Victorian Cooking: Receipt vs Recipe ~ Which is Correct?
Examining vintage recipes for any kind of edible… or how to prepare laundry soaps… will often use the term “receipt”. What’s up with that? When wasn’t a recipe, a recipe?
Victorian Baking: Angel’s Food Cake
The story behind the invention (development?) of Angel Food Cake is a bit shrouded in tales of “Me, First!” Vintage newspaper advertisements show Angel Food Cake for sale in bakeries by 1878, and in cookbooks for home bakers that same year. One of the origin stories made it into a vintage cookbook (“cook book”), along with minor variations on the fluffy, snow-white theme. No matter how the dessert began, the popularity took off among Victorian bakers and remained popular through the Edwardian and Progressive Era. One peek at Pinterest vouches that this brightly white cake is still popular (even when pink).
Victorian Americans had Devil’s Food Cake and Angel Food Cake?
Which came FIRST in Victorian home kitchens? Angel’s Food Cake or Devil’s Food Cake? BOTH appeared in the 1800’s…but one was definitely first. Which is your guess?
This post begins a new blog series, all about Victorian home bakers, CAKE, Angel (Angel’s) Food Cake, Chocolate Cake (and Devil’s Food Cake), Cake Moulds and Tins, Time-saving Inventions for cooks / bakers, and more than one surprise!
For Sale: WIFE (Part 1)
Join me for the first of two parts–For Sale: WIFE. Victorian American Newspapers of the mid- to late-nineteenth century (and early 20th century) illustrate the extinct custom of wife selling and wife trading. The newspaper article featured in this blog post showcases this antiquated approach to marriage (and wives as chattel–literally, a man’s property) as part of a greater, overarching problem of crumbling morality.
Victorian Dr. Pepper (1885)
Dr Pepper was born in 1885–FIRST of national soda flavors–a result of Victorian ingenuity and creativity, in Waco, Texas. Vintage newspaper ads show the soda fountain beverage’s claim to natural, healthful medicinal value–while strictly claiming an absence of all harmful substances. I discovered interesting details I’d never heard before… Perhaps you will, too!
