1. We are fine!

Everything here is going about as well as it can be. My family is safe and happy, even though we have had some great and crappy stuff happen to us in the past year. The low was the shooting at the local high school, which was shocking and terrifying, as those things are. The kids are fine, and we have returned to as normal of a life as possible. The elementary kids have returned to school with police protection, security guards, and therapy dogs. And if you ever think your community is too small or close-knit to ever have something like this happen, please know that it can happen to anyone.

Our high point of the year was a 6-week trip to Switzerland, which we took so that Tom could work in the lab of the Swiss arm of his company. It was absolutely amazing and I don’t think we are ever going to have that much fun on a trip ever again. Even TJ cried when it was time to come back home. We stayed in our own apartment in the Zurich area, stuffing chocolate and cheese into our mouths three meals a day, and it was amazing.

The second highlight was our new pet, a little white bunny that we named Teddy. If you are on the fence about a dwarf bunny, you should totally go for it. Teddy is basically a furry cat that can’t jump up on the furniture. He is litter box trained and everything. The best part is that he puts up with TJ being a 5-year-old boy (screaming, playing trucks, running places unexpectedly) like a champ. Highly, highly recommend.

2. I’m not going to be posting recipe tests on the blog anymore or going on social media. 

Yep, it’s time to retire from recipe testing! It has been a good 11 years, but I’m packing in the blog and recipe testing. I am currently in the middle of a large project digitizing and donating my recipe collection. I’ve turned the Patreon into a snail mail recipe club with digital recipe benefits, so if you want to receive some of my collection in the mail every month and also have access to the digital recipe collection, please head over there.

I’m also done with social media, though I have created a Discord server, which is free to join. I will be having twice-monthly cocktail party live streams on there (first one is on January 8th!), daily posted recipe cards and daily posted digital vintage cookbooks. Plus, you can share pet photos, which makes it perfect. You can click here to sign up for a free Discord account and join the Mid-Century Menu server. 

And feel free to send me your lamb cake photos this spring through email! I will not be doing a contest, but if I get enough photos I will post the reader lamb cake gallery here on the blog, which will be live for the next two years (I paid for hosting in advance!).

 I hope you all have an absolutely wonderful 2022, and I will see you on Patreon and Discord! 

The post Quitting The Blog!! And We May Be Done With Recipe Tests, But I’m Still Playing With Vintage Recipes appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

But anyway, let’s do this!! First, the winners chosen by you, the readers. Then the ladies from Mid-Century Potluck were kind enough to send their winning choices. After that is my choices and Tom’s, which were really, really hard to make. You all did such a great job! And then we have some winners chosen randomly at the end.

Winner For Best Detail Work:

Sewing Dervish – Tried something new this year…

Sewing Dervish!

Best Non-Cake Lamb:

Martha Stevens – This is my hand-shaped lamb meatloaf with mashed potatoes fleece and olive and whole clove eyes and nose. The spring garden is made of steamed broccoli florets and zucchini cups filled with asparagus tips.
Lamb Meatloaf
1.75 – 2 lbs. ground beef
1/2 C. breadcrumbs (I used panko-style gluten-free breadcrumbs)
1/3 C. Milk or more as needed to soak breadcrumbs
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 Tsp. Pepper
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
2.5 ounces of breakfast or uncooked, loose sausage
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. Tomato Paste
For Decorating the Lamb Meatloaf
2 pounds of prepared mashed potatoes
2 or 3 Kalamata Olives and whole cloves for the eyes and nose.
Assorted spring vegetables, lightly steamed
Soak breadcrumbs in milk. Add the egg and other ingredients and blend well with a fork, then with your hands. If needed, before shaping the meatloaf, chill in the refrigerator to firm up the mixture. Use a greased baking dish or line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment baking paper. The dish should be able to hold the hot juices, but allow some air space around the meat so that it browns evenly. Form your lamb. If needed, you can brace the head with crumpled parchment paper. Bake at 325 F. until cooked through and browned, about 1.25 hours. When ready to serve, top with mashed potatoes and if desired, lightly brown the mashed potatoes under a broiler at 375 F. for a few minutes or use a hand-held torch. Remove from the oven. Allow to rest for about fifteen to twenty minutes before adding the eyes and nose and transfering to a serving platter. Surround with steamed vegetables.

Martha Stevens!

Best Non-Lamb Entry:

Cheryl Wright – A star wars easter baby yoda!

Cheryl Wright!

