When ‘Mix’ Was a Verb

When we look at the culinary developments that have helped make food preparation easier over the last century, the introduction of packaged cake mix usually doesn’t top the list. Other time-savers, like the microwave oven, food processor and electric mixer, come to mind. Or consider the frozen, instant and canned “convenience” foods of the 1950s, the advent of aerosol products containing cooking spray or whipped cream and the burgeoning fast-food industry.

The cake mix, however, cannot be overlooked. By requiring the addition of only oil, water or an egg, it changed the way home cooks had baked for centuries--from scratch.

General Mills Inc. introduced Betty Crocker ginger cake mix in 1947 and added a “SuperMoist” yellow cake mix by 1952 and an angel food cake mix in 1953. The Pillsbury Co. had white and chocolate cake mixes on the market in 1948, followed by a yellow cake mix in 1951 and an angel food cake mix in 1952.

A review of the Los Angeles Times food pages immediately preceding and following these years indicates how influential cake mixes were. The June 11, 1950, issue of This Week Magazine, a Sunday supplement to The Times, offers a good example.

In it, food editor Clementine Paddleford provided recipes for an Angel Cake and Gold Cake. (Remember--mixes hadn’t yet been introduced for these.) The same issue contained advertisements for Betty Crocker’s ginger cake mix. “Follow the easy directions on the package,” the ads said. Throughout the 1950s, if a cake was to be made, The Times’ recipes usually called for a cake mix as it became available to consumers.

The “from-scratch” Angel and Gold cake recipes that follow here are a pleasant reminder of those pre-cake-mix days. Making them doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of time, and they have a moist, delicious taste--perhaps better than cake made with a mix.

Paddleford learned of the recipes from one Helen Chrystal Bender, a music teacher from Summit, N.J. As Paddleford explains it, Bender’s students gave Sunday recitals, and “after the music, the ham-and-bean supper, then the cake cutting. Mrs. Bender cooks the meal; she bakes the cakes--over 200 a year. Nine on the table, the evening I visited.”

And, she continued, “teacher Bender’s favorite of the cake collection is the gold cake which goes along with the angel food to use the yolks left behind by the whites.” We think these cakes will win you over too.

Angel Cake

Active Work Time: 20 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour

11 egg whites (1 1/2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* Beat egg whites at medium speed until foamy, 1 minute. Add salt and cream of tartar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form, 5 to 6 minutes.

* Sift flour and sugar twice together in separate bowl. Fold into egg white mixture, 2 tablespoons at a time. Fold in vanilla extract.

* Turn into ungreased 9-inch tube pan. Bake at 375 degrees until pale golden, 40 minutes. Invert pan on cake rack to cool.

12 to 14 servings. Each of 14 servings: 372 calories; 256 mg sodium; 241 mg cholesterol; 15 grams fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.02 gram fiber.

Gold Cake

Active Work Time: 15 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour

CAKE

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

11 egg yolks (7/8 cup)

1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

1/3 teaspoon orange extract

1/3 teaspoon lemon extract

1/3 teaspoon almond extract

2 teaspoons baking powder

* Cream butter at high speed until light and fluffy, 1 minute. Beat in sugar gradually. Add egg yolks, beating until creamy, 2 to 3 minutes. Sift cake flour with salt. Add alternately with milk to egg mixture, beating well after each addition. Add orange, lemon and almond extracts and baking powder, stirring well.

* Turn mixture into ungreased 9-inch tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown and toothpick inserted in cake comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Invert pan on cake rack to cool. Run spatula along sides of pan to remove cake. Frost when cool.

ICING

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter

1 (1-pound) box powdered sugar

1/4 cup orange juice

* Blend butter with powdered sugar at low speed, slowly adding juice to give icing spreading consistency.

12 to 14 servings. Each of 14 servings: 125 calories; 138 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 0 fat; 28 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams protein; 0.02 gram fiber.