My mother’s recipes were all collected in the 3×5 card era. My mother’s recipe-collecting years were from about 1938 (when she was married) to about 1992 (when she and my dad moved into a retirement home and she stopped cooking altogether). And I’ve shared before, I think, a photo of my mom’s recipe box (below). I think she bought this metal card box – a huge one – at a garage sale, or a rummage sale. It barely held all of her recipes. It was so full I had to go through and throw out some of the less-interesting recipes, mostly newspaper clippings with no notes, so I knew she’s never made them. Most of the treasured ones that I remember I’ve already shared on this blog. The inside of the box says “The American Home menu maker.” It also has a list of weights and measures and a section of equivalents like 1 tablespoon of flour = 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch. Or 1 cup honey = 1 to 1 1/4 cups sugar and 1/4 cup liquid. Hmm. That’s an interesting one.
This nut pudding cake recipe is also on a 3×5 card, well aged, with some food spatters and notes written in pencil. Also her little code in the corner – EXC – she wrote. So I’m guessing this recipe dates from about 1950, just based on the yellowish cast to the 3×5 card itself. You can see the card in the left front of the box. It might date even to the 40’s. There’s no date, of course.
This dessert has all the regular trappings of a pudding cake – the kind you make that creates its own sauce. I pulled it out of the recipe box a month of so ago when I was searching for something. I flipped through a whole bunch of recipes – like Margie’s Fruit Cookies (a friend from when we lived in Rhode Island), Clair’s Crab (a neighbor for years in San Diego), Ruth’s Salmon Aspic (my dad worked with her husband – I have several of Ruth’s recipes), Esther’s Split Cake (one of my mom’s best friends), Aunt Sadie’s Lemon Chiffon Pie, (she was my dad’s aunt), Gertrude’s Chicken Ring (another work friend – my dad worked with her husband), and Frozen Pea Salad (from LaVern, my dad’s 2nd cousin, who lived in Sacramento). Aren’t the people names and the recipe names SO evocative of the times. I must go through the box again and pull out even more recipes and try them. It will take me hours and hours to review. Likely I’ll shed a tear or two as I read more of the cards in my mother’s flowing handwriting. The ones that were written with a fountain pen – well, I can be pretty certain those are very old. This is one of those.
So, back to the recipe itself. It’s quite simple to make, really. Although I will say there were a whole lot of measuring cups to wash and several bowls of different sizes too. My DH is so good to me – he washes all the dishes morning, noon and night and in between if I’m creating things in the kitchen.
First you make a cake batter of flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, some cocoa, milk, vanilla and nuts. That gets poured into the bottom of an 8x8x2 baking pan and spread out evenly. Then you mix more cocoa and brown sugar to sprinkle all over the top, and lastly you pour 2 cups of hot, boiling water over the top. Just be careful as you move the pan (that’s hot) from your countertop to the oven shelf. You probably could (and I should have) put the pan on the oven shelf, then poured the hot water in. You don’t stir it or anything. Just gently pour in the water. It bakes for 40-45 minutes and when it comes out all the cake has risen to the top and the nice, goopy sauce-like stuff is on the bottom. When you spoon it out, the sauce is there to dribble over ice cream if you want to add that.
The first time I garnished with ice cream. Second serving I used fat-free half and half, which was very nice, actually. Ice cream may not be the perfect combo after all. In either case, though, this was delish. Moist. Chewy-crunchy from the nuts, which I liked. I happened to use pecans because that’s what I had on hand, so either walnuts or pecans would work. Do note this dessert is very low-fat. So, thanks, mom, for this good, comfort-food, old-fashioned dessert.
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Chocolate Upside-Down Baked Nut Pudding
Recipe By: Adapted from my mother’s recipe from about 1950, in her handwriting.
Serving Size: 8
CAKE BATTER:
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup 2% low-fat milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons unsalted butter — melted
1/2 cup chopped nuts — walnuts or pecans
TOPPING:
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa — (scant the measure by about a tablespoon)
2 cups boiling water
1. Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and cocoa together. Sift into a larger bowl.
2. Add vanilla to milk, then combine with the melted butter and chopped nuts. Add to the dry ingredients. Stir just enough to combine, then pour into an 8x8x2 baking dish.
3. Mix brown sugar with the 1/4 cup cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the entire surface of the batter.
4. Gently pour the hot water over the top. Do not stir.
5. Gently move the pan into oven and bake for 40-45 minutes.
6. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Per Serving (you might get 9-10 servings if they’re smaller): 323 Calories; 9g Fat (24.5% calories from fat); 5g Protein; 59g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 284mg Sodium.
A year ago: Barbecued Southern Shrimp
Two years ago: Greek Steak in Pita Sandwich
Three years ago: Cranberry Orange Cookies
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