On Saturday, I got my dream recipe box (thanks, eBay), packed with over 200 hand-written recipe cards, all for desserts dating from the 1930s onward, from an estate in Portland, Oregon. But after examining the cards, there were surprisingly few that I wanted to make, partly because most are simply a list of ingredients (no instructions) and some of the ingredients are unclear (like "caramel").
One exception was Egyptian Cake. Perhaps because of its exotic origin, this recipe (given to the homemaker by "Leeta") contained fairly precise instructions. So last night, listening to the news of the Egyptian uprising on NPR, I baked this cake.
It's a basic chocolate cake, containing only egg whites (the yolks are used in the frosting -- a waste-not-want-not hallmark of the 1930s). It has a nice, soft crumb and delicate flavor. The frosting is very similar to that used on German chocolate cake, except one uses either nuts or coconut. What's Egyptian about this cake, I have yet to discover. Perhaps I need to have another slice.
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| The batter, after incorporating the egg whites. |
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| The frosting needs to cook for a long time, and is quite sticky at first, kinda like certain Mideast politics. |
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