I got this book as a birthday present when I was 7 or 8 from my good friend Steve Stasheff (I suspect his mother picked it out, actually). I don’t remember doing much cooking when I was a kid, but I did spend a lot of time reading this book, and I memorized a lot of the pictures. Even today, when I make pancakes or meatloaf, the images from this book are lurking in the back of my head.
First of all, I was fascinated by the test kitchen cooks whose faces and comments were sprinkled throughout the book. Who were they, and what did they know that I didn’t, that they got to get their pictures in the book? They looked kind of nerdy, but they were in a book and I wasn’t. That didn’t seem right.
The book started with a section on Beverages, the whole concept of which just puzzled me. Why bother? The only beverage I was interested in was pop, which we seldom got. I used to squint over the recipes, trying to figure out if they had slipped in a recipe for pop, but all they had were nauseating concoctions like Red Rouser (vanilla ice cream and cranberry juice), Choc-o-Nut Milk (milk mixed with peanut butter and chocolate syrup), and Cheery Cherry Drink: Stir maraschino cherry juice into milk and then “drop a maraschino cherry ‘surprise’ into each glass.” I didn’t think a bright red blob would be a good surprise in a glass of milk.
In the Salads section, the Betty Crocker folks rolled up their sleeves and got down to business, which in this book meant one thing: Making food look like something else. In the Betty Crocker cookbook, “Rocket Salad” did not involve arugula; it was a banana, set upright in a slice of canned pineapple and topped with a “nose cone” of half a maraschino cherry.
The salad section relied heavily on such artifice. Canned pears become bunnies (with almond ears and tails of cottage cheese). Carrots cluster, points inward, around a clump of olives to form a black-eyed Susan. And someone even made a Raggedy Ann Salad, using a marshmallow for the head, shredded cheese for hair… I’m going to stop there.
With the exception of the hideous “Ham” Loaf Hawaiian (the scare quotes say it all: It’s Spam, studded with pineapple rings and baked), the section on main dishes is pretty solid. The food stylists did go a little nuts on Meat Loaf a la Mode (meatloaf baked in a pie tin and topped with scoops of mashed potatoes), but other than that, it’s straight-up home cooking. The cookies are pretty basic as well. But then we get to the cakes.
This is the Enchanted Castle Cake, and I wanted it. Bad. I used to sit and look at the little chocolate bar doors and just desire that cake. I never got it, of course, which is probably just as well as there is no way that reality could live up to that image. This one was too freakish for me, though:
I could never figure out what that creature in the center was supposed to