Ugly Tasty 1950 and Fire Spewing Vegetables

Proof is in the pudding - so there must be other people out there who hanker for the recipes from our moms' battered 1950 red and white Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook, because it's been reprinted it in an exact replica. The pictures and little annotations are pretty amusing, some of the recipes are flat out ROFLOL funny (like the "flaming cabbage" hors d'oeuvre with which we are to delight our party guests by having them broil their own cocktail sausages - thrust through with toothpicks - over a sterno lamp shoved into a cabbage. OMG, I am so taking that idea and running with it! But here are also some really, truly astonishingly good recipes for baked goods, and timeless advice on basic cooking techniques.

We got an invitation from my neighbor for pizza dinner Thursday, and all that talk about food love the other day and a got me to thinking that it would be fun to bring one of the desserts my mom used to serve. The simple batter for the "hot chocolate pudding" (on page 222 if you have the book which means you probably also watched room 222) magically transforms in the oven into a layer of dark chocolate cake floating on top of dark chocolate pudding. It is so ugly you'll want to spoon a little whipped cream over the top of each serving (unless you have the hippest neighbor in the world who ALWAYS has Bi-Rite salted caramel ice cream in her freezer, in which case use that)!

"Oh, no chocolate cake , I couldn't possibly!" you say?

Get THIS, the entire cake only uses 2 Tablespoons of shortening (yes, of course I used butter), cocoa powder not even chocolate, a little milk (I even used with) sugar(s), and hot water. My teenage son will attest that it was good enough for seconds that night and again for breakfast to boot.