1950s Springtime Fancy Cake is the perfect April dessert

The days are getting longer, the air is alive with a thousand and one fresh, earthy scents, and the skies are, well, if not blue quite yet, than at least less likely to be chocked full of snowflakes.

For many north of the equator, spring has sprung and for those who are still wrestling with the final days of wintry weather, it soon will. Though we may have a ways to go before we're in the mood to sport an air conditioner as a hat or eschew any type of footwear that isn't a sandal, the warmth of spring is slowly emerging and before long, we're be into the thick of the hottest months of the year.

Before we hit that point though, let's take full advantage of our ovens and put them to good use in whipping up this super simple, budget-friend Springtime Fancy Cake recipe from 1953.

As with just about all vintage recipes that call for it, if shortening isn't your cup of tea, then by all means swap in your favourite butter, margarine or vegan cooking fat substitute instead.



{Sweet, fun and super easy to make, this delightful mid-century cake calls mainly for ingredients that most of us have to hand already and telegraphs a sense of spring as marvelously as the first blooms of the season. 1950s cake recipe ad image source.}


At its heart, this is a very basic white layer cake, but with the addition of sprightly mint green frosting and some really pretty daisies made from slices of white marshmallows and yellow gumdrops, it becomes a splendidly festive dessert offering that would easily see you through a myriad of spring and summer events, as well as lovely everyday meals alike.

For those, like myself, who are gluten-free, a cake like this is a total cinch still, too. Just put your favourite white or golden cake recipe to work or use a GF boxed mix for either.

You could change the frosting colour and/or candies used here as well, but I personally like it exactly as it stands now. This cake radiates with the spirit of spring, is pretty as a picture, and could easily be turned into cupcakes (with one candy topped flower on each cupcake), if so desired.

I’m elated that that spring is here again and love that vintage recipes like this help to capture to the elegance and joy of this season alike.

Today’s charming 1950s layer cake is bound to be a hit all throughout April and May, then clear through to June and summertime itself, where its adorable candy daisies will be every bit as at home then as they are right now while spring finds its sea legs once again.

Festively fun 1950s Catch-a-Valentine Cake recipe

It occurred to me recently just how much I love baking and making sweets for Valentine's Day. As a day where all things dolce are celebrated and noshed upon, I'm certainly not alone here, but I think part of why St. Val's Day desserts jump out at me so much is because, generally speaking, this is a holiday where sweet really, really reigns supreme.

There are arguably not a ton of standard savoury dishes for this day (though those with aphrodisiacal qualities, such as raw oysters, have long been firm favourites for a Feb. 14th dinner, as have been luxurious eats such as steak, lobster, and lamb), where sugary treats come out on top and most of us, even those who often eat very health consciously, are apt to indulge in something sweet, fun and tongue pleasingly wonderful.

I generally whip up one or more chocolate dishes for Valentine's Day, but I love anything pink or red as well, from tinted popcorn balls to homemade marshmallows to frosting topped sugar cookies. Today's mid-century recipe for the smile-inducingly named Catch-a-Valentine Cake has pink in spades and would be equally lovely for Easter, Mother's Day, a bridal or baby shower, birthday party, wedding or anniversary.

Fabulously simple to make, yet wonderfully impressive looking, this festive take on a classic marble cake (with two different coloured versions of the same cake batter, as opposed to two separate flavours of cake, though you could certainly use extracts to flavour one or both of them, if so desired) is a cinch to whip up and a fun treat for any February 14th related celebration.



{Beautiful to look at and wonderful to taste, this elegant 1950s Valentine's Day cake recipe is such a crowd pleasing choice. Naturally, if shorting isn't something you're too fond of, feel free to substitute butter, margarine, or another suitable cooking fat of your choice. Vintage recipe image source. Click here for a larger version.}


Valentine's Day itself might not be everyone's cup of (sweetened) tea, but most of us will agree that our eyes turn as wide as saucers when desserts celebrating this festive occasion are laid out before us, be they at home, in a restaurant or at the local grocery store.

