World War II Rationed Chocolate Cake from Mary Ann Rodman, Author of Jimmy’s Stars
You may remember me recently blogging about how I made tomato aspic for my Children’s Literature Book Club when we read World War II themed books. Tomato aspic was eaten by the characters in the book Jimmy’s Stars by Mary Ann Rodman, so even though I knew it would be nasty I couldn’t help making it. Mary Ann knew it was unlikely that I would actually tomato aspic, so during our author interview, she also included a recipe for a family recipe for a chocolate cake, which was a popular holdover from World War II rationing. I knew my book club wouldn’t appreciate tomato aspic being the only refreshment, so I also made the cake!
In this photo the chocolate and milk are being mixed in a double boiler.
Afterwards, it’s blended with the dry ingredients and I baked it in a bunt pan.
The funny thing was that the recipe said to sift the flour not once, not twice but four times! After sifting it twice, I mentioned on Twitter than my hand was seriously aching. Everybody said to stop sifting and move on! Move on, I did.
Mary Ann Rodman also provided a glaze recipe and I obviously didn’t know how to drizzle it on, as I totally overdid it and it pooled all over the plate. But I’m creative! I just covered it with strawberries.
Overall, it was an okay cake. The taste was great but it was on the dry side. I honestly don’t know if it was the fault of the baker (which would be easy) or the fault of the recipe. But nobody complained!
Our book club has a reputation of themed refreshments and everybody seemed impressed I could come up with a World War II ration cake. Making a recipe like this would be fun for kids who are learning about the home front during World War II or other such historical fiction books. I said the same thing when I made Shauna Burg’s Butter Bean cookies, but it’s true, it’s so much fun to make a connection in such a tangible way!
Links of interest: Maw Books review for Jimmy’s Stars by Mary Ann Rodman, author interview, part 1 and part 2, and the nasty tomato aspic photos. Mary Ann Rodman’s website.
Jimmy’s Stars is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.
Hey you! Yes. You! I've noticed that you've stopped by to visit a few times! But I don't know who you are. Why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself. Don't be scared. I try not to bite. I know you're a lurker but I'd love to hear your thoughts about what's been bringing you here. And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to never miss a post by subscribing to my feed or receiving updates by email. Thanks for visiting!
Category: Author Recipes, Bookish Musings & Miscellany
Tags: recipes, World War II
Enjoy this post? Then subscribe to receive updates in your favorite reader or by email.
I bet after the aspic, they were just happy to have their cake! It certainly looks lovely and strawberries are always a welcome addition!
on June 25th, 2009 at 7:48 amwow, that cake looks great…I think the strawberries were a great addition. Wonderful. Would you mind if I write up a little article on these two posts about the cake and aspic for the War challenge blog?
on June 25th, 2009 at 9:56 amWelcome back! We missed you!
on June 25th, 2009 at 8:01 pmThis chocolate cake looks great – I’m so impressed!
on June 25th, 2009 at 8:10 pmOur bookclub chooses a cafe or restaurant to match the book we’re currently reading, but we haven’t gone down the road of creating authentic cuisine ourselves yet! (Found link to this post on Twitter).
Hooray, you’re back, you’re back!
I like your use of strawberries here. And too much glaze isn’t really a problem, except for perhaps visually. It probably helped it retain as much moisture as possible, plus made it more yummy.
on June 25th, 2009 at 8:54 pmThis is really cool. Our book club themes food around our reads on occasion and they become some of the best meetings I think. I love it when we put a little extra into the review.
on June 25th, 2009 at 10:49 pmMawBlog you are something else. First you endeavor what
on June 26th, 2009 at 8:31 amEllie in JIMMY’S STARS called “tomato jell-o” and now you have moved on to what in our family was known variously
as “Wacky Cake” or “Meemaw’s Cake” (in memory of it’s main perpetrator. My mother, who did not like cooking, would whip up a Wacky Cake at least once a week, although she cheated and used a definitely “unrationed” cream cheese frosting. As I remember, HER cakes always seemed on the oily side. Your version might be a little dry, but it photographs beautifully (those strawberries!)
I can’t believe you came back for a second helping of
“Ellie Cuisine.”
Mary Ann Rodman
Wow, can I have a slice? That cake looks awesome. Too bad it was on the dry side, I hate it when cake turns out like that! Did everyone enjoy it at least? That’s the important thing, right?
on June 28th, 2009 at 8:29 pmMeghan – Oh yes, the aspic was not fun! Cake is much better!
Serena – Of course you can!
J.T – Thanks! I hate it when it goes down!
Rebecca – Thanks for leaving a comment! I’d love a book club that went out to eat too.
Hannah – I didn’t think about it helping the moisture, but yeah, visually it didn’t look to good. But strawberries are good on everything!
Sheila – It’s been fun to see what each host is going to come up. It makes the books more fun.
Mary Ann – It was my pleasure to make your Wacky Cake. I’m sure it is nothing like how your mother’s turned out though. It was fun to make these and the aspic *shudders* for book club!
Kim – They did enjoy it! They enjoyed the strawberries with it as well.
on July 1st, 2009 at 9:56 pm