Best Bunny Cake:

Sabine Trapp Bunny – This is my second Easter cake. It was a very rich pound cake with lemon zest baked in a 1970s Easter rabbit mould.

Sabine Trapp!

Best Face Decoration:

Kimberly Birkett & Tiara Berkel

Kimberly Birkett & Tiara Berkel!

Most Creative Decoration:

Congo Conga Cam

Congo Conga Cam!

Kid-Decorated Cake:

Cammie Vallepalli – This cake was decorated by a teenage girl making her very first Lamby Cake! I sent her the raw elements and she came up with this!

Cammie Vallepalli – Purple Ribbon Teen

Best First Lamb Cake:

Janet Spink – This is my first year trying, and I’m very happy with the result!

Janet Spink!

Winners Chosen By Mid-Century Menu Potluck:

Sarah Sloan – Lamb Baked Alaska

Sarah Sloan!

Shana O’Shea – 3

Shana O’Shea!

Jena Hupman – Martian Lamb, Inspired by Uncle Martin from My Favorite Martian, especially the hair. Orange cake with orange frosting.

Jena Hupman!

Alex Nicholai – Here is my entry for your lamb cake contest. It’s a yellow cake with raspberry jam & vanilla frosting. Making it was a lot of fun! I don’t have any special pans, so I did carve the face out of pieces of cake that I stacked together & held in place with some skewers. Thank you for holding such a fun competition!

Alex Nicholai!

Winners Chosen by Me:

Lisa Boyce – Here is my lamb that just wants to go gnome

Lisa Boyce!

Janice Bird Lamb Cake – With this past year being one of isolation, fear, tension and death for so many, including me,  I decided this was the year to do a traditional lamb cake. Something familiar that would bring a smile to my friends and family.
One exception is instead of the usual bell around her neck I used a heart shaped locket that my Dad gave to my Mom when they were High School sweethearts.  When opened the locket has a photo of each of them from that time period…the 1940s.
I make my lamb using a “pudding in the box” cake mix. I’ve learned how to make it without the use of toothpicks or dowels. It’s then iced with Wilton’s decorator frosting.
This is the fist time my family will be together for a holiday since December 2019. Sadly, my sister died this past year. She loved all holidays! So I am dedicating my lamb cake to her.

Janice Bird!!

Winners Chosen by Tom:

Andrew Birling – I love your blog, and finally decided to enter the Lamb Cake Contest! Here’s my pastel rainbow chocolate lamb. Thanks for being a bright spot in my week, especially during this past year of pandemic!

Andrew Birling!

“I really like all the swirl colors.” – Tom

Regan Oliver – Candice the Promiscuous Lamb (with Butterflies)
Renalde cake recipe with Vintage Birthday Cake Frosting

Regan Oliver!

“No one ever asks me what I want on my lamb cake. I don’t want coconut, I want jelly beans. I just want jelly beans jammed into it.” – Tom

Random Draw Winner #1:

Barbara Lawrence Spaghetti Lamb – 3

Barbara Lawrence!

Random Draw Winner #2:

Name: Lambie (cuz she’s a lamb…says my four year old)
Cake: Gluten Free Chocolate pound cake, recipe by Gluten Free on a Shoestring
Frosting: vanilla buttercream
Baker: Allison Martinson (with help from Eleanor)

Allison Martinson!

Random Draw Winner #3:

Lisa Guppy

Lisa Guppy!

Winners – Please email me your mailing address to ruthmidcenturymenu@gmail.com. And thank you to everyone who entered the contest!

The post This Year’s Winners Are – Winners Of The 2021 Lamb Cake Contest appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

Since I’m not on social media anymore, it would be great if you could share this post wherever you can! And if you’re not in the gallery but you should be, make sure to email me your lamb photo right away so I can add you. Also, let me know if you need your info in the gallery edited.

Thank you so much to everyone for making this a bright spot in my year!

The post Time To Vote! – Finished Reader Gallery For The 10th Lambieversary Lamb Cake Contest! appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

The post Is Your Lamb Here? – A Sneak Peek Of The 2021 Lamb Cake Contest Participants appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

Oh, that’s right. The whole internet is judging him, aren’t they? Anyway, here is Whipped Fudge Frosting!

