Going Bananas, Fifties Style

Hi everyone!

Wow, no post since June - yikes! lol Well, no worries I bring you sweet things in apology. :D During one of my vintage stops over the Summer I found this little gem. Actually it's not so little, this thing weighs a ton.

(Notice the grease pencil price, wasn't that sweet of someone?)

I was first attracted to it because of the great 1950s illustrations, like this one:

But once I looked at the Table of Contents, I realized just how "encyclopedic" this cookbook was:

There are many, many great recipes in this book but today I'm going to share the "Gold Nugget Cake" recipe with you.


Gold Nugget Cake

2 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 sour milk or buttermilk
1 cup mashed bananas (2 to 3)
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs, well beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 bananas, sliced

Sift flour, baking powder, soda and salt together. Add milk to mashed bananas. Cream shortening with sugar until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients and milk mixture alternately in small amounts, beating well after each addition. Stir in flavoring.

Pour into greased pans and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool. Put layers together with Banana Frosting and sliced bananas. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake and garnish with sliced bananas. Makes 2 8-inch layers.

Banana Frosting

1/2 cup mashed banana (1 large banana)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup butter
1 pound (3 1/2 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted

Mix banana and lemon juice together. Cream butter with 1 cup sugar, then add banana and enough of the remaining sugar to make mixture thick enough to spread.

If anyone tries this recipe, I'd love to know what you think! Do you like to cook from vintage cookbooks?