Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Vintage Lane - Chocolate Mocha Cake from Gold Crest Recipes


Normal and Formal - for every occasion!
Vintage Lane is going to be a regular feature on Veggie Mama - to bring you up to speed, go here, or click the "Vintage Lane" tab.
Cute, right?

This book is part of a collection given to me by my sister, and it was once owned by her husband's grandma. She wrapped them up all pretty in a box and gave them to me for Christmas. Good sister!

The introduction tells us that there was "tremendous demand" for copies of Gold Crest's last recipe book, containing "inspiring and practical recipes to please every member of Queensland families".

I have to tell you, the cake I made did just that. Not much of a cake eater, I ate three cupcakes in a row, and I even received glowing reports from Veggie Dad.

The contents include recipes for cakes, puddings, pastry and biscuits, as well as "Special Meat Dishes" (goulash, salmon balls, casserole chops and more), fillings (not the dentist kind... though they might send you there), cookery hints, weights and measures and a list of equipment one should own when setting up their own kitchen.

The Faithful Rainbow Cake is presented in full colour, and we are told it has been reproduced by popular demand. Looks good to me!

Pretty in Pink
There's even an Oriental Cake (which only has cinnamon, cocoa and vanilla for flavouring, so I'm slightly confused... ), Rice Custard Pudding, Cornflake Tart, Cornish Pasties, Iced Vo-Vo Biscuits, and Monte Carlos, among others.

I can't tell when this cookbook was made, as a google search of just about every word combination I can think of comes up with nothing. It was obviously a time when offal was a regular feature in a cook's repertoire...

Om Nom Not:

Tasty: so subjective!
and now for the featured recipe... Chocolate Mocha Cake

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups Gold Crest self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons cocoa
5 tablespoons butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup cold milk
2 teaspoons coffee essence (I used two tablespoons espresso)

Mocha Frosting:
2 cups sifted icing sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
3 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 tablespoons coffee
1/2 teaspoon Gold Crest vanilla essence

Directions for cake:

Sift the flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and cocoa together twice. Add coffee essence to milk. Cream the butter, add sugar gradually. Beat until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add sifted dry ingredients, alternately with liquid mixture, a little at a time. Beat very smooth. Bake in two greased and floured 7in sandwich tin in moderate oven 30 minutes.

Directions for frosting:

Sift the sugar, salt and cocoa together. Cream butter until soft. Add part of sugar mixture gradually, beating thoroughly. Add remaining sugar mixture alternately with warm coffee, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla.


This made a very light cake, with a rich, buttery frosting - really delicious. The batter was so fluffy, and was interesting to see - the addition of cocoa only made it a very light brown, like the cakes I used to make when I was a kid (I only had one recipe book and it was sooo old), compared to the deeper browns of mudcakes and boxed cake mixes.




Verdict?


NOM!


21 comments:

  1. That looks yummy! The frosting look delicious! Excellent recipe - might have to give it a try.

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  2. What a great idea for a series! I was just flicking through my mum's good housekeeping tome which we used to pore through when we were little!

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  3. So jealous Lorraine! I love Good Housekeeping. How cool is it to have a book with such memories :)

    And Dannii... The frosting really made this cake. Highly recommended!

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  4. oh, this is fun! I collect vintage cookbooks, so I have a feeling im really gonna like this feature :)

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  5. Such a good hobby to have! They're so sweet.

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  6. The cake looks amazing! And the recipe for brain fritters looks - offal ;)

    I love that cookbook though, what fun! I am looking forward to regular trips down Vintage Lane!

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  7. Haha offal! Can't say I'd be much of a brain fritter fan myself...

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  8. Love the concept of Vintage Lane! A recipe like this can never go outdated! Can't wait to give it a go.

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  9. ah now veggie or no veggie I do CAKE. And that looks fine.

    Bring out the cake :-)

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  10. Yes, 'let them eat cake' as they say in any good Weight Loss manual - NOT! Love the look of this recipe and love your blog!

    Have a great weekend!!

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  11. That is awesome! I love the recipes in a lot of vintage books and the tri colour cake looks to be a winner.
    You can never have to many cake recipes ;)

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  12. Looks absolutely awesome! I love chocolate cakes and I am sure this tastes great.

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  13. It most certainly does! And I love your store, I fulfil a lot of my American Candy needs there...

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  14. It most certainly does! And I love your store, I fulfil a lot of my American Candy needs there...

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  15. Looks absolutely awesome! I love chocolate cakes and I am sure this tastes great.

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  16. ah now veggie or no veggie I do CAKE. And that looks fine.

    Bring out the cake :-)

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  17. The cake looks amazing! And the recipe for brain fritters looks - offal ;)

    I love that cookbook though, what fun! I am looking forward to regular trips down Vintage Lane!

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  18. oh, this is fun! I collect vintage cookbooks, so I have a feeling im really gonna like this feature :)

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  19. What a great idea for a series! I was just flicking through my mum's good housekeeping tome which we used to pore through when we were little!

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  20. That looks yummy! The frosting look delicious! Excellent recipe - might have to give it a try.

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