AuthorRetroRuth

From Rawleigh Recipe Gems, 1964 

[cooked-sharing]

 6 tbsp butter

 4 squares unsweetened chocolate (baking chocolate)

 2 cups powdered sugar

 ½ tsp salt

 ½ cup milk

 2 eggs

 1 tsp vanilla extract

1

Melt butter and chocolate at low heat. (If desired, add milk, and then temper in beaten raw eggs and bring up to about 160 degrees)

2

Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl of the mixer. Add stovetop mixture. Beat at medium speed until all ingredients are well-blended.

3

Chill overnight or place the mixing bowl in a large pan of ice water. Beat frosting at high speed until it changes color and is of spreading consistency.
Yield: Will frost two 8- or 9-inch layers or a 10-inch tube cake

CategoryChocolate, Desserts, Frostings and Fillings

Ingredients

 6 tbsp butter

 4 squares unsweetened chocolate (baking chocolate)

 2 cups powdered sugar

 ½ tsp salt

 ½ cup milk

 2 eggs

 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1

Melt butter and chocolate at low heat. (If desired, add milk, and then temper in beaten raw eggs and bring up to about 160 degrees)

2

Place remaining ingredients in a large bowl of the mixer. Add stovetop mixture. Beat at medium speed until all ingredients are well-blended.

3

Chill overnight or place the mixing bowl in a large pan of ice water. Beat frosting at high speed until it changes color and is of spreading consistency.
Yield: Will frost two 8- or 9-inch layers or a 10-inch tube cake

Notes

Whipped Fudge Frosting

IngredientsDirections

Oh, and here is the prune cake I made his insides out of!

For a couple of years now, I have been testing fluffy chocolate frosting recipes behind the scenes. I mean, you could probably just whip a ganache or make chocolate whipped cream and call it good, but I still wanted to see if there was a vintage recipe that would give fluffy, very chocolatey lamb cake frosting.

And no, I’m not going to put cocoa in 7-minute icing, even though if you do that I’m not judging. I made a coffee version once, which was really good, but for some reason making 7-minute icing flavored with chocolate seems wrong to my OCD. Like drinking a glass of milk after you brush your teeth kind of wrong. Unsettling.

So I found this recipe, and the great thing about it is that I was able to get the two eggs tempered into the chocolate base and up to temp so they weren’t raw anymore. Raw eggs are another OCD for me, but I still wanted the frosting to get the smooth, creaminess from the egg yolks.

After I cooled and whipped the frosting, it was light, fluffy, creamy, and had a great flavor. But it did NOT hold a peak at all, and so wasn’t very useful for making lamb cake fleece. In fact, I made this white 7-minute frosting to cover up the fact that the fudge frosting underneath was sliding off the lamb. In fact, it only held up for pictures, and Larry proceeded to slowly lose all the frosting off his body in about 12 hours. This was sad for me, but not for Tom, who would scrape the sagging frosting off the platter and into his mouth every time he walked past.

Anyway, onto the taste test!

“This tastes like really good fudge frosting! Very creamy.”

“Yeah, but it keeps sliding off the lamb.”

“Who cares? That’s not going to stop me from putting it in my face.”

The Verdict: Soft But Delicious

Overall, I wouldn’t call this a fail, just a step in the right direction. This frosting was smooth and incredibly creamy and rich. It had a great chocolate flavor as well. Even though it was too soft to pipe, you could use it for filling or just to frost the top of a non-lamb cake. And I think to firm it up I could either add more powdered sugar or sub the milk in the recipe with cream so that it becomes more of a true ganache. Either way, I am making this again!

The post Whipped Fudge Frosting And Larry, The Chocolate-Prune Lamb appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

This is Chocolate Prune Cake!!!

AuthorRetroRuth

From Prunes For Epicures, 35 Intriguing Recipes - United Prune Growers of California, 1933

Tested Recipe!

[cooked-sharing]

 2 cups cooked prunes

 ⅔ cup shortening

 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

 2 oz baking chocolate

 3 eggs, well-beaten

 2 ¾ cups cake flour or pastry flour

 4 tsp baking powder

 ½ tsp baking soda

 ½ tsp salt

 1 cup milk

 1 tsp vanilla

1

Pit prunes and cut into small pieces. Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly. Melt chocolate over hot water and add to creamed mixture; mix, add well-beaten eggs, and mix again.

2

Sift flour with baking powder, salt and baking soda and add alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Add prunes and vanilla and beat thoroughly.

