Time Travel Kitchen

A History of Cupcakes and Putting the ‘Travel’ in Time Travel Kitchen

Have a Cupcake or three. Photo: Jolene

Hi, Everyone — It’s nice to be back after a short break marking my one-year anniversary writing (and baking) on Substack. Thanks for being here over the past year and a warm welcome to new subscribers.

Time Travel Kitchen has a new logo and some fresh ideas I’ll tell you about a few paragraphs later.

Here’s the TTK 2022 logo, adapted from a 1946 food pamphlet illustration. I love old kitchen tools and thought you might too. Thanks again for traveling along with me for a second year.

And now, Cupcakes

Cupcakes fall into a category I think of as the “cheerful” food group. They are cute and colorful and delicious and can be held in your hand and enjoyed in a few bites. The varieties are endless.

Whether center-stage at parties or any kind of celebration table, cupcakes can also make you the most popular person in the office when you show up with a box of them for your co-workers.

As a kid the packaged variety were always a happy surprise when found tucked into my school lunch box. There they’d be next to the sandwich in their neat, two-pack cellophane wrapper, the piece of white cardboard on the bottom supporting them like a tiny plate.

These Hostess CupCakes were the first commercially produced cupcakes and made their sweet debut in 1919.

In the lunchbox of my dreams: Hostess Chocolate Cream Filled CupCakes with the squiggle on top. Photo: Wikipedia

I was surprised to learn that the earliest recipe in print for a ‘cup cake’, a small cake baked in a ramekin or cup, goes back to 1796 and a woman named Amelia Simmons from her book American Cookery — a book the Library of Congress has designated one of the 88 books that shaped America.

In this terrific article from Smithsonian Magazine, “What America’s First Cookbook Says About our Country and Its Cuisine” the story of Amelia Simmons, who was an orphan, unfolds side-by-side with the years of the founding of the nation.

I also found this piece from Food52 —a very interesting read about this cooking pioneer : “She Invented Cupcakes and Wrote the First Cookbook. Why Don’t We Know Her?”

I plan to write more about Amelia in the future and have a facsimile copy of American Cookery on order. I went looking for a history of cupcakes and found the fascinating story of Amelia Simmons.

In her wonderful book, American Cake cookbook author Anne Byrn shares that these early cupcakes were small and simple cakes without all the fancy frosting and decorations of today. Maybe just the addition of a little rose water or brandy as mentioned by author Lettice Bryan in her 1839 book The Kentucky Housewife.

Anne writes that once baking powder was invented, and muffin tins and paper baking cups were available, cupcakes really took off.

Working women in the 1940’s could quickly whip up a batch and take them to the factories where they worked during WWII. Cupcakes remained popular through the 50’s and 60’s and then their popularity dropped off a bit.

Until…

Vanilla Buttercream Cupcake Research. Photo: Jolene

…a scene in the hit series Sex and the City brought together a character and a cupcake.

In 2000, Sarah Jessica Parker’s ‘Carrie Bradshaw’ of SATC visited Magnolia Bakery in NYC, and a vanilla cupcake with pink buttercream frosting became the ‘it girl’ of desserts. The popularity of cupcakes soared.

We also have a Magnolia Bakery on State Street here in Chicago and the vanilla buttercream cupcakes pictured above (my research!) are similar to the ‘Carrie Cupcake’ — only minus the pink buttercream frosting — because they were sold out.

Springtime Cupcakes

With pastel buttercream, these feel like Spring. Photo: Jolene

The cupcakes I made this week (pictured above and at top of page) were made using cake flour and are extra-tender. The recipe comes from Swans Down® Cake Flour, a company founded in 1894 and I used their flour for this extremely easy and delicious cupcake recipe.

The decorating inspiration was taken from one of my favorite bakers, Claire Ptak, owner of Violet Cakes London .

Here is the recipe:

Swan Down Cupcake Recipe

Basic Buttercream Frosting is one of the easiest and fun things to make. It’s just creaming butter, adding sifted confectioners’ sugar, some vanilla and if you like, a bit of food coloring.

Here is the recipe I used. It’s delicious.

The Kitchn Basic Buttercream Frosting

If you want the pastel shades I made you need only the tiniest bit of food coloring. I used Wilton’s gel coloring and I dip a toothpick into it and dab onto the buttercream and then mix. I divided the buttercream into three bowls so I could have a variety of colors. They are really pretty and festive and would dress up any dessert or holiday table.

I hope you’ll try them and enjoy.

Oh, the Places we’ll (sort of) Go!*

A 1952 illustration depicting an air traffic controller plotting flight routes. Getty Images/GraphicArtis

I’ve been thinking about all of the places around the world readers of this newsletter live — it’s amazing— and in the coming weeks I’m launching a new project that I’ll write about here and I’d love your participation.

I’d be very grateful if you’d leave the name of a restaurant or a bar or a food store or a bakery — places with signature dishes or ingredients, anything food related—that you particularly love. The ‘you must have this’ or ‘you must go here’ places — and add to the comments section below. The only requirement is that it’s a place or a dish or a food-related ‘something’ that’s been around for at least 40 years. It can be a five-star restaurant or a dive bar.

I thought it would be fun to armchair time travel and with your help we can embark on a delicious virtual trip around the world on these pages this summer. You would of course be credited (or not if you’d prefer) and, if you’re willing, I’d love to include a quote or brief interview.

An example of what I’d like to do is this piece I wrote a little while ago about a tearoom in England with an assist from wonderful British writer Mike Sowden. Here’s the Link: Rascals in a Tea Room.

I’m planning to do a lot of local travel (and by that I mean REALLY local) to places in Chicago. There is so much rich food and drink history here and I’m still a bit of a happy tourist in my new hometown of five years.

Are you in? If you are, just leave a comment. And thank you so much.

Have a good weekend!

Jolene

*with apologies to Dr. Seuss