|
From: Pam
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 1:48 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Ebinger's crumb cake
Hello!!
I too am a child of Ebinger's delights, that I can still taste in my mind!
Their yellow cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and almonds on the side was my shared favorite with their crumb cake.
Apparently I'm not alone!!!
Barbra Streisand was on Rosie O'Donnell's show twice, BOTH TIMES she mentioned Ebinger's yellow cake with the chocolate
frosting and sliced almonds on the side!! Here you have a enormously famous and wealthy woman who could clearly afford
anything in the world she wanted, still drooling for this cake!! Rosie had her connections make Barbra the blackout
cake as a surprise for her second appearance on the show, to which Barbra said, " Thank you! But No! It was the yellow cake ..."
You posted a recipe from someone who made her version of this cake. She said the cake and the frosting were good,
but not really there. I am a very good baker and will try her recipe, and evaluate for myself, but I was wondering
if you have ever personally tried to duplicate this cake. In my child's mind the frosting tasted simply like chocolate,
not mocha. However, as an adult, and a cook, I realize coffee accentuates the chocolate flavor, so does the espresso
actually make that frosting more chocolate like, or did the cake have a mocha taste?
I baked for gourmet delis for many years, including making large crumb cakes. I never skimped on my ingredients!
These delis were in my town, my friends knew I baked for them, I wouldn't have embarrassed myself with making anything
less than delicious. However, I used a baking powder cake, not a yeast cake......I miss Ebinger's !!
Do you have a crumb cake recipe worthy of an Ebinger's bakery?
A good twenty years ago, my brother sat next to the owner of Entenmann's bakery on a plane. This gentleman said his family
had bought many of the original Ebinger's recipes from the Ebinger family, and they were keeping them in ready in case they
ever decided to produce a superior line of goods. Obviously this was before the Entenmann's sold out to a larger public
company...which eventually destroyed the quality of the Entenmann's brand....have you tried their crumb cake lately? DON'T!!
Anyhow! My request is for a worthy of Ebinger's yeast of course! Crumb cake, and suggestions regarding the yellow cake
chocolate buttercream cake they made.
Thank You!!
Pam
Hi Pam,
Thanks for an interesting letter.
Actually, I now have a recipe for the Ebinger’s crumb cake from the Vice President of Ebinger’s, Walter Jacobi, that he sent
in a 1957 letter. I am attaching a copy of the letter that I found on a blog here:
Letter from Walter N. Jacobi of Ebinger's in 1957
The yellow cake and frosting recipes are still problematic, as they have been for the 15 years that I’ve been looking for them.
There is a possible “tastes-like” recipe here: Ebinger's Yellow Layer Cake
Phaed
Thank you for your quick reply!
I'll tell you two other Ebinger stories
33 years ago Ebingers reopened on Hamilton. Parkway, Brooklyn, NY. Arnold Diaz, the local ABC reporter, reported on this
monumental happening!!! Live coverage of people piling into " Brooklyn's finest bakery ever has returned to Brooklyn!!!!"
I threw my 6 month old son into the back seat and headed into Brooklyn.
I waited my turn, 20 minutes at least, and bought 6 crumb cakes, and knowing I wouldn't be able to wait until I got home before
digging into one of them, a crumb bun to eat immediately in the parking lot. One taste and it was a "Who's kidding who?" Moment.
Clearly the name had gone back into public domain and some smart cookie, all puns intended, had snatched up the name and was
trying to pass himself off as the real thing....he didn't stay in business very long.
Then some ten years later some other smart fellow bought the name again and sold Ebinger staples in the same green box with brown
latticework. That didn't last very long either.
Some 35 years ago, Jacobi, who presented himself as a former Ebingers employee, I guess it was true!, also sold boxed goods thru
the A &P supermarket chain. That stuff was legit, one taste and you knew he had the right recipes. Sadly that died too after a
few years.
My crumbs were very similar. Equal parts butter and Crisco, pastry flour, salt , cinnamon, dark brown sugar, ground walnuts, and
ground cakes I bought at the discount Entenmann's factory store, either butter pound cakes or Danishes. Bakeries never throw out
yesterday's cakes, they use them in the crumbs of tomorrow's cakes, tastes much better than plain old flour, plus economical.
I hope I haven't bored you!
Thanks again,
Pam
From: Cathy
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 4:28 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Looking for a Baked Bean recipe
Dear Phaedrus:
I am looking for a very particular baked bean recipe. It was one my mother made and I believe it came from a newspaper
article in the 1960s. It is a unique recipe as it uses canned baked beans for the recipe. In fact, I remember the recipe
saying not to use pork-n-beans.
Here are the ingredients:
4 – 1# cans of baked beans
6 slices bacon
Onion
Ketchup
Mustard
Brown sugar
4 drops Tabasco Sauce
They were then baked at 325 F for three (3) hours.
As you can see, I remember most of the recipe. It is the middle part that I can’t recall.
These beans turn out to stick together and are delicious. They don’t run all over your plate that a lot of other baked bean
recipes do. In fact, these particular beans are even good when they are cold. When cold they really stick together.
I really hope that you can assist me in my search for this recipe. I have tried searching using “baked beans with tabasco sauce”,
“baked beans using canned baked beans”, “baked beans from 1960s”, as well as looking thru all of the recipe sites that I belong to.
I’ve had a few that are similar, but the key for me is the Tabasco and the cooking time.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Cathy
Hello Cathy,
I had no success finding a recipe that exactly matched your description. I found a few baked beans recipes made with canned
beans other than pork and beans that had Tabasco and a few that were baked for 3 hours at 350°. But they either had additional
ingredients such as Worcestershire, vinegar, or molasses, or else they differed in some other way. Looking at what you have,
I don’t see that much could be missing except the amounts for the onions, ketchup, mustard, and brown sugar, and a few basic
instructions, like “chopped” for the onions, “diced” for the bacon, etc.
I’ll post this on my site in case a reader has the original recipe that your mother used.
Phaed
I found this recipe in my files. I think it came from an old church cookbook.
Timm in Oregon
Home Style Baked Beans
Ingredients:
Four 15 ounce cans baked beans
6 slices bacon, cooked, drained and diced
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
1 cup brown sugar
Tabasco sauce to taste
Spray oil
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 300F degrees. Combine the baked beans, bacon, onion, mustard, ketchup, brown sugar and Tabasco sauce.
Place in a large casserole dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Cover and bake for 2 hours.
From: Kelsey
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Easy Rub Recipes for Grilling
Date: Tuesday, July 01, 2014 12:05 PM
Hi there,
I wanted to suggest a post for your site: Rub Recipes for Grilling.
Fix.com has just released a list of seven easy rub recipes and I thought your readers and followers might enjoy it this grilling season.
Thanks,
Kelsey
|