3

Pour into three greased layer cake tins and bake 25 to 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Put layers together and spread top and sides with chocolate butter frosting.
Yield: Serves 12

Notes

4

Substitutions: I subbed shortening with butter, granulated sugar with brown sugar, baking chocolate with dark chocolate, and milk with buttermilk

I baked them as mini bundts in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

CategoryCake, Desserts, Fruit, Fruit, Prune

Ingredients

 2 cups cooked prunes

 ⅔ cup shortening

 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

 2 oz baking chocolate

 3 eggs, well-beaten

 2 ¾ cups cake flour or pastry flour

 4 tsp baking powder

 ½ tsp baking soda

 ½ tsp salt

 1 cup milk

 1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1

Pit prunes and cut into small pieces. Cream shortening and sugar thoroughly. Melt chocolate over hot water and add to creamed mixture; mix, add well-beaten eggs, and mix again.

2

Sift flour with baking powder, salt and baking soda and add alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Add prunes and vanilla and beat thoroughly.

3

Pour into three greased layer cake tins and bake 25 to 30 minutes in a 375 degree oven. Put layers together and spread top and sides with chocolate butter frosting.
Yield: Serves 12

Notes

4

Substitutions: I subbed shortening with butter, granulated sugar with brown sugar, baking chocolate with dark chocolate, and milk with buttermilk

I baked them as mini bundts in a 350-degree oven for 20 minutes.

Notes

Chocolate Prune Cake

IngredientsDirections

So, as I mentioned above, this recipe was about two missing ingredients away from being a disaster. I realized as soon as I started making this that I was going to have to sub a lot of ingredients. And we weren’t getting a grocery delivery until the next day, so if I was going to make any cake that day, I was going to make it with substitutions.

So, I had to sub brown sugar for white sugar, butter for shortening, buttermilk for milk, and dark chocolate for baking chocolate.

The only one I was nervous about was the brown sugar, but I’ve seen lots of vintage chocolate cake recipes with brown sugar in them, so I figured it was worth a shot.

This is a bunch of cooked prune goo. So…I didn’t have to sub that.

Oh, and the reason I was so worried about using the brown sugar was that I wanted to make a chocolate prune lamb!! You know, a lamb cake that keeps you regular?

Anyway, when this recipe was chosen by the patrons over on Patreon, a vision of chocolate prune lamb cake appeared in my mind. And I have enough experience with weird food visions at this point that I knew the only way to get rid of it was to make it.

And it woooooorrrked!!!!! It worked! I couldn’t believe it. I think I even nerdily high-fived myself.

Here he is! Cooled and sitting up and full of prunes.

But you have to wait until next week to see him all gussied up with frosting and sprinkles. For now, we are stuffing cake in Tom’s face.

“What’s that face? Is it bad?”

“No, it’s actually good. It’s moist. It just doesn’t have a lot of flavor.”

The Verdict: Good!

From The Tasting Notes –

I don’t think that I’m qualified at this point to say whether or not this cake worked, because I goofed it up with all my substitutions. BUT I feel like if I would have used baking chocolate, and possibly added an extra ounce of said chocolate, this would have had a much better chocolate flavor. And it maybe needed more vanilla. In terms of the prunes, you really couldn’t even taste them. On the structural end of things, this was a bouncy and moist cake, and it actually was a good cake for molded cake pans! I made mini bundts, which are kind of finicky, AND a lamb and both turned out really well. I actually turned the baby bundt pan upside down and the little prune cakes just fell out. So, that’s a win. And that is why I didn’t just scrap this whole post, because I felt like this cake has potential. Let me know in the comments if you try this, with or without the subs, and let me know how it turns out!

The post Chocolate Prune Cake, 1933 – A 1930’s Recipe Test appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

It’s the 10th Lambieversary of the Lamb Cake Contest!

Can you believe it? The 10th year! Ten! That’s crazy and so amazing. This year we are celebrating ourselves, our ability to adapt, our families, our friends, our teachers and students, and essential workers! And what better way to do it than with a cake in the shape of a lamb.

Well, not just lambs. You can make an Easter treat, in any shape really, and send a picture to me for the submission gallery. Last year we had 124 submissions! That’s crazy! And I know that some people are still having issues getting ingredients, so I will again be accepting lambs of all types, not just cake. So make one of bread, banana bread, gelatin, cereal treats, butter, meatloaf, tears, booze, I will take them all!

So send me your 2021 Lamb Cake photos so I can post them here on the blog for everyone to see AND to be entered in a contest and random drawing! Last year we gave away 18 (!!!!) prizes, and I am hoping this year we might be able to give away a few more!