This cake - which can easily be made GF by using your favourite store bought white or golden gluten-free cake mix - is free of chocolate, so it's a good choice for those who might be unable to eat it to to medical reason or simply not a fan. It's one of those delightful vintage cake recipes that looks fancy, but is not at all complicated and which most home cooks can successfully put together and bring to the table, where a chorus of cheers is bound to erupt from excited diners.

If you can't find candy hearts of any sort for the top, strawberry slices can easily be formed to make a heart shape and tiny food cutters (such as this lovely little set) can be used to cut hearts and other shapes from berries and many other fruits (and vegetables), too.

I hope that as Valentine's Day draws near, you'll get a chance to indulge in a sweet treat that truly brings you culinary joy, be it a classic cake like this 1950s gem, a decadent box of mixed chocolates, a rich soufflé, a refreshing ice cream sundae, a luscious fruit tart, a fragrant cinnamon bun, a crunchy French macaron, or anything else that - rather fittingly, one might say - your heart desires. I know I will be! :)


*PS* Thank you deeply to each of you for your understanding and kindhearted blog comments regarding the recent death of my computer. As the new one I ordered from Dell on Feb. 3rd hasn't even shipped yet (*le sigh*),

I'm thinking that - best case - I'll be receiving it on the three week end of the delivery time estimate I was given when I ordered. As mentioned in my post here last week, I am still online, just substantially less as I'm making due with accessing the web just from my phone. Hopefully my new laptop will get here soon and I can slip right back into my usual online routine (complete with a tons of catching up!).

Cool la la, it's Magic Florida Lime Icebox Cake!

Has this summer been the absolute toastiest one of my whole life? Thankfully, no, but it hasn't been the chilliest either, especially now that we're well and properly half way into August, a time of the year that is more than a little bit famous for its sweltering temperatures.

Given that many of us are presently watching the mercury climb so high it makes scaling Mt. Everest look like hopping over a molehill, I thought you might enjoy another fantastic ice cold vintage recipe today. This one from 1957 just happens to feature my all-time favourite citrus fruit, the humble, wildly zingy little lime.

I've always enjoyed the taste and scent of lime, perhaps in part because I tend to favour the underdog and/or less common ingredients, and lime (though popular in classic Key Lime Pie and wedged into bottles of Corona), doesn't get a massive amount of play in Canadian cuisine.

While others were die-hard fans of varieties such as Dr. Pepper and Raspberry (both admittedly terrific, too), as a youngster my Lip Smacker's flavour of choice was always lime, which came wrapped in a pretty, sparkly green tub and was so invigorating to dab on my lips before heading off to school.

Today's 1950s recipe is every bit as as refreshing and gorgeously scented as that was, and unlike like lip balm, you are thoroughly encouraged to tuck into a generous portion of Magic Florida Icebox Cake!




{While the text on this awesome 1950s frozen lime pie recipe is a definitely bit on the small side, fear not, if you click here you can see a larger version - which is a very good thing, because I think every citrus fan the world over should get a chance to cool off care of this scrumptious treat sometime this month. Vintage recipe image via Charm and Poise on Flickr.}



Though this recipe is bit more like a frozen pie or what's sometimes referred to just as a "freeze", I have no qualms with calling anything sweet that you make a pan a cake during these crayons-melting days of mid-August.

If you're not too keen on lime, or would simply rather opt for another citrus flavour, I'm quite certain that you'd have marked success if you gave this recipe a spin with lemon (especially Meyer Lemon), orange, blood orange, tangerine, pink grapefruit, mandarin orange, or yuzo (adjusting the type of frozen juice/lemonade concrete used as needed).

Perhaps it's the associate that one makes in their mind with this tranquil hue and mint, but there's just something instantly cooling about the sight of seeing soft, sweet green, such as the colour of this classic citrus infused icebox dessert.

One bite in and you'll no doubt be feeling considerably more refreshed, too, especially if you're slogging through the tail end of the dog days of summer right about now and really need an easy, completely delicious frozen dessert to help get you through until autumn returns.