Vintage Autumn Celebration: Week 7 - Maple Syrup Cake & Maple Nut Fudge

Another week into the Vintage Autumn Celebration where I highlight some amazing vintage maple recipes.

It’s amazing how autumn is just clipping along. My family has already perfected the art of caramel apple cider. And we’ve finally got some fall colors here in Maryland. I thought it would never come! 

Leaves are falling, storms are blowing through. In fact, a small tornado hit my town Friday night! We were a few miles from where all the damage was. Thankfully, no one in town was hurt. Like with any disaster, it's hard to comprehend that just hours or days before, everything was normal but in one brief moment of time, things are destroyed. 

I'm sure people in wartime felt the same way, especially in Britain and with all the bombings they endured. I know it's hard to really understand everything they went through, but in circumstances like natural disasters, I think we can come close to understanding a little. I had the chance to talk with a sweet great-grandma at an author event I went to on Saturday. I was telling her I study wartime ration recipes, and she said she lived through that and living on rations wasn't easy. I wish I'd had more time to pick her brain and learn more about her experience. That amazing generation is quickly passing away and there are still so many stories left to hear.

This week’s recipes are Maple Syrup Cake from The Victory Handbook for Health and Home Defense, approx. 1942-43, and Maple Nut Fudge from The Good Housekeeping Cook Book, 1944. I had actually planned on doing the fudge and another recipe, but I installed my ration cookbook display at another library this weekend. On a whim, I decided to take another look through The Victory Handbook before I put it into the case, because it's one that I haven't had time to study yet. Amazingly, it flopped easily open to a particular spot, and there was the recipe for Maple Syrup Cake! I thought it was meant to be, so I changed plans. haha!

Now, I’ve mentioned before how fudge and I don’t have a fondness for each other (exhibits A & B). I don’t like eating or making it and when I try, it usually ends up in disaster. At least that’s the case when it comes to vintage fudge recipes. If it’s for a maple nut flavored fudge, though, I might change my mind just this once. Looking over the recipe, the technique actually looks a bit easier than ones I've tried in the past, so that's an encouragement!

  

I just had to point out a few things about this page from The Victory Handbook. First, look at that cool, two-colored binding! It really fits the cover and oozes the patriotic feels. Second, the names for these recipes crack me up. Torpedo Frosting and Defense Apples?? haha! There are other recipes throughout this book that have similar names. One of these days, I'm going to have to make a YouTube video taking you on a tour of this fantastic wartime cookbook. In the meantime, enjoy Maple Syrup Cake and these bonus recipes!