“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

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...]