Vintage Cakes: Lemon & Almond Streamliner Cake

TRAVELING IS LIKE FLIRTING WITH LIFE.  IT’S LIKE SAYING, I WOULD STAY AND LOVE YOU, BUT I HAVE TO GO; THIS IS MY STATION.”  Lisa St. Aubin de Teran

Lemon & Almond Streamliner Cake | From My Sweet Heart

Travel back to the 1930′s on the Zephyr, the Flying Yankee, or the Comet.  It was the golden age of train travel, when comfort and convenience replaced sensibility.  And you could travel from here to there in luxury and style. These streamlined, sleek, art deco styled trains offered sleeping compartments, observation cars, and sit down dining and buffet lounges.  If I close my eyes, I can put myself there.  Having finished my dinner,  I pat my short, crimped hair with my fingers and reapply my bright red lipstick.  My waiter interrupts to ask what I’ll have for dessert.  Dessert?  Why I think I’ll try a slice of that lovely almond lemon cake!

Julie Richardson, author of Vintage Cakes, discovered a recipe for a Lemon Stream Liner Cake in a 1967 issue of Baking Industry.  Though there was no explanation of the origin of the cake,  she believed that one possibility is that it was named after the streamlined trains of the early 20th century.  And my own imagination took me back in time as I made this really moist, almond buttermilk cake which is topped with a light, lemony custard. [Read more...]

Vintage Cakes: Honeybee Cake

“BEES DO HAVE A SMELL, YOU KNOW, AND IF THEY DON’T THEY SHOULD, FOR THEIR FEET ARE DUSTED WITH SPICES FROM A MILLION FLOWERS.”  Ray Bradbury

Honeybee Cake | From My Sweet Heart

I like milk and sugar in my tea; and butter and jam on my biscuits.  So I’ve never given much thought to honey in the past.  Those amber jars on the grocery store shelf?  They all looked the same to me!  But a couple of years ago, my son came home from his summer landscaping job one day, with a jar of honey in hand.  It seems that his boss was also a bee keeper.  Really?  Now I’m intrigued!  And with one little swoosh of my finger, I was hooked!  There is nothing more luscious than fresh, local honey.  And I was ready to taste more.

So this month, I was thrilled that The Cake Slice Bakers voted on this Honeybee Cake.  [Read more...]

Vintage Cakes: Red Velvet Cake

WE ARE HOMESICK MOST FOR THE PLACES WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN.”  Carson McCullers

Red Velvet Cake | From My Sweet Heart

The thing I think I love most about baking from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson, is the ability to go back in time to experience memories that were never mine in the first place. I have always wished I had some amazing recipes, passed down through generations of scrappy, resourceful women, who expressed their love of their families through baking.  But the reality is, my history of baking begins with me.  So I am enjoying baking my way through this book, along with a group of wonderful women, who truly appreciate the nostalgia as well.  This month, The Cake Slice Bakers made a really beautiful and absolutely scrumptious Red Velvet Cake.  While I have never been a fan of red velvet anything, these pictures will show you how Ms. Richardson’s recipe won me over. . . . . [Read more...]

Banana Cake with Coffee Walnut Buttercream

“THINK ONLY OF THE PAST AS ITS REMEMBRANCE GIVES YOU PLEASURE .”  Jane Austen

Banana Cake with Coffee Walnut Buttercream | From My Sweet Heart

Have you ever felt that you were born in the wrong era?  I think about all of the kitchen appliances that I have that are meant to make my life so easy.  Yet, I am fascinated by vintage baking and vintage bake ware.  I find myself collecting as much as I can.  And I even enjoy looking at old recipes.  So I am thrilled that The Cake Slice Bakers are baking from Vintage Cakes by Julie Richardson.  This book is full of recipes from the 1920′s that the author has “revived and updated.”

This month, the votes were so close, that we were allowed to choose between two recipes from the book.  But the combination of flavors for this particular cake had me quite intrigued.  Bananas and coffee?  Together?  There’s more?  Ok.  I’ll bite….. [Read more...]

Shoo-fly Cake

The Cake Slice Bakers go Vintage!!!

Shoo-fly Cake | From My Sweet Heart

Well this is a day I’ve been waiting for since I began blogging!  I LOVE baking CAKES!  And when I began blogging, I happened upon a couple of blogs that featured a group known as The Cake Slice Bakers.  They always featured some amazing cakes, yet I could not find much information about them.  A secret society of cake bakers?  I wanted in!  I am so fortunate to have been invited to be a member.  The women in this group are fun and fabulous bakers and you can find them listed at The Cake Slice Bakers.  What book are we baking from? . . . . . [Read more...]