If you look back through the decades, you'll find all kinds of wacky, wild recipes you
can't fathom eating, but despite some of those old recipes seeming absurd, newer doesn't
necessarily mean better.
Take a page out of your grandma's recipe book when it comes to desserts and you'll find
a whole bunch of ideas her generation loved and yours will, too.
Today's homes might have refrigerators instead
of an icebox, but an icebox cake is still a brilliant dessert for those times you're
looking for something delicious, versatile, and — above all — simple.
There's no right or wrong way to make this one.
Basically, you're layering cookies with whipped cream, and then adding some garnish.
Chill until it's firm, then cut it like a cake.
Super-easy and super-amazing.
The sky's the limit when it comes to making this one, from oreos to peanut butter to even
adding fruit if you want a semi-healthy twist.
Seriously, why haven't you made one of these already?
You might not immediately think of mayonnaise
as a perfect ingredient for cake, but it all started during the Great Depression.
This unsung hero took the place of the more expensive eggs and oil in cake recipes.
While it adds a bit of saltiness to the cake, it also leaves it incredibly moist.
Even though times are easier for most folks these days who doesn't love a hack for a super
moist cake?
Whether you're going or a super moist chocolate cake or an autumn-inspired spice cake, mayo
may just be your new secret weapon for baking.
"No mayonnaise?
No mayonnaise.
Not at all, okay?
She's gonna put mayonnaise on it."
The most fundamental part of a baked Alaska
using meringue as an insulator dates back to the turn of the 18th century, but according
to NPR's look at this dessert's strange history, it didn't become popular until the 1920s and
1930s.
It's essentially a layer of cake topped with a dome of hard frozen ice cream, then covered
in a layer of meringue.
The concoction is then either baked for a very brief period of time, or you can use
a kitchen torch to brown the meringue.
In theory, the heat won't penetrate to the ice cream level and when you cut into it,
you have an airy meringue outside, a large layer of still-frozen ice cream, and a cake
layer base.
Impressive and delicious.
There's been something of an up-and-down run
for rhubarb popularity.
It was everywhere in Victorian England, but by World War II, younger generations considered
it an old-fashioned sort of ingredient.
It's about time we gave rhubarb another chance, especially if you cringed at the idea when
you were younger.
One of the go-to rhubarb pie standards is a strawberry-rhubarb, thanks to the sweetness
of the strawberries balancing out the natural bitterness of the rhubarb.
Don't like strawberries?
Try blueberries!
Don't like a lattice top?
Go with a crumble crust instead.
Already love rhubarb and don't want the flavor to get lost among other flavors?
Try a rhubarb custard pie instead.
There's nothing that says "vintage" quite
like a pineapple upside down cake, and that's for a good reason.
Decades before anyone ever made one with pineapple, the principle of making a cake upside down
in a skillet was pretty common.
While the first mention of an upside down cake specifically involving caramelized fruit
came in 1923, no one's quite sure who the first person was to use pineapple.
The concept is simple: layer a pan with caramelized fruit or another sticky sweet delicacy then
add your cake batter.
If you need inspiration for what to layer on the bottom, think pineapple, apples, peaches,
cherries, or even caramel-coated nuts.
You can get creative with the cake itself too: why not try coffee cake?
Bake then flip so that all the gooey goodness is now on top and soaking into the cake.
Yes, please!
This odd, somewhat questionable dish is older
than you think, with early recipes dating back to the mid-19th century.
According to Serious Eats, ambrosia was firmly entrenched in Southern cuisine by the 1920s,
and it was particularly popular around Christmas.
It's that nostalgia that's earned it a place here.
Ambrosia is basically a riff on a fruit salad, so you can add any kinds of fruit you'd like.
What really makes an ambrosia for most people is the addition of miniature marshmallows
and shredded coconut.
The most common variety you're likely to see also contains mandarin oranges, maraschino
cherries, crushed pineapple, but why not experiment a little?
"I don't even like ambrosia.
Don't tell me you don't like ambrosia, you had some before, and you liked it."
The idea of bread pudding goes back to the
11th century.
We're talking about grandma, though, so this particular version of the dessert became popular
during the Great Depression and stayed that way through the war years.
Nothing went to waste during these long, frugal days, and bread pudding was a great way to
use stale bread.
The key to bread pudding is to soak your bread in a mixture of eggs, milk, sugar, and butter
then bake it.
That's the basic recipe anyway, but there's no need to stick to the traditional ingredients.
Add things like chocolate chips, a bourbon caramel sauce, or pumpkin spice around the
holidays.
Speaking of holidays, it might also be a great way to use the eggnog you bought and only
drank once.
Today, there's plenty of people who are craving
something sweet but light after their meal.
That's exactly why the light, airy pavlova needs to make a comeback!
It's not clear who invented pavlova or where it came from, but we do know it was named
after the ballerina Anna Pavlova specifically, its resemblance to her tutu.
That comes from the fluffy meringue layers made by whipping egg whites and sugar into
stiff peaks.
The key is to bake it slowly so the outside is crisp but the inside is soft and fluffy.
Then it's typically layered with whipped cream and fruit.
Take it up a notch by making a syrupy fruit compote with wine or a caramel bourbon sauce
for an apple filling.
If you don't like fruit, there's always chocolate because, why not?
A little pavlova and wine...
Book club will never be the same!
"You want me to participate in your book club?
I want to have a wine club."
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