Bake a 1933 Prize-Winning French Chocolate Cake | Old Cookbook Challenge!

Bake a 1933 Prize-Winning French Chocolate Cake | Old Cookbook Challenge!
Welcome back to the Sunday morning Glen and Friends old cookbook show! In today's episode, we dive into the culinary past with a recipe from a 1933 cookbook by FW McNess, a company with a fascinating history ranging from patent medicines to food flavourings. Join me as we attempt to recreate a French chocolate cake that has allegedly won 29 first prizes. Uncover the secrets of Mrs. Edith Moore, a champion cake baker, and witness my attempt at bringing this vintage recipe to life. Will it live up to the accolades? Let's find out together!
FRENCH CHOCOLATE CAKE
(This has won 29 First Prizes)
1 cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 cup sour milk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoonful soda
1 teaspoonful Vanilla
3 eggs
Dissolve two-thirds cup chocolate and half cup sugar in a little hot water. Add this to the sugar,
butter, milk and eggs which have been well mixed, then add the flour and soda and bake.
Step back in time with me as we explore a 1933 cookbook and attempt to recreate a French chocolate cake that claims 29 first prizes! Can a vintage recipe stand the test of time?
"Secrets of Mrs. Edith Moore: Unraveling the Mystery of the Award-Winning Chocolate Cake!"
Join me on a journey through the pages of a vintage cookbook as we uncover the secrets of Mrs. Edith Moore, a champion cake baker. Will her French chocolate cake recipe live up to the hype?
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L1S 0E9

[@palaceofwisdom9448]

It is much appreciated that you show failures like this, whereas most would go back, do two layers and never mention the original mishap.

[@osmia]

+

[@JerryB507]

One of the endearing things about Glen is he shows the failures and then discusses how to fix or avoid them. We all make mistakes and Glen shows that it's not the end of the world to do so.

[@Dios67]

Looked good to me. A muffin cake.

[@TamarLitvot]

@@Dios67 Yes! I was wondering why this cake looked familiar and it's because it looks like a huge muffin!

[@cherinorth4449]

I Believe you misread the directions. I have this cookbook and the way the directions read you dissolve 2/3 cup cocoa with 1/2 cup sugar in a little hot water. And add this to THE sugar butter milk and eggs which have been well mixed. And so on and so forth. So in all the recipe should have a total of 1 1/2 cups of sugar as no where does the recipe say the sugar is divided. If you were supposed to decide it even an old recipe would say 1 cup divided so you would be ready to divide it some where in the directions. Back in those days women all knew the basics of how to bake a cake and didn’t need all the directions for every step. Unless there was a SPECIAL step not in a normal cake recipe. Her special step was in how to mix and dissolve the cocoa.

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

"I'm happy with honorable mention.". I laughed out loud.

[@larrymcardle]

"It's 2024 - let's hack this cake!" Thanks for the chuckle on Sunday morning.

[@RedCocoon]

Did not expect her to say 中文 with the exact perfect intonation, that caught me off guard lol

[@TheFlyingGerbil]

Would love to have a video of Jule’s grandmother’s award winning cake.

[@ladylilac4363]

Yes please.

[@jcwoods2311]

Thank you for the light ridicule on "hacks", can't stand the term being abused as it is. Here's a winter "hack" for you up north peoples- to keep your feet warm and toasty when it's cold and snowy outside put on a pair of winter boots BEFORE you step outside! Thank you both, always look forward to your creations and videos.

[@Beachdudeca]

You could just do this as a Bundt cake , and then finish with a simple powder sugar dust or drip glaze

[@traumajock]

I think a butter cream frosting, with a dash of orange liqueur.

[@ferdi5407]

So glad you showed thevREAL result. Honest reporting ❤ makes me feel so much better about my domed, cracked cake. Thank you!

[@quarlow1215]

That looks exactly like a really big Superstore chocolate muffin. Yum.

[@kevinolive]

I recognized that cookbook because of the country names. I checked through my very small stash of old cookbooks and found that I have a 1935 copy of that book.

