Alright, listen up, you young whippersnappers. You wanna know about them 1920s desserts? Back in my day, things weren’t all fancy like you see on them TV shows. We made do with what we had, and let me tell ya, we made some darn good sweets.
The Roaring Twenties, they called it. Flapper dresses and jazz music, sure, but it was also about good eatin’, especially when it came to the desserts. We didn’t have all them fancy ingredients you got now. No sir, we used what was around, simple stuff, but we made it work.
Now, one thing everyone loved was a pineapple upside-down cake. Yeah, that’s right. Sweet pineapples on the bottom, a nice buttery cake on top, flip it over and bam! A real treat. It was easy to make, too, even for a gal like me who ain’t no fancy baker. You just put some butter and brown sugar in a pan, lay down them pineapple rings, pour the batter on top, and bake it till it’s golden brown. Simple as that.
- Pineapple Upside-Down Cake
- Bread Pudding
- Gelatin Molds
And then there was bread pudding. Now, some folks might turn their noses up at bread pudding, but let me tell ya, it was a lifesaver. Got some old bread that’s goin’ stale? Don’t throw it out! Soak it in milk and eggs, add some sugar and spice, maybe a little bit of raisins if you got ’em, and bake it up. Warm, comforting, and it fills your belly. Sometimes, we’d get fancy and pour a little bit of caramel sauce on top, if we had some extra sugar to spare.
Oh, and them gelatin molds! They were all the rage back then. Now, I ain’t talking about no plain ol’ Jell-O. We’d put fruits in ’em, nuts, sometimes even little marshmallows. Made it all pretty and jiggly. It was a good way to use up whatever fruit was in season, and the kids loved it. They weren’t always the tastiest things, to be honest, but they looked nice on the table, and that’s what mattered sometimes. You know, back then, putting food on table was hard enough, so every meal was precious.
Cakes were a big deal too, all sorts of cakes. Pound cakes, buttermilk cakes, chocolate cakes, even devil’s food cake if you were feelin’ a little wild. We didn’t have no fancy cake mixes back then, no siree. We made ‘em from scratch, with flour and sugar and eggs, good old-fashioned ingredients. And frosting? Sometimes we had it, sometimes we didn’t. A plain cake was just as good, especially if you had a glass of milk to go with it.
And don’t forget about the candies. Them Crackerjacks, Baby Ruths, Butterfingers… all them chocolate bars. We’d have saltwater taffy, hard candies, roasted nuts, licorice, caramels, all sorts of things. Sometimes, that’s all we had for dessert. Kids loved ‘em, and to tell you the truth, so did us grown-ups.
We didn’t have much, but we made the most of it. Desserts weren’t just about satisfyin’ a sweet tooth, they were about family, about sharin’, about makin’ somethin’ good out of nothin’. It was a different time, I tell ya. We didn’t have all the fancy gadgets and gizmos you got now, but we had heart, and that’s what made the food taste so good.
So next time you’re eatin’ one of them fancy desserts, remember where it all came from. Remember them simple cakes and puddings and candies that folks used to make. It’s the simple things in life that are the best, you know? And that goes for desserts too.
Tags: 1920s, Desserts, Old Fashioned, Recipes, Cakes, Pudding, Candy, Baking, Roaring Twenties, Food History