Speaking of prizes, we have some fun new lamb cake stickers in the shop that are almost certainly going to be part of the prize packages. And speaking of those packages, all the money made selling the merch in our shop this month is going to be going towards prizes for the Lamb Cake Contest winners! If you would like to contribute, or if you just want some flipping cute lamb cake merch, please check out our shop and get yourself some glorious lamb cake gear. Everything is 20% off this weekend in honor of the contest launch! You know that your cake will taste better if you make it wearing a lamb cake apron, right?

We also have some Limited Edition Special Order Lamb Cake Patterned merch for this year!!! We have some pillows (either just the zippered case or with a pillow form) and some facemasks. Because life right now, right? If you would like to order any of the Limited Edition Patterned merch, please email me and I can hook you up! It’s all special order, so you know it’s going to be really, really good.

Lamb cake patterned mask!!! This mask is hot-water washable, dryer safe and is made of microfiber.

One size (adult-only) high-quality, lamb-patterned mask is $22, and that includes U.S. Shipping!

These lamb cake patterned pillows are super-cute, and are custom printed on upholstery-weight fabric. They also have a hidden zipper so you can easily remove them from the pillow form and pack them away with your other holiday goods. Though, I don’t know why you would ever want to put them away. I mean, look at those faces!

18×18 pillowcase – $27, with pillowform – $32 (price includes U.S. shipping!)

22×22 pillowcase – $29, with pillowform – $39 (price includes U.S.shipping!)

Remember, send me an email if you would like to order these limited edition beauties!

If you would like to contribute to the prize fund, but you don’t want any merch, please check out our Patreon page, where you will not only support our amazing, riveting, ad-free blog, but also get access to my personal, digital cookbook library, and get to vote on what recipes I try out on Tom! If you would just like to give a one-time gift for the purchase of prizes, you can use our secure tip jar here. Thank you so much for all your support!!

Now, onto the details!!!

The contest will be a mix of random-drawn prizes (so you have a chance to win no matter what) AND prizes judged by me, Tom, the readers aaaaaaannnnnnnd –

Karen and Jennye from The Mid-Century Supper Club Potluck!!!

That’s right! Wave your excited Kermit arms and dance a jig, because Karen and Jennye are here to judge your lamb cakes. You can check out their excellent Facebook Page here.

And now THE RULES:

Deadline for photo submission is April 23rd, 2021 at midnight Eastern Time. A picture of your lamb should be private messaged to me through Instagram, the Mid-Century Menu Facebook page or emailed to me. (Just tagging on social media accounts doesn’t count because there are tooooooo mannnnyyyyyyy submissions!). I will acknowledge receipt of your submission with an email or with a private message. Anything lamb-shaped is accepted as an entry for the giveaway (Cake, gelatin, bread, cereal treats, popcorn, butter), any Easter-themed cake in any shape (lamb, bunny, turkey, duck, square or one of those boring round ones).  As mentioned above, winners will be chosen BOTH with a random drawing and judged in categories of our choosing. You can send in as many lamb cake photos from the current year as you want! Good Luck!

So, here we go!

Start here with the Lamb Pan Video Tutorial! Alex helped me make it a few years ago, and it turned out pretty darn adorable. I *may* have cried a little when it was done.

(To subscribe to my YouTube channel, go here:
https://bit.ly/2GzP8aG)

Then go here for the written tutorial:

And then pick a cake:

This Golden Orange poundcake-textured lamb was so, so good!!!

This Sour Cream Cake Mix lamb cake is super easy and was a favorite of Alex!

The Chocolate Pound Cake Lamb was a bit sweet, but it was moist and dense and unmolded well.

Tom’s favorite lamb cake:

The Pope Family Lamb cake has a caramel and butter flavor and is dense but moist. It also has a great pound cake texture!

My favorite lambie:

The Renalde Lamb Cake is light and fluffy, with a great bouncy texture and good flavor. I love it!

Oh, and here is a frosting recipe that is highly requested:

Creamy Whipped Frosting (aka High Humidity Buttercream)

From Mail Box News from Maid of Scandinavia

1 1/2 cups high ratio shortening (available through mail order) or regular shortening

2 T dry Dream Whip Powder

1 T Vanilla

3-4 T unsifted flour

2/3-3/4 cup milk (lesser amount in hot weather)

2 lbs confectioner’s sugar

Blend shortening, Dream Whip Powder and flavoring in large bowl. Beat until light and fluffy like stiff whipped cream. Then add flour, milk and confectioner’s sugar. Beat until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

If you need some decorating inspiration, you can check out the previous Reader Galleries from 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013 and 2012 .