[@virginiaf.5764]

I have a 1935 copy, too.

[@TamarLitvot]

Does it have the same recipes? and are they any more detailed than what Glen has?

[@virginiaf.5764]

@@TamarLitvot The copy I have looks to have the same recipes, but hard to tell without seeing all the pages. Edith Moore and all her information/recipes are in my copy.

[@dragonrising11]

**This video was hilarious!!!!...❤🤣🤣 I MUST make this cake!!

[@Annie1962]

you mentioned Big Audio Dynamite! Awesome.

[@HomeBrewandGardeningAustralia]

The distain when Glen says "bake" just warmed my soul! lol

[@SarHje]

As a collector of cook books, especially old ones, I’m lucky to have inherited both my mothers, grandmothers and especially my aunt’s recipes. Born in 1910 her only higher education was a few month learning to be a housewife at a boarding school. After climbing the class ladder by marrying the village school teacher and by that being assigned after church coffee & buffets, having a larger house than most others. And she really collected. Being the perfect housewife as a goal, impeccable home and garden and what was considered good cooking and economic solutions during the late 1920s - 1940s, extras in magazines about food and table laying and table manners (very funny, my son has these) and gathering from friends. But of course they are all in Swedish, so I suppose you’d be less interested when I try to sort the hoarding.

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

I started to collect a few older cookbooks from the past, and it's been interesting. Glenn was a factor, as with reddit's oldrecipes. If you like baked goods and want to cut back on the sugar, cholesterol, and/or fats, find some old cookbooks. I like how modern recipes taste more, but I'll probably have a heart attack if I eat those every day. For everyday baking, old cookbooks are nice. There was a large jump from around the 1940s to the 1960s ish, then another one around 2008.

[@TheDriftwoodlover]

Now I’m sorry I tossed all the books like this I inherited years ago, figuring no one would want them if I donated them.

[@Beachdudeca]

Thank you for our Sunday Recipe

[@Mediocre00Rebel]

Y'all are really cool. Out of all the other cooking channels ive seen on youtube, you guys really just bring a unique presentation and personality. The historical aspects and stories being stuff are cool too.

[@cldrecats]

Furst McNess is still in business in Freeport, IL. They still make some unique extracts. Their wonder flavor is really unique. They still sell cleaning stuff just like they used to in that book. My friend had a really old recipe for peppermint schnapps that used only their peppermint extract.

[@kdmoonchildsworld]

This show always makes my Sunday! I adore chocolate cake warm with a pat of butter on it and no frosting.❤❤❤

[@NotKev2017]

I don't normally use boxed mixes for cakes. My mother found a recipe over 40 years ago (at least) from a small magazine called "Grit" Said recipe was called " Wacky Cake" No eggs in it and it was always moist, chocolatey and delicious. Paired with an icing made from water, sugar, butter, cocoa and corn starch, it was cooked until thick and then poured over said cake. It was delicious. And this is the tried and true recipe for a homemade chocolate cake for my family for years and years. It was the cake that was requested by many people if I was asked to bring a desert.

[@TamarLitvot]

Wacky cake is a recipe in my 1950s children's cookbook -- made with cocoa and vinegar, right? It has a crackly kind of crust and yes, is very moist.

[@theresapawlak4907]

My grandmother subscribed to Grit magazine for years. Thanks for the memory!

[@lindavickerson7394]

This cake was my vegan daughter’s wedding cake!

[@christanice]

I grew up with that cake too, but never knew it to be known as Wacky Cake... We called it Helen's Chocolate Cake, which I as a little kid just thought was its real name.... I later found out the recipe came from my grandmother's co-worker Helen.... Oh . Now I get it 😂... I could eat that "frosting" with a spoon, it's like rich chocolatey warm pudding!!!!

[@annarussell3751]

Yes, my Grandma had Grit Magazine, too. I’ve heard of Wacky cake. I’d like to see a recipe for it.

