Entry from February 24, 2006
Brownstone Front Cake
"Brownstone front cake" is a very rich chocolate cake. It's said to resemble the "brownstone front" houses.
The cake was popular in the late 19th century and probably began in New York City, which was then building many "brownstone" houses. A modern "Brownstone front cake" revival would be nice!
American Century Cook-Book
by Jean Anderson
New York, NY: Clarkson Potter Publishers
1997
Pg. 460, col. 1:
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE
THERE'S PLENTY of controversy about this cake. When and where it originated. What goes into the batter. Whether or not it's frosted.
Much to my surprise, I could find no references to Brownstone Front Cake before 1964, the year the recipe appeared in The American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating and Drinking -- alas, without a shred of documentation.
Then I called food historian Meryle Evans, who's spent much of her adult life digging into the origins of recipes.
(...)(Col. 2 -- ed.)
A week or so after this discussion, Meryle called to say she'd located three earlier versions of Brownstone Front Cake, two in community cookbooks dated 1910 (with caramel icing) and 1903 (with a vanilla cream). The third -- and earliest--appeared in the Atlanta Exposition Cook Book of 1895. That recipe, submitted by Mrs. Samuel Martin Inman of Atlanta, called for seven squares of Baker's chocolate (Pg. 461 -- ed.) and was baked in jelly-roll pans.
The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
by John Mariani
New York, NY: Lebhar-Friedman Books
1999
brownstone front cake. A rich chocolate cake, with a vanilla or caramel icing. According to culinary historian Meryl Evans, recipes for the cake date back at least to 1903, but the origin of the name is unknown, but would seem to refer to the reddish-brown color of brownstone buildings' facades.
http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/BrwnstneFrntChclteCke.asp
Brownstone Front Chocolate Cake
Submitted by: Judalee
"This is an old family recipe. The cake has a delicate chocolate flavor and the icing is hard to the touch, yet creamy when bitten into."
Original recipe yield: 1 - 9 inch layer cake.
http://www.springhousemagazine.com/v7n4/dixie.htm
Jane Deveme of Vienna, Missouri requested a recipe for a Brownstone Front Cake which I finally located in an old cookbook, Pioneer Cookbook, by Eula Mae Stratton, written in 1969.
Jane said she remembered her great-grandmother making this in rural Massac County back in the forties, but no one in the family could locate the original recipe.
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE
Mix 6 tbsp. cocoa with 2 cups white sugar, adding 2 1/2 cups flour, sifted with 2 level tsps. baking soda and 1/8 tsp. salt. Then stir in 2 cups sour cream into which 4 eggs have been beaten. Mix and beat until very smooth and pour into a well buttered and floured cake pan (at least 8 x 15 inches) and bake in a moderate oven for about one hour, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. And with this Victorian-era cake, the following frosting is a must.
"Our Home Favorite"
Published by
The Young Women's Home Mission Circle
of the
First Baptist Church
Saratoga Springs, N. Y.
1882
Saratoga Springs
The Daily Saratogian Steam Job Print.
1882
Pg. 92:
BROWN STONE FRONT.
1 1-2 cups sugar, 1-2 cup butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup sweet milk, 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder; flavor with vanilla. For the dark part use 1 1-2 squares grated chocolate, 1-2 cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons milk. Add 7 spoonfuls of the white part and stir well. Bake the dark in 2 layers and the white in 3.
Filling. -- Melt 1-4 cake of chocolate in a very little water; boil, then thicken with powdered sugar.
E. LENA CURTIS.
7 May 1905, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. VI9:
Bertha S. Morris, No. 1016 Georgia street, Los Angeles, first prize, $5, for recipe No. 66, "Brownstone Front Cake."
8 June 1907, Boston (MA) Daily Globe, pg. 12:
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE.
Dear Daisy Diamond -- Here is a cake recipe you asked for: One-half cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2/3 cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons baking powder. Divide the batter into two parts. Take two squares of chocolate, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons milk; heat the milk, sugar and chocolate together until melted, and when cold put with one of the two parts you divided the batter into, adding a little more flour; flavor with vanilla. These are to be baked in two separate tins and put together with frosting or jelly.
Fancy Work Crank.
7 August 1915, Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA), pg. 7:
Brownstone Front Cake.
Two squares of chocolate grated, one-half cupful of milk, yolk of one egg. Stir and cook until the consistency of custard, stirring constantly. Add one tablespoonful of butter. When cool add one cupful of sugar, one-half cupful milk, with one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it, one and one-half cupful of sifted pastry flour, one teaspoonful of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Forst with egg white and enough powdered sugar to spread flavor.
The cake was popular in the late 19th century and probably began in New York City, which was then building many "brownstone" houses. A modern "Brownstone front cake" revival would be nice!