Also, feel free to ask any questions below in the comments, send me an email at any time or message me through our Facebook page or our Instagram page if you are having trouble with your lamb cake and I will try my best to help you out. And I am sure other readers will also be able to pitch in as well. I usually try to answer questions as quickly as I can up until Easter day, so if you have a question on Saturday at midnight feel free to ask, because you will get an answer.

Good luck and have lots and lots of fun!

P.S. If you want to get vintage recipes monthly in your email inbox, go here to subscribe to my email newsletter:
https://bit.ly/2UWp3VM

It. Is. LAMB CAKE TIME!!!!!!

The post 10th Lambieversary Lamb Cake Contest – Tips, Recipes, The 10th Annual Reader’s Lamb Cake Gallery and Giveaway! appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

This is Black and White Fluff!

AuthorRetroRuth

From Prunes For Epicures, 35 Intriguing Recipes - United Prune Growers of California, 1933

Tested Recipe!

[cooked-sharing]

 1 ½ cups prunes

 2 bananas

 12 large marshmallows (use 96 mini mallows)

 ½ pt whipping cream

 ½ tsp lemon extract

1

Boil prunes for 10 minutes in enough water to cover, drain, cool and chill.

2

Cut prunes into small pieces. Slice bananas. If you are using large marshmallows, cut them into 8 pieces. Whip cream until stiff, add prunes, bananas, marshmallows, lemon extract, and fold in.

3

Serve in footed glasses with a maraschino cherry on top. Fluff can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.
Yield: 6 to 8

CategoryBanana, Desserts, Frostings and Fillings, Fruit, Fruit, Plum

Ingredients

 1 ½ cups prunes

 2 bananas

 12 large marshmallows (use 96 mini mallows)

 ½ pt whipping cream

 ½ tsp lemon extract

Directions

1

Boil prunes for 10 minutes in enough water to cover, drain, cool and chill.

2

Cut prunes into small pieces. Slice bananas. If you are using large marshmallows, cut them into 8 pieces. Whip cream until stiff, add prunes, bananas, marshmallows, lemon extract, and fold in.

3

Serve in footed glasses with a maraschino cherry on top. Fluff can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days.
Yield: 6 to 8

Notes

Black and White Fluff

IngredientsDirections

Now, if you don’t recognize this book, it is the book I made California Prune Cream Salad out of a couple of years ago. It was terrible. So I have ankle-high expectations for this recipe. If you want to see this whole cookbook, it is available in the Digital Cookbook Library for all patrons on my Patreon. (Only available on Patreon for copyright reasons!) This recipe, and one other prune gem, were chosen recently by the patrons in a poll. It was a big poll because there are lots and lots and lots of recipes in that book that would be very at home on this blog.

So, you can tell by my picture above that I opted to use large marshmallows and cut them into 8 pieces each. And you can tell by this picture that it was a huge pain in my kitchen shears. That mess on the cutting board is all the cornstarch I needed to add to be able to cut the mallows.

But that is a small complaint, in the grand scheme of things. At least I didn’t have to add chili sauce to this whipped cream.

I always forget how much better prunes taste after they have been boiled for a little bit. I might have snacked on a couple while I was putting this together. But I didn’t eat any marshmallows, because I was mad at them.

Here it is all goo-ed up! This looked pretty plain, but it smelled really good, like lemons and marshmallows. So I guess the marshmallows are forgiven.

I also got to use some new footed glasses I ordered online recently because I love everything that can be used as a mid-century kitchen prop. Oh, and all the extra cornstarch really helped this fluff keep its shape.

But now it was time to see how it made the fluff taste.

“Can you tell what’s in it?”

“Banana, marshmallows, and something liquidy.”

“Prunes.”

“Prunes?! That’s excellent, I was just saying I need to eat more prunes.”

The Verdict: Surprisingly Good!

