$25,000 Orange Kiss me cake

 1950....the 2nd pillsbury national baking contest.....$25,000 bucks to the first place contestant.... that's a lot of money back now... Mrs. Peter Wuebel of Redwood City, Californee took home the prize and prestige that year with her Orange Kiss-Me Cake:

(click to enlarge for recipe)

i was intrigued as of what a high dollar cake tastes like, as anyone would be.

therefore i made my own and it was absolutely delish!

i was a bit confounded by the first direction of grinding together orange rinds, raisins, and walnuts. grind them with what? i have a mixer, some cutlery and a hammer....all which did not turn out acceptable results. i am sure more experienced, kitchen gadget-laden folks out there are smacking their foreheads over this profession.  in the end i (very frustratingly) used a blender and all turned out well in the end.

i have a few of these pillbury grand national prize winning recipes booklets (1951, 1955 and 1964... searching for more of early era) and have recently became interested in the idea of baking the winners. i see it as similar to the Julie and Julila movie.  except that when my movie would be made and the story scene switched from me it would be to Pillsbury's Poppin' Fresh having his doughy belly jabbed with a finger.

t-shirt upgrade

some "hit and run posting" due to, as normal, massive time constraints:

 i bought this sweatshirt in the boy's department of target around halloween on clearance for ~ 3 bucks.

snipped and stitched it into an old black tee that was getting a bit faded......upgraded both of them!

possibilities of other such projects could even lay in the little children's department clearance area as well...adorableness robots, monsters, kitties and such stitched onto adult tees or throw pillows or hoodie backs or used as canvas bag patches ETC!

easter droppings

 this year's bunny cake included the easter bunny's chocolate malt ball excrement ....

a few year's back, pumpkinbutt embellished mr. bunny by having him munching on gummy brains...

not sure where else we can take this for next year other than maybe road kill rabbit.

ration party

We had a WWII birthday party recently with a spin on turning 43 in 1943 for my man.  Pumpkinbutt and i decorated with posters we printed from the internet of WWII propaganda, model airplanes and a million little green army men. We also pulled a bunch of japanese items from around the house into the mix.

for the cake, i came up with using the recipes of rationing and discovered a particular dessert called a

Wacky cake....

best described through plagiarism:

"Wacky Cake has been around for almost seventy years; since the days of World War II. It was created by inventive housewives in response to food shortages, and the limitations brought about by rationing.Somewhere in America, an unknown but inspired housewife rose to the challenge, devising a completely different cake recipe, and Wacky Cake was born! It could be made without using up precious commodities like eggs, butter and milk, and it tasted great, too!

As its popularity grew, Wacky Cake was known by several names; but whether it was called Crazy Cake, Wartime Cake, Rationing Cake or even Eggless, Butterless, Milkless Cake, one thing was true--Wacky Cake had become a bit of Americana."

Here is the outcome and it was surprisingly good!

Wacky Cake

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 3 Tablespoons Cocoa
• 1 Tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp. Salt
• 1 Tsp. Vanilla
• 5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
• 1 Cup Cold Water

Instructions

While oven is pre-heating to 350, measure all the dry ingredients into a 9-inch square baking pan. (Ungreased!) No need to sift these ingredients, but do stir them well in the pan, to blend evenly.

Make three holes, or "wells" in the dry ingredients. You'll be putting the wet ingredients into the wells. Make one a little bigger than the others.

Have all the wet ingredients measured and ready before proceeding. Then, into the bigger hole, pour the oil. Put the vanilla into one of the smaller holes, and the vinegar into the other. Always add the vinegar last. Pour the water over the whole thing, then stir until everything's just blended. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, but don't leave pockets of unmixed ingredients or big lumps.

That's it! Now, bake at 350 on middle rack for 30 minutes or until center looks done. You can do the toothpick test to check for doneness.

Cool in pan, and when completely cool, dust top of cake with confectioner's sugar.

Store tightly covered.

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Here is a public service announcement of the 1940's that all should take note of.... it was also the front of the birthday card.....just a friendly reminder!