4: Then they hit upon the idea of including a little toy or surprise, instead. The rest is history, and Cracker Jack stands as America's first mass-produced snack food. 

That said, Cracker Jack seems to have left its cultural import back in the '80s. You don't see or hear much about people eating it anymore, and I haven't seen it for sale at a ballpark in years. In fact, I couldn't even buy it from the store; I had to order some online. So how was it once I got it? Kinda not as good as I remember. There are other caramel corn mixes at supermarkets that are as good or better, and sadly, the prize was worthless as well - just a sticker that promised additional prizes for collecting more. So maybe Cracker Jack's days in the sun are over, but it's sure still a testament to American innovation.

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American Cake - Cake #38: French King Cake

Time Period: 1963-1979

Why is there a recipe for "French King Cake" in a book called American Cake? I don't know, ask Anne Byrn. Though this cake did originate in France, it's apparently become the King Cake of choice for home bakers in New Orleans, rather than the brightly-colored brioche cakes you see in most bakeries, though both are traditionally served on Epiphany.

Also known as Galette des Rois or Frangipane King Cake, this version is made with sheets of puff pastry, which are sealed around a square of almond-heavy cake batter. While making puff pastry from scratch would have been a nightmare not that long ago, the fact that you can buy it out of the freezer case at the grocery store now goes a long way to understanding how this one took over in home kitchen popularity.

I found it to also be very tasty, and honestly more flavorful than the other version of King Cake, which wasn't bad, but on the dry side, which this cake managed to avoid by incorporating the soft batter into the center. If there was one textural problem to this cake, it was the puff pastry itself. Know what puff pastry is? Flaky! That's a good thing, but when 80% of your cake is a double layer of it, it explodes into crumbs the second you press a knife to it.

That aside, I did enjoy this chapter of the project, and as long as you've got a broom handy to clean up after you slice it, it would be worth having again.

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American Cake - Cake #37: Chocolate Earthquake Cake

Time Period: 1980-1999

One of the more stressful aspects of cake baking is presentation. Sure, the most important thing for a cake to achieve is good flavor, but I won't deny that it hurts my heart a bit when one of my them comes out looking sad and ugly, no matter how delicious it may be.

Obviously, I'm not the only one that feels this way, because in the modern era, there's a shift towards recipes that embrace the mess, so to speak. So, instead of worrying about how to fix a flourless cake leavened with egg whites that cracks as it cools, what if the cracking was just an intentional part of the design?

Ironically, even with the permissive parameters, this one didn't turn out quite as expected, visually. No complaints, flavor-wise, as it came out as dense and fudgy as promised. But instead of the photogenic implosion on a soaring cake pictured in the cookbook, I just got a squat circle with some minor cracking on top, as well as that pinched seam around the center of the cake I've come to dread. 

As with a lot of the cakes in this project, I probably won't go rushing to make it again, but it was fairly tasty, and a nice straightforward recipe that could give me some much needed folding-egg-white practice, so maybe its fault lines will pop up again at some point.

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American Plate - Bite #54: Cold Cereal

There have probably been ingredients and dishes throughout human history that were remarkably delicious or healthy, but without a confluence of events to bring them widespread attention, they just faded into obscurity. When the fates align, however, something can burst onto the scene and stay there. Cold cereal might have just sat in the realm of religious zealots, but with advances in marketing and technology, it had no problems catching on nationwide. You'll recognize the last names of a lot of innovators of cold cereal, from Sylvester Graham (Graham crackers and granola) to the Kellogg brothers (Corn Flakes) to Charles William Post (Grape Nuts). Far from concentrating solely on business, these men were wholly convinced that their cereals, in concert with a regimen of high-grain diets and Christian morality would solve a host of ills, from dyspepsia to masturbation.

The cereal was prescribed almost like medicine, and it's not surprising that people who ate more grain and less fatty meat for breakfast probably had improved health outcomes. Plus, cereal was a lot more affordable than the heavier breakfast offerings at the time. Combine that with the rise of train travel to spread the message, the reduced cost of print advertisements, and the inception of the first grocery chain, and cold cereal's placement in the pantheon of American food was solidified.

It's hard to imagine an American household that doesn't eat cold cereal. I'm sure I've tried dozens of different ones over the course of my life, and there's usually at least two boxes in the pantry. We weren't allowed the super-sugary ones as a kid, and I think that was ultimately the right choice. Sure, when I went off to college, I went crazy for a while for the ultra-chocolately ones or the marshmallow ones. Now that I'm a cereal-buying adult, though, I'm back to the granola and fruit/nut flakes. The Kellogg brothers would be so proud of me for that. Probably not for other parts of my life, though.

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