Pretty for a valentine, an engagement, or a shower, with tinted coconut and candies.

Nothing says “Thanks for that big engagement ring.” like a cake with pink coconut. From the retro Learn to Bake: You’ll Love It cookbooklet, 1947.

It is all about control and this nice vintage 1947 General Mills cookbook says many stoves have oven heat controls! Woohoo! I am getting me one of those new-fangled gadgets soon!

No cupcake toppers but here are some retro birthday favorites. I love the caption!

Caption on facing page reads: Here’s to many happy birthdays! The daisy cake for Mother has orange-tint frosting and pecan strips for flowers. For double glamour, there’s a tier cake, silhouetted in chocolate. Sister likes angel food frosted pink; the little folks take cupcakes and a candle apiece. It’s straight chocolate for Bobby with a ring circus of iced animal crackers–then a spicy favorite for Dad. You can make them all easily with letters or messages on top, once you have read this chapter. So plan happy birthdays for all your house–and have many.

From The Modern Family Cookbook
1 large crisp head lettuce
1 small cucumber, pared
2 branches tender celery
1/4 cup sliced green onions
6 or 8 radishes
2 small tomatoes, peeled
1 clove garlic
1 slice very stale bread
1/3 cup French Dressing

Wash vegetables thoroughly, drain and remove tops, stems, blemished parts, etc. Chill until just before serving time. Then cut clove of garlic in half and rub thoroughly over bread; drop bread into bottom of salad bowl. Pour in French dressing. Break lettuce in chunks (flavor is better when broken than when separated leaf by leaf); slice cucumber and cut celery in 1-inch lengths and add to bowl. Push salad fork and spoon under mixture on opposite sides and lift up, repeating this tossing motion until ingredients are well coated with dressing. Remove slice of bread, garnish bowl with green onions, sliced radishes and wedges of tomato. Serve immediately. 5 servings.

My question: What does the stale bread offer here? I have seen this before (usually with a Caesar salad) but have no clue. I suppose it does soak up some of the dressing making this a much lighter on the waist salad than your average salad of today where folks use 1/4 to 1/3 cup of dressing on each serving. 1/3 cup for the whole family cuts a ton of calories off the top. (makes room for more bacon fat!)

Whenever a woman says she loves to bake, you can feel mighty sure that she knows just how. …Now don’t you want to bake, to start out new, or freshen up your skill and gain new confidence? …Best of all, you’re going to find home baking a new pleasure.

Look! Everyone is happy because you learned to bake! Even you! Check out the smiles and dad’s retro bow tie!

From The Modern Family Cookbook

¾ cup cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup XXXX sugar
1 cup tart red jelly

Line a shallow jelly roll pan 15½” x 10½” x 5/8″  with full width of waxed paper so it extends  ½-inch all around over edge of pan –grease paper lightly. Prepare a towel by sprinkling evenly with XXXX sugar. Start oven 10 minutes before baking; set to moderately hot (400° F.)

Sift flour, measure, resift 3 times with next 2 ingredients. Put water and egg yolks into a 3-qt. mixing bowl and place over hot water, them beat with a rotary beater until very thick and light colored. Add ½ of the sugar gradually and continue to beat until thick. Remove bowl from over hot water. Beat in vanilla. Remove beater, wash. Now sift flour into 4 or 5 portions over yolk mixture, folding it in with wire whip until smooth after each portion. Beat egg whites with clean rotary beater until they form soft shiny peaks, then gradually beat in remaining sugar until shiny peaks curve at tps. Fold yolk mixture lightly but well into  whites with wire whip, using about 30 cut-and-fold-over strokes. Quickly flow batter gently down center of prepared pan from one end to other, then spread ever so lightly to the edges. Bake on center rack of oven 7 to 8 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched with finger. Remove to cake rack and quickly loosen edges with thin-bladed knife. Turn out on prepared towel; immediately strip  off paper. Roll up from narrow-side into an even roll, then roll up in the towel. Cool on cake rack. Unroll  gently and spread evenly with jelly slightly broken up with a fork. Reroll and wrap in waxed paper, and place on a cardboard to keep straight. Store in a cool place. Slice with saw-tooth knife. 8 servings.
My Notes: Perfect for a busy weekday evening; cake bakes in only 8 minutes. ha ha ha. Has anyone ever made a jelly roll? Is there a way to make one without so much work? (besides run down to Safeway)

Retro Carnival edition 2 is now live. Go take a look!

From The Modern Family Cookbook

Shred 5 large cold boiled potatoes on coarse shredder. Heat 4 tablespoons butter or bacon fat in a heavy 9-inch skillet until hot. Add potatoes, patting out lightly in a univform layer. Cover skillet and cook gently until lightly brown on under side, then carefully turn potatoes over, using pancake turner or large spatula, and cook until brown on other side. Lift out onto serving plate and serve at once. 5 servings.

My note: Well, it isn’t Hashbrown Casserole but it is cooked in bacon fat so it may resemble the retro favorite Waffle House hash browns. Now you just need to smother and cover them. (capped and dice optional) By the way, did you know there is a very adult lyric song that mentions Waffle House Hashbrowns? I bet we won’t see it on the Waffle House Juke Box, err make that “music machine.” By the way: what’s with WH accepting credit cards?!?! Our Waffle House recently started offering that “service.” Hmph. (after I have spent many mornings stopping and getting cash while growling that I can’t charge at WH, it still seems wrong, like the end of an era. Do you really want Papa Joe’s Meat Lover’s Pork Dinner on your credit card bill? (and don’t tell me you are getting the salad and Diet Coke) Do I want my Waffle House Family able to use credit cards? Instead, I would rather do like Rosie. )

From The Modern Family Cookbook

Wash 2 lbs. spinach very thoroughly through several cold waters; if necessary wash each leaf separately to remove all sand and grit. Discard bad leaves and any tough stems. Put spinach in 3-qt saucepan, add 1â…“ cups boiling water and 1 teaspoon salt and cook 5 to 10 minutes or until just tender, turning occassionally. Drain thoroughly and pour melted butter over spinach. Serve immediately. 5 servings.

My note: First: I am amused at several cold waters. It makes me picture chilling some Perrier, Poland Spring, Clearly Canadian and some Evian before washing the spinach. Second: Pre-washed bagged spinach is one of the best inventions of the last century. Third: I love spinach but am not fond of buttered spinach. My favorite real spinach is spinach lightly sauteed with garlic, tamari and lemon juice. How do you like your spinach?

This is a vintage General Mills Cookbooklet from 1947: Learn To Bake: You’ll Love It. It is to help you better use: Calumet Baking Powder, Swan’s Down Cake Flour, and Baker’s Chocolate. Baker’s Chocolate had cool-er packaging back then!