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Jeremy Jackson's grandma Mildred was famous for her strawberry cake. Legend has it that one of the families in her small Missouri town loved the dessert so much, they "commissioned" her to make it for them once a week.
Good Day For A Picnic
Good Day For A Picnic
Simple Food That Travels Well
by Jeremy Jackson
Hardcover, 214 pages purchase
For NPR producer Melissa Gray, nothing says summer more than a cold glass of limeade.
FOUND RECIPES
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Jackson is the author of Good Day for A Picnic: Simple Food that Travels Well. He shared two versions of his Strawberry Cake for All Things Considered's Found Recipes series.
The thing is, Jackson can't ever remember having the cake. His mother doesn't recall eating it, nor does his father.
"Perhaps [Grandma] was tired of making it every week, I don't know," Jackson says.
So when a copy of Mildred's recipe finally turned up, Jackson was surprised by the main ingredients: boxed cake mix and strawberry-flavored Jell-O. The latter jogged his memory of his grandmother's house, where she had kept a so-called "library of Jell-O boxes" in her pantry under the stairs.
"I don't know if they were sorted by color or not, but she was doing what every other home cook of her era and her region were doing at that time — and shortcuts were part of that," he says.
The first time he made the cake according to his grandma's recipe, Jackson was a bit alarmed by the results.
"Its color hurt my eyes. It's very, very — I can't stress this enough — very pink," he says. "And then it has an extremely pronounced strawberry flavor because of the Jell-O."
Although it seemed strange to Jackson, such kitchen shortcuts were wildly popular in the mid-20th century. Jell-O was one of America's first convenience foods and became a common filler after World War II. Carolyn Wyman, author of Jell-O: A Biography, says sales of the gelatin dessert took off when companies were trying to remarket their "prepare-it-in-a-foxhole-type products."
"There was this whole advertising push for women who were home and had modern appliances to save even more time with products where you could make dinner in five minutes," she says. "Jell-O fit right into that. Not only was it easy, but it was beautiful."
In addition to adding color and flavor to cakes like Mildred's, Jell-O was often paired with savory foods. It may sound unpalatable to modern foodies, but back in the day, cooks often mixed the jiggly stuff with things like cream cheese, nuts, horseradish, vinegar or cottage cheese.
"You could put Minute Rice with it, frozen spinach; there's no end to what you could do with it," Wyman says.
In the mid-20th century, fruity Jell-O was commonly paired with savory ingredients. This "ginger ale salad" recipe calls for peaches, nuts, celery and lime Jell-O.i
In the mid-20th century, fruity Jell-O was commonly paired with savory ingredients. This "ginger ale salad" recipe calls for peaches, nuts, celery and lime Jell-O.
jbcurio/via Flickr
Ruth Clark has been giving some of those odd recipes a second chance on her blog, The Mid-Century Menu. Among the things she's tested is an eye-catching barbecue bean mold — as in baked beans and gelatin — which she describes as "not totally disgusting, but not very good either."
Despite the kitsch appeal and the popularity of Jell-O Jigglers in the 1990s, Jell-O has largely faded as a pantry staple (though it remains a hit on college campuses and has gained new life as the stuff of art and architecture.)
So when Jackson revisited his grandma's recipe, which he calls "wonderful in its own right," he wanted to find a way to cut out the shortcuts. He also wanted to turn it into cupcakes, since those are easier to transport to a picnic (which, you'll recall, are the subject of his book).
"I made a decision to try to honor the recipe — and my grandmother — by remaining quite faithful to it," Jackson says. "[The cupcakes] are soft, they are just sweet enough, and they have a bright pink icing, which is made pink by pureed strawberries." The hue may be less vivid than in grandma's version, but "you can identify them immediately upon sight as strawberry cupcakes," he says.
Jackson admits one shortcut was worth keeping. Even when strawberries are in season, he says the cupcakes are best when made with frozen ones.
"Frozen strawberries are good all the way around," he says. "They're very consistent and picked when they're ripe, and better overall [for this recipe]."
2 cups (500 ml) unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons (10 ml) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (1 ml) salt
1/2 cup (125 ml) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups (310 ml) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup (125 ml) milk
3 cups (750 ml) fresh strawberries hulled and quartered
Strawberry buttercream
1 egg
3/4 cup (180 ml) strawberry jam
1/2 cup (125 ml) sugar
3/4 cup (180 ml) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened
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PREPARATION
Cake
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Butter a 20-cm (8-inch) springform pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla using an electric mixer.
Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth. With the mixer on low, add 375 ml (1 1/2 cups) strawberries. Add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk.
Scrape the batter into the springform pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 1 hour.
Let cool partially, unmould and finish cooling on a rack.
Strawberry buttercream
Break the egg into a large bowl. Set aside.
In a saucepan, bring the jam and sugar to a boil while stirring. Simmer for 2 minutes.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the egg until frothy. Slowly add the hot jam, without pouring it directly on the beaters. Beat until the mixture is completely cooled, about 15 minutes.
Add the butter 1 or 2 pieces at a time, beating until the mixture is very creamy.
Assembly
On a clean surface, slice the cake in half horizontally, making 2 layers. Spread buttercream on top of each layer. Stack 1 layer on the other. Decorate the top with the remaining strawberries.
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