|
Many Italian Americans of the past generation made their devotional rounds to various churches and shrines. My Father made the pilgrimage of the bakeries. There was not a bakery or pastry shop in the Philadelphia to Jersey Shore that he did not know. He not only knew every kind of cake, doughnut, cookie or pie but he knew when they were baked and when they came out of the oven. It was not at all unusual to make special excursions for the sole purpose of a dozen hot cinnamon buns.
 http://www.stationwagonforums.com
. My parents and the four of us would pile into our Mercury wagon on a Saturday night and head for the “Bazaar of All Nations.” The central counter of the “Bazaar,” at least for our family, was the Pennsylvania Dutch bakery where before our eyes, blue dressed, bonneted women and bearded black pantsed men rolled out and filled and baked the gooiest and richest cinnamon buns with raisins or nuts or both. By
the way, for true Philadelphians, cinnamon buns are what other folks may call
sticky buns.. What was the “Bazaar of All Nations?:” perhaps something like a low level cross between a farmers’ market and rummage sale. Here’s a video.
 http://www.phlmetropolis.com
Not only does this little film give you a glimpse of Philadelphia working class suburbs in the 1960’s but for the linguist it offers an excellent lesson in the Philadelphia Irish-Catholic accent. This video belongs in the Smithsonian. Oh, yes, on another note: among old time Philadelphians, “cinnamon buns” are not “sticky buns.” We never saw those circular twisties with white sugar icing and never heard the words "sticky buns."
Then too, my father was the first out of the 7am mass. From his seat in the last row he made his exit just after Sunday communion and before the Last Gospel. He had to be at Kamer's bakery first thing in the morning before they sold out of “Bismarks.” Bismarks are a kind of doughnut where the hole is filled with cherries and covered in a sugar glaze.There were also doughnuts split in the middle and filled with a rich white cream.
But morning was not the only time for the bakery. There was also dinner. As dinner dessert there were almost always pies of every variety from coconut custard to lemon meringue.The most common was chocolate cream pie that he would make himself. My father was certainly no cook, but he could put together a sweet delight made from a bought graham cracker crust, “My-T Fine” pudding and “Cool Whip.” Even many years later, when my daughters were children, my father, who they called “Pee-pop,” regaled them with his chocolate pie.
|
 http://granddadscorner.blogspot.com
But chocolate cream pie was not alone among the favorites. Another was pineapple upside-down cake that came from our local baker just around the corner. Pineapple upside-down cake seems to be a rare thing these days but I think it needs a revival and that is where this recipe comes into play. This recipe, however, is not limited to canned pineapple but can be used with other types of fruit. This recipe also recalls my own beginnings creating my own recipes and blunders in the kitchen.
While my siblings and I lived with all the spectacular events of the kitchen from Sunday macaroni to summer jellies from the grapes in our yard, I think it was all those pies and pastries that first inspired me to try my own hand in the kitchen. Dessert was something I could do by myself. I must have been somewhere about twelve when I tried my first cake on my own: a straight from the box “Duncan Hines” yellow cake.
And I thought I was most inventive since I used milk instead of water as the instructions read. Eventually I decided to venture on to a “from scratch” cake. In those days things like flour and sugar were stored in large tin pretzel cans in the basement kitchen. (Italian homes all had basement kitchens.) From one of the storage tins I measured out three cups of “flour,” and eagerly prepared my first home-made cake batter. Into the oven it went. A half hour later I took it out only to find that it had not cooked at all and seemed to be something of a very dense pasty clod. It took a small edge to taste. It was worse than horrendous. My father came into the kitchen to see my progress. “What did you use?” he asked. “The regular stuff,” I said, “Flour, butter, eggs, milk….” He took a taste. “Where did you get the flour?” “In the pretzel can,” I said. “That’s not flour,” he laughed, it’s plaster.” So much for my first real cooking attempt.
 http://www.vintageadbrowser.com
Despite the initial failure I kept trying and eventually learned to turn out a decent cake. One of my favorites back then was pineapple upside-down cake: a cake we don’t see much these days. Even then I liked to experiment. One time I tried to switch out the pineapple with “Del Monte” fruit cocktail. It doesn’t work.
But these days I have found excellent substitutes for the pineapple. The cake is from one of my mother’s old recipe sheets. The fruit can be any kind of firm fruit like blueberries, peaches, apples pears or the traditional canned pineapple slices. In this recipe I’m using peaches that I froze at the end of summer. This is a very easy recipe. Be sure all your ingredients are room temperature and that the butter is very soft.
|
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
La Mise-en-place. getting it together
What you need
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What you need
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
Equipment
Mixing bowl Wooden spoon Spatula Fork 8 to 9 inch cake pan |
Ingredients
Topping 1 cup brown sugar 1 stick of butter cinnamon fruit of choice (in this example : peaches) |
Ingredients
Cake ½ cup white sugar,½ cup unsalted butter (soft) 1 large egg 1, 1/4 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder Salt ½ cup of milk (optional: 1/4 cup orange juice) |
Putting it together
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Glaze Topping
Crush the butter, brown sugar and cinnamon with a fork. Spread it flat with your fingers. 
The Cake
By hand, whip together the butter, sugar and egg. |
Fruit
Layer the fruit or you choice, peaches, blueberries, apples, pears. etc. over the brown sugar and butter glaze. 
Butter Cream
Whip until you have a smooth cream. |
Flour
mix the salt and baking powder into the flour. By alternate thirds add the flour and milk to the butter cream |
Finish
Using a spatula spread the cake batter over the fruit. BAKE at 375 for 35 minutes. ] |
Invert immediately after taking from the over. Cool and serve.