[@rhondawest6838]

Those McNess bottles look suspiciously similar to Watkins

[@jjudy5869]

Which makes me curious if that chocolate cake recipe is in my grandmother's Watkins cookbook. Edit: The closest I came up with was Watkins Cocoa Cake. Only 2 eggs they were separated with the whites beaten, and every recipe calls for cake flour. The Cocoa Layer Cake would be a close second, but it uses fresh milk. They all call out the size of the pan and temperature to bake at.

[@3kids2cats1dog]

Wait! Julie's Chinese is better than mine! :O

[@sandyfarrow7752]

I do love you and Julie on a Sunday morning. Cat Stevens, Morning has Broken,

[@TamarLitvot]

Such a gorgeous song

[@user-js4mt9kp8y]

Enjoy your method cooking and baking. I went and dug out my grandmothers hand written cookbook , have been inspired to try some some of her recipes .

[@dhinds5927]

My great-grandfather sold for a company like this to farmers in southern Indiana. I have a photo of him with his wagon just like the one you showed. He sold on credit and got paid after the farmers sold their harvest.

[@anthonydolio8118]

The classics always delight. Nothing like a simple chocolate cake to satisfy the sweet tooth.

[@marleyfrost1]

BAD Medicine Show, the best presentation of Spaghetti Western samples ever.

[@pamelascholz9680]

This looks very much like the chocolate cake recipe I got from my grandmother in the 1970s. Hers uses block cocoa you melt with the sugar and water. It has smaller proportions that really make 1 8" cake. I'm going to try hers with powdered cocoa and see how it turns out. Thanks for the memory!

[@donnaclayton8644]

Yes!!!

[@nancy9478]

I was just saying to my daughter that I don't see recipes using block chocolate anymore. I used to sub in cocoa powder for block way back when, I never had block in the pantry. I think in the back of my circa 80s Betty Crocker cookbook it gave substitutions. I remember I had to add a little extra fat.

[@kevinandcarolynroutledge2981]

B.A.D. mention! You rock Glen!

[@harrypimentel2247]

What’s interesting to me is the brand of Milk being used: Neilson. If your into vintage baseball cards, you’ll know that Neilson’s sold baseball cards with their chocolates in the early 1920s.

[@jend2862]

😂 I think I will stick with Hershey's cake on their cocoa tin - always turns out perfect, tastes delicious, and stays moist.

[@jandavis1523]

I have never LOL’d so much while watching one of your videos! I think it should be called Alpen Chocolate Cake. 🌋

[@TamarLitvot]

🤣🤣🤣

[@janem3575]

ooooo chocolate mountain explosion cake!!!! hehehe add chocolate drizzle down its peak

[@squidundertheinfluence]

Starting to wonder if there was a competitive cake circuit these bakers were on going from fair to fair. I mean even now there are people who are known for having won a lot of ribbons at the State Fair, but the number of awards shown on that page is quite amazing. Even presuming she entered every category (breads, cookies, pies, cakes, jams, pickles, etc.) every year, I'd think it would take going to multiple state and county fairs over numerous years to amass so many awards.

[@hannakinn]

That cook book is 91 years old just like my precious mom.

[@rabidsamfan]

My sister would have taken that cake as is and frosted it to look like a mountain with little frosting trees on it.

[@TheRealVodun13]

I don't care if it is domed and cracked, that cake looks very moist and in my opinion moisture is very important when it comes to cake. Good video!

[@JoelAAK]

Love the B.A.D. shoutout!

[@RogaineForEwoks]

Mmmm, secret old timey chocolate prize cake!!

[@thyum4r]

I love the quirks of these old cookbooks, thanks for sharing

[@lucyperry8422]

You two are on a roll today!

[@EastSider48215]

I’m even more interested in the Silver Cake recipe!

[@winnieyee3866]

I love these Sunday Old Cookbook shows. I learned so much. This is a cool little book. Can't wait to see what you will pick out next.

[@bobbuilder3748]

I've made this twice now, splitting it into two smaller cakes both times. It's a very nice cake. The second time I added macadamia nuts which made it even better.