American Century Cook-Book
by Jean Anderson
New York, NY: Clarkson Potter Publishers
1997
Pg. 460, col. 1:
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE
THERE'S PLENTY of controversy about this cake. When and where it originated. What goes into the batter. Whether or not it's frosted.
Much to my surprise, I could find no references to Brownstone Front Cake before 1964, the year the recipe appeared in The American Heritage Cookbook and Illustrated History of American Eating and Drinking -- alas, without a shred of documentation.
Then I called food historian Meryle Evans, who's spent much of her adult life digging into the origins of recipes.
(...)(Col. 2 -- ed.)
A week or so after this discussion, Meryle called to say she'd located three earlier versions of Brownstone Front Cake, two in community cookbooks dated 1910 (with caramel icing) and 1903 (with a vanilla cream). The third -- and earliest--appeared in the Atlanta Exposition Cook Book of 1895. That recipe, submitted by Mrs. Samuel Martin Inman of Atlanta, called for seven squares of Baker's chocolate (Pg. 461 -- ed.) and was baked in jelly-roll pans.
The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink
by John Mariani
New York, NY: Lebhar-Friedman Books
1999
brownstone front cake. A rich chocolate cake, with a vanilla or caramel icing. According to culinary historian Meryl Evans, recipes for the cake date back at least to 1903, but the origin of the name is unknown, but would seem to refer to the reddish-brown color of brownstone buildings' facades.
http://cake.allrecipes.com/az/BrwnstneFrntChclteCke.asp
Brownstone Front Chocolate Cake
Submitted by: Judalee
"This is an old family recipe. The cake has a delicate chocolate flavor and the icing is hard to the touch, yet creamy when bitten into."
Original recipe yield: 1 - 9 inch layer cake.
http://www.springhousemagazine.com/v7n4/dixie.htm
Jane Deveme of Vienna, Missouri requested a recipe for a Brownstone Front Cake which I finally located in an old cookbook, Pioneer Cookbook, by Eula Mae Stratton, written in 1969.
Jane said she remembered her great-grandmother making this in rural Massac County back in the forties, but no one in the family could locate the original recipe.
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE
Mix 6 tbsp. cocoa with 2 cups white sugar, adding 2 1/2 cups flour, sifted with 2 level tsps. baking soda and 1/8 tsp. salt. Then stir in 2 cups sour cream into which 4 eggs have been beaten. Mix and beat until very smooth and pour into a well buttered and floured cake pan (at least 8 x 15 inches) and bake in a moderate oven for about one hour, or until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean. And with this Victorian-era cake, the following frosting is a must.
"Our Home Favorite"
Published by
The Young Women's Home Mission Circle
of the
First Baptist Church
Saratoga Springs, N. Y.
1882
Saratoga Springs
The Daily Saratogian Steam Job Print.
1882
Pg. 92:
BROWN STONE FRONT.
1 1-2 cups sugar, 1-2 cup butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup sweet milk, 3 cups flour, 3 teaspoons baking powder; flavor with vanilla. For the dark part use 1 1-2 squares grated chocolate, 1-2 cup brown sugar and 3 tablespoons milk. Add 7 spoonfuls of the white part and stir well. Bake the dark in 2 layers and the white in 3.
Filling. -- Melt 1-4 cake of chocolate in a very little water; boil, then thicken with powdered sugar.
E. LENA CURTIS.
7 May 1905, Los Angeles (CA) Times, pg. VI9:
Bertha S. Morris, No. 1016 Georgia street, Los Angeles, first prize, $5, for recipe No. 66, "Brownstone Front Cake."
8 June 1907, Boston (MA) Daily Globe, pg. 12:
BROWNSTONE FRONT CAKE.
Dear Daisy Diamond -- Here is a cake recipe you asked for: One-half cup butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 2/3 cup sweet milk, 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons baking powder. Divide the batter into two parts. Take two squares of chocolate, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons milk; heat the milk, sugar and chocolate together until melted, and when cold put with one of the two parts you divided the batter into, adding a little more flour; flavor with vanilla. These are to be baked in two separate tins and put together with frosting or jelly.
Fancy Work Crank.
7 August 1915, Mountain Democrat (Placerville, CA), pg. 7:
Brownstone Front Cake.
Two squares of chocolate grated, one-half cupful of milk, yolk of one egg. Stir and cook until the consistency of custard, stirring constantly. Add one tablespoonful of butter. When cool add one cupful of sugar, one-half cupful milk, with one teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it, one and one-half cupful of sifted pastry flour, one teaspoonful of vanilla and a pinch of salt. Forst with egg white and enough powdered sugar to spread flavor.
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