From The Testing Notes – 

Overall, the Black and White fluff was really good. I thought it be a little on the mush side, but I enjoyed it and so did Tom and the kids. The marshmallows were a total pain to cut up, and I would just recommend using mini mallows if you don’t like sticky. I took the time to snip them all up because I wanted to make sure that I made as accurate a fluff as possible, and I’m not sure that I did because I ended up adding extra cornstarch. But, the fluff was very creamy and squishy. It wasn’t overly sweet, and you could taste marshmallows, but not really bananas and only occasionally taste prunes.  The prunes also tasted less prune-y just by doing that 10 minute boil. If you need texture in your food, like TJ, and you can’t just choke goo down, you might want to add some nuts or chocolate chips. Oh, and do NOT leave out the lemon extract, because the flavor hinges on that little bit of lemon flavor. (P.S. Video taste testings are available on my Patreon! If you think Tom is hilarious on paper, you should hear him on video. And those videos are only available on Patreon because my kids are in them a lot, and so is my messy house.)

P.S.S. Lambcake season is upon us! Start getting your lambs molded and frosted, because the 10th Annual Lamb Cake contest will be announced and begin on March 12th!!!!

The post Black and White Fluff, 1939 – A Vintage Recipe Test appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

These are 7-Up Baked Beans!

AuthorRetroRuth

7-Up Baked Beans - You're Really Cooking When Your Cooking With 7-Up 1957

[cooked-sharing]

 1 pound dry navy beans

 14 oz 7-Up

 29 oz canned tomatoes

 6 slices bacon cut into small pieces

 2 tsp salt

 ½ tsp pepper

 1 medium onion, diced

 ½ green pepper, diced

 2 stalks celery, diced

 8 oz tomato sauce

 ½ cup molasses

 ⅓ cup brown sugar

 ½ cup catsup

 1 tbsp prepared mustard

 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

 2 tsp vinegar

 2 oz canned mushroom pieces

1

Wash beans and soak overnight in water.

2

Next morning, drain water; add 7-Up, tomatoes, bacon, salt, pepper, cover and simmer 1 hour.

3

Add onion, green pepper, celery, tomato sauce, molasses, sugar, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cover, and simmer another hour.

4

Add mushrooms and turn them into a baking dish. Bake covered in slow oven (250 degrees) for 3 to 4 hours.

5

Remove cover and bake 1 hour longer. (Mine ended up taking two additional hours.)

CategoryBeans, Buffet, Celery, Cuisine, Green Pepper, Navy Beans, Onion, Side Dish, Tomato, Vegetable

Ingredients

 1 pound dry navy beans

 14 oz 7-Up

 29 oz canned tomatoes

 6 slices bacon cut into small pieces

 2 tsp salt

 ½ tsp pepper

 1 medium onion, diced

 ½ green pepper, diced

 2 stalks celery, diced

 8 oz tomato sauce

 ½ cup molasses

 ⅓ cup brown sugar

 ½ cup catsup

 1 tbsp prepared mustard

 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

 2 tsp vinegar

 2 oz canned mushroom pieces

Directions

1

Wash beans and soak overnight in water.

2

Next morning, drain water; add 7-Up, tomatoes, bacon, salt, pepper, cover and simmer 1 hour.

3

Add onion, green pepper, celery, tomato sauce, molasses, sugar, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, cover, and simmer another hour.

4

Add mushrooms and turn them into a baking dish. Bake covered in slow oven (250 degrees) for 3 to 4 hours.

5

Remove cover and bake 1 hour longer. (Mine ended up taking two additional hours.)

Notes

7-Up Baked Beans

IngredientsDirections

This was another recipe chosen by Patreon patrons! There was a tie in the poll from a few weeks ago, between this and the Avocado Bread. So, I did the only thing that I could do, which was to make both of them.

Also, I wanted to buy mini cans of 7-Up.

Which segues well into my most exciting discovery from this recipe: The mini cans that soda comes in now are almost the same size as soda bottles used to be! Which I think is really interesting. And hopefully will be part of a trend towards scaling back sweets in general. Because honestly, I’ve never wanted more than 7 oz of any kind of soda.

Now beer, on the other hand…

I just thought this looked like the ketchup was erupting out of the pot of beans like a volcano. And yes, I have been spending a lot of time in my house lately, why do you ask?

Side note: I didn’t use my instant pot or slow cooker with these because I wanted to make sure they would turn out as close to the original as I could get. But if you make these, please use an instant pot or slow cooker if you can. Because these ended up cooking FOREVER. About two hours longer than the recipe suggested.

But they ended up smelling very good, which is almost always a good sign.

“Say something! How are they?”

“The mushrooms are a weird addition.”

“I know. So, are they bad?’

“No, they aren’t bad. They’re….different.”