[@dlbstl]

I loved this episode.😊

[@VeretenoVids]

Love getting history lessons from you! I do have a couple of early 20th century recipes that clearly tell you to dissolve chopped pieces of chocolate in hot water. Of course they don't say what kind of chocolate, but I've always assumed unsweetened "baking" bars.

[@bkd69ster]

Came for the chocolate cake, stayed for the Big Audio Dynamite.

[@maryminardi8018]

I applaud you for trying this recipe with so little information. It is possible the 1/2 cup of sugar mixed with the cocoa is in addition to the cup of sugar.

[@donnareit866]

Oh, how fun! I remember the Mc Ness man coming to my grandma's house. He would give all the kids a mini pack of gum with 2 little pieces. Great early instant pudding. What would happen to the end result if you added flour alternatively as you suggested?

[@georgewitte3548]

Yes, and would it make any difference to just mix the cocoa powder into the flour?

[@virginiaf.5764]

Oh drat Glen! I have an FW McNess 1935 cookbook from 1935 (different cover) I was planning to send to you, thinking I'll bet he's never seen this one. Probably the same recipes. You should read what she writes about the chocolate ... yes, cocoa, but milk instead of water, and cooled before adding. If you read all her "secrets", even the curdling is addressed.

[@Grandpaige]

Kind of like the cake recipe in back of the Hershey Cocoa container which is awesome!

[@maizie9454]

my thought too. my mom baked the hershey cake very often .its a great cake

[@lizsteilkie]

I made this 20 minute after I watched this. Best cake ever thank you so much!

[@cremebrulee4759]

Since the chocolate is not listed in the ingredients and only in the text, I would have thought that the 1/2 cup of sugar in the text of the recipe would have been in addition to the cup of sugar listed in the ingredients. Do you think another 1/2 cup of sugar would make it too sweet? Thanks. I always enjoy watching you put recipe together and then seeing the reactions from you and Julie.

[@yootoob7048]

Please, no hacks, no tips and tricks, no secrets, no buzz words. A simple variation or interpretation will be fine. That said, I look forward to making this cake.

[@tiffanyrun8742]

Great video. I am wondering about the “silver cake” that is on the page. What is a silver cake? You could also level off the bubble top of the cake and pour a ganache icing over the top and then “ tada”.

[@susanmacdonald4288]

I think I caught a glimpse of Mahogany Cake...that could be interesting, too. Oh, and ganache would definitely make it "tada"!

[@TamarLitvot]

@@susanmacdonald4288 I tried to read that -- the instructions talk about something that I think wasn't in the recipe ingredients (like the chocolate in Glen's recipe), but I couldn't quite see what it was. I'd like for Glen to make that cake.

[@TheNickmista]

It would be interesting to see whether the English translations of some of the same recipes in the other languages have additional information. Maybe some information was included in the french chocolate cake recipe written in danish for example? I assume its the same recipes in multiple languages and not different recipes for each language?

[@Yxvandoolu]

No. The Danish text is about Danish foods. The second one is King Christian’s Favorite (Court dish). The last one in the first colum is a Danish-style apple cake (thick applesauce with crumbs of bread and served with a layer of whipped cream and dollops of jelly on top).

[@Yxvandoolu]

It seems more to be a few national recipes for the immigrants to make the booklet more appealing for them.

[@rabidsamfan]

I wonder if Glen could leverage the audience to get most of the recipes translated. Edit, whoops, pausing I can see they are translated already. But it would be nice to know if those recipes are still popular or typical.

[@kevinolive]

After reading your comment, I was curious. Since I have a 1935 copy of that book, I used apple’s and google’s iOS translate apps to see what was written for a soup recipe on the China page. I know nothing of Chinese writing but for granulated gelatin, the apps suggest granulated people, granulator limes and Li Ding or liding-it changed based on traditional or simplified Mandarin. For broth it is translating to soup. So I tried a German recipe. It was more accurate. I think the OCR is failing a bit because I typed a German recipe for beef with rice and the translation was pretty good. Again, I’m using machine translation so it may be “spicing” up the translation a bit. For instance, the English recipe says to add water whereas the translated German says to deglaze the pan with water.

