The Juice Cake

Canned pineapple juice was introduced to American consumers only a few years before this recipe appeared in the Requested Recipes column of the Los Angeles Times, a precursor to today’s Culinary SOS. The convenience of pineapple juice in a can certainly made the cake much easier to make.

According to Dole Food Co.’s Consumer Center, Dole experimented with canned pineapple juice in 1910 but didn’t perfect it until 1929. By 1932, thousands of cases were being sold, but Donna Skidmore, manager of the Dole Food Center, says the juice didn’t carry the Dole label until 1934.

This recipe for Pineapple Feather Cake was printed on the “Of Interest to Women” page on May 1, 1933. “Marian Manners,” a pseudonym used by Times food writers at the time, provided the recipe. Most likely, this 1933 byline belonged to Ethel Morse, the director of The Times Home Economics Department. She held weekly cooking classes in The Times’ auditorium until her retirement in 1939.

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PINEAPPLE FEATHER CAKE

The cake was originally published without an icing recipe. The Times Test Kitchen developed one for this column. The icing calls for an egg white, which doesn’t get cooked. To be safer, you can substitute liquid egg whites, which carry less risk of salmonella infection.

CAKE

1 1/2 cups pastry flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

6 eggs, separated

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

ICING

1 egg white or 2 tablespoons liquid egg white

2 tablespoons pineapple juice

2 cups powdered sugar

CAKE

Sift together flour and baking powder 4 times. Beat egg yolks, pineapple and lemon juices and 1 cup sugar until light and thick, about 5 minutes.

Beat egg whites and salt in another bowl until foamy. Continue beating whites while gradually adding remaining 1/2 cup sugar until whites are stiff but not dry. Fold whites into yolks. Fold flour mixture 1/4 at a time into egg mixture until thoroughly combined.

Pour into tube pan lined on bottom with wax paper. Bake at 325 degrees until top springs back when lightly touched with finger, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool in pan. Turn out onto serving plate.

ICING

Whisk together egg white, pineapple juice and powdered sugar. Pour over cake and spread with spatula.

12 to 16 servings. Each of 16 servings:

202 calories; 84 mg sodium; 80 mg cholesterol; 2 grams fat; 43 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.03 gram fiber.