The Verdict: Different

From The Tasting Notes – 

These were fine overall. They weren’t too sweet, which I totally thought would be a possibility, and they had a good, if not confusing, flavor. I’m really not sure if adding the 7up really did anything at all, honestly. I mean, molasses is one of those scorch everything else off your taste buds flavors. So these tasted like tomato and sweet and molasses. Maybe the 7up had a part in the sweet, but if so that was the least offensive part of these beans. In fact, they were less sweet than normal baked beans. The most offensive thing was the mushrooms. And that wasn’t bad enough to be a dealbreaker.

And we still can’t agree what they taste like. Alex says spaghetti sauce, I think chili, Tom still doesn’t know and TJ flat out refused to eat them. So the best way we can describe them are like baked beans, but different. Kind of like barbecue beans, but with more depth of flavor. So, if you have some dried beans in your hoard and some 7up, this wouldn’t be the worst thing you could do with them.

The post 7-Up Baked Beans – A Vintage Recipe Test appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.

Avocado Bread!

Oh, sorry. I mean, “Avacado” Bread

AuthorRetroRuth

Tested Recipe!

Avacado Bread -  A Book of Favorite Recipes Compiled by Woman's Society of Christian Service, 1971

[cooked-sharing]

 2 cups sifted flour

 ½ tsp baking powder

 ¾ cup sugar

 ½ cup mashed avocado

 1 cup chopped pecans

 ½ tsp baking soda

 ¼ tsp salt

 1 slightly beaten egg

 ½ cup buttermilk

1

In a large bowl sift together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, sugar. Add combined remaining ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees oven for 1 hour.

2

Remove from oven and cool on rack. A few chopped maraschino cherries may be added for Christmastime color!

CategoryAvocado, Bread and Rolls, Quick Bread, Vegetable

Ingredients

 2 cups sifted flour

 ½ tsp baking powder

 ¾ cup sugar

 ½ cup mashed avocado

 1 cup chopped pecans

 ½ tsp baking soda

 ¼ tsp salt

 1 slightly beaten egg

 ½ cup buttermilk

Directions

1

In a large bowl sift together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, sugar. Add combined remaining ingredients, mixing only enough to moisten. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees oven for 1 hour.

2

Remove from oven and cool on rack. A few chopped maraschino cherries may be added for Christmastime color!

Notes

Avocado Bread

IngredientsDirections

It took a bit to get the avocado for this bread. First, my grocery order came without one. Then, TJ came home with a bug from preschool (not covid, no worries), but that slowed us down a bit as well. So it took us at least two more grocery orders to score some green guys. (I know this looks like a lot of avocado, but it’s really not. This was a teeny little avocado. You can see the standard egg yolk for scale. It was about the same size as a large chicken egg. The entire, unpeeled avocado fit snugly into a 1/2 cup measuring cup.)

The good news is that our local drive-thru dairy has buttermilk, so that was an easy score.

I was really excited about this bread. It actually smelled very good while I was making it, and the green color was pretty.

In addition, this was a recipe chosen by the lovely patrons over on our Patreon, and they picked it out of the goodness of their hearts. I couldn’t believe it! They wanted to pick a good one for us this week! I can feel the love.

It baked up well, and was very easy to remove from the pan. Now, time for the test!

“What’s it taste like?”

“It’s not right.”

“Oh no!”

“Something’s not right!”

The Verdict: Not Right

From the Tasting Notes –

Yeah, this one was a little weird. The bread itself was a good recipe with a good crumb and not too sweet. And maybe that was the issue?  It was…you know the fatty avocado-ness that coats the inside of your mouth? Well, this bread had it. And it was weird. It also had a slight aftertaste of avocado, but the worst was the mouthfeel. It wasn’t disgusting, it just wasn’t that pleasant to eat. Which was a real shame, because this was a good sturdy quickbread with a good crumb. I was hoping for the holy grail of turkey sandwich bread, and instead we got fuzzmouth. I wonder if you dial back the sugar and add some cornmeal and jalapenos instead of pecans if this would be better. Or just throw yourself into the sweet hole and add extra sugar and some lemon peel. Either of those would have improved it, I think. But the weird halfway-ness just wasn’t cutting it for us.

Oh, and if you do end up trying this bread, make sure you store it in the fridge! The second day the bread tasted distinctly of old avocado. And THAT was gross.

The post Avocado Bread, 1971 – A Vintage Recipe Test appeared first on Mid-Century Menu.