[@MS-li9kq]

My home town products! I even did home healthcare for one of the owners(in their 90’s). Amazing company still exists.

[@dianaarmitage512]

Shout out to Jules for her county fair win!!!! 🎠🎡🎖

[@digitaldevice]

My mom grew up in Freeport IL and we still live nearby. One of my relatives worked for McNess for years. We always got our vanilla extract from her at a discount. It was great seeing this.

[@sadamardis5994]

My mom has alot of okd cookbooks. I love looking thru them

[@lauraboyack7822]

I actually have this little "cookbook". My Grandmother gave it to me in the 70s. It is really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[@larsen8059]

Looks chocolatey and delicious!

[@kimmcdonagh6756]

Wow. This recipe is *really* close to the Creole Pecan Cake from 1885. I couldn't figure out how to cook it properly....but the taste was fabulous.

[@dlphnsfn2830]

Just flip the cake over and ice it. No one will know the top blew off. Lol

[@KindlySo]

I just picked up a copy on eBay (US) for less than $10 including tax and shipping. I will enjoy cooking with you. Thanks.

[@kaiserbutler]

My friend! The BAD reference is classic! Seriously, that made my day yesterday. Kudos!

[@lazy_dad]

big thumbs up for the BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE reference. your coolness factor just went way up with me!! greets from hamilton

[@JerryB507]

Now that I've had my Sunday Morning Glen and Friends fix, it's off to the grocery to see what protein is on sale for yesterday's pasta recipe and some buttermilk.

[@ScottyUtHome]

Seeing that beautifully fluffy creamed sugar get broken by adding all that buttermilk made me a bit ill.

[@kst6959]

Coincidentally I was going through recipes last week to make a chocolate birthday cake. It is interesting to see how close many of them were to this and where they were different. Many have more sugar (not surprising), a bit more cocoa, and quite a bit more liquid. Since sugar is hygroscopic they made great moist cakes. Clearly people were experimenting with these kind of prize winning cakes to get these new versions.

[@RonOhio]

Would be interesting to see you work thru the possible variations on that cake to improve it. Do you think they had her, or a ghost writer, write all the promotional hype and the tips and tricks, and then just included a bunch of generic recipes in the middle? Glad you will be revisiting that book.

[@jeraldbaxter3532]

Thanks!

[@helenedesmarais8697]

🥳🥇🏆 for you.

[@Tiger351]

Basically identical to the recipe my late grandmother used to use for her devil's food cake, the main difference was was what you suggested with 2, 9 inch pans and chocolate butter cream icing between the layers and on top.

[@AD-kv9kj]

This just needs some nice chocolate chunks in the mix (maybe some fudge chunks too...) and a Bruce Bogtrotter decadent chocolate glaze...and some shaved and flake chocolate on top! 🤌🤌

[@applegal3058]

Good morning everyone!

[@lesliemoiseauthor]

Good morning!

[@applegal3058]

@@lesliemoiseauthor 😊

[@PhilIpp88]

"OMG Zhong Wen" 😁 Didn't know you guys can speak Chinese!

[@within_cells]

This cake is very similar to my families recipe for "Texas sheet cake". We top it with icing made from cocoa powder and powdered sugar

[@sennest]

Great video, Glen😎👍👍🙏🙏. The Russian recipes are word for word and the instructions seem well translated. Someone worked hard on these books!

[@chrisbrown2174]

Love the Avro hat 😎

[@kmbevan664]

My comment has nothing to do with French Chocolate Cake, but I don't think you would see a comment from a five year old video, so I am posting the comment here. I just want to tell you that your REAL apple cider vinegar video is PURE GOLD!!! Thank you SO MUCH Glen for that video gem. My ACV is perfection! Being a former lab geek in my career, I truly appreciated you explaining the science behind the product. Thanks again for a most wonderful video on ACV, from a happy subscriber.

[@kevinh6622]

Big Audio Dynamite reference 🤟

[@piperpa4272]

thank you for another great video, and it was weird seeing a danish page in the video, I had to pause to make sure I read that right.

[@Yoda63]

Hi Glen, my family is wondering how you nearly eliminated the mixer noise from your video, it's really amazing!

[@sugarstalker]

I'm gonna try that Mahogany cake that's earned 67(!) first prizes

[@GaryJohnWalker1]

Would be great with either chocolate or nutmeggy pouring custard.

[@PandaBear62573]

My daughter's birthday is next week and she asked for chocolate cake. I'm going to make this recipe and frost with vanilla frosting.

[@stevevantrigt5285]

nice shout out to Big Audio Dynamite.

[@lynnegordon6749]

GO JULIE🎉🎉🎉

[@richienganga4719]

I used to know a woman who made a really nice poundcake with walnuts. She used to give them out during the holidays. Do you have any recipes like that?

[@DougParkville]

My go to "pound" cake is the 1 2 3 4 Cake: 1 c. unsalted butter, 2 c. sugar, 3 c. flour, 4 eggs, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 c. milk. I add 1/2 tsp. of kosher salt to the sugar for flavor. You can add nuts, fruit, etc. More on this at the end. Preheat the oven to 350 d. Grease and flour well a large tube pan. Follow the standard mixing procedure: cream the butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time, beating until fluffy. Sift together the flour and baking powder. Add the vanilla to the milk. On low speed add the flour and milk alternately beginning and ending with the flour (half the flour, half the milk, half of the remaining flour, the rest of the milk, the rest of the flour. Just mix until the flour is incorporated; don't beat. Pour into the tube pan and bake 60 - 70 min. or until a cake tester inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 10 min. and turn out of the pan. Cool before serving. You can ice, glaze, dust with powdered sugar, or leave plain. If you want walnuts, chop 1 c. walnuts and toast lightly. Toss them with a bit of the flour from the recipe to keep them from sinking in the cake. After the cake is mixed, fold them in gently, distributing them well. Bake. In place of walnuts, you can use 1 c. currants or raisins, or mini chocolate chips. You can switch up the flavor:1 c. black walnuts and some maple flavoring. Add grated lemon rind and the juice of 1 lemon mixed with milk to make 1c. (it will curdle, but don't worry). Toss in 2 - 3 Tbsp. of poppy seeds. The variations are endless once you've mastered the basic cake. There are plenty of videos to help you with the basic recipe. Happy baking.

[@BrightLightsTonight]

Everything else aside, kudos for the Big Audio Dynamite shoutout. A grand karaoke go-to for me.

[@tomblackwell3117]

"Won't save your soul, it'll shine your shoes..."

[@lusnorthernhome3410]

Cut the top off, freeze flip out and frost the bottom, it will be flat and uniform and serve. 😊

[@JoeStuffzAlt]

What you said about measuring correctly reminds me of America's Test Kitchen's video on flour. "Expert's Guide to Flour Types". He sounded REALLY annoyed, and I think a lot of people might have been writing ATK about baking issues.

[@Ravedave5]

Theres an accepted way to make cakes. I wonder if the order really matters.

[@DXElliott]

Big Audio Dynamite? Didn't see that one coming.

[@symetryrtemys2101]

I’m not surprised that the instructions are lacking: if you had a recipe that won ***29*** competitions, would you share all the details?!

[@Thefarunlitunknown]

“Worm capsules for swine” sounds like a pretty good name for a Carcass album.

[@traumajock]

It reads like one of those ads in kids' magazines from the 50's-60's or the National Enquirer. The "amaze your friends' type editing. Be like Edith and you will become one who is loved and accepted. Hey! Thomas Harris wrote this cookbook!

[@ryangraham6393]

Poor Glen didn’t sift the flour 7 times and strayed from his usual method, that’s what caused it to rise funny 😂

[@TheDriftwoodlover]

That’s what his “coach” would say 🤣

[@tinabraxton4906]

I've seen pretty much the same recipe in several cook books. But with more complete directions, standard mixing procedure, and the cocoa goes in with the flour.