Cherry Supreme Chiffon Cake 1953

It's time to set the table! This cake is a great reason to have a dinner party. In the 1950's, the chiffon cake was all the rage! Though invented in the 1920's. Chiffon cake was invented by an insurance agent, Harry Baker, in Los Angeles. In 1927. He came up with an unusual cake that was light and fluffy, more tender than angel food, more flavorful than sponge cake. It became the toast of Hollywood in the 1950's after showing up in many pamphlets, beginning in the late 1940's. Businesses such as General Mills, Betty Crocker, Duncan Hines and many more made pamphlets of recipes to show off their product. Between 1948 and 1955, hundreds of these pamphlets featured the chiffon cake. This magazine ad is from General Mills (Wesson Oil) who copied the recipe featured in the Betty Crocker pamphlet. So, let's get started in making this dreamy concoction.

Before you begin... you will need a TUBE CAKE PAN, DOUBLE BOILER (or two pots - one that will fit inside the other), cake flour, 4 cups of sugar and 11 eggs! I have had to duck out to the local grocery store many times while baking and I want to spare you that.

Ingredients and Materials

• Tube Cake Pan

• Double Boiler ( Or two pots, one that will fit inside the other)

• Rubber Spatula, Spoon, Mixer

Cake:

2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

4 Teaspoons Baking Powder

1 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Cup Wesson Oil (or other vegetable oil)

5 Unbeaten Egg Yokes

1/4 Cup cold water

2 Teaspoons of Vanilla

1 Cup Egg Whites (7 or 8 eggs)

1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

Icing:

3 Egg Whites

2/1/2 Cups Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

1/2 Cup Water

Making the Cake:

Preset oven to 325.

In a large bowl, sift together the 2 1/2 cups of Softsilk cake flour, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 4 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 tsp. of salt. *TIP: Spoon your flour gently in a measuring cup, don't pack.

Make a well in the dry ingredients. Into the well, add 1/2 cup of Wesson oil, 5 unbeaten egg yolks, 1/4 cup of cold water and the 2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Mix gently with a spoon, starting in the middle and moving outward.

In another large bowl, mix together the one cup of egg whites, 1/2 teaspoon of Cream of Tartar. Beat until' stiff peaks. Beat stiffer than maringue. DO NOT UNDER BEAT.

Pour the first bowl of egg yolk mixture into the stiffened egg whites. Use a spatula to fold. Pour into an un-greased 10" x4" tube pan.

Bake at 325 for 35. Then at 350 for 10-13 minutes.

Let cake cool upside down. Turn the tube pan over and let it hang until it's cool. Turn pan over and bang sharply on counter on table. then take a flexible (preferable rubber spatula or knife) and loosen up around the edge and then flip tube cake over your cake plate. Cut cake into four layers. Use toothpicks to mark where you cut, for even layers.

Making the Icing:

Put 3 egg whites, 2 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cups of sugar, 1/4 teaspoons of salt 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar and 1/2 cup of water into a double boiler with boiling water in lower pot. Beat around 7 minutes until' large peaks. set.

cool.

Drop 10 drops of red food coloring in icing and mix.

Separate in a two different bowls: 2 cups of icing and 1 cup of icing.

In two cups of icing bowl, 1/ cup maraschino cherries. Frost the top and bottom inner layers. With the one cup of icing, mix 1/4 cup of crushed nuts to frost the middle layer. Use the remaining icing in the bowl to frost the top of the cake and inside the tube. Decorate the top with nuts and whole maraschino cherries.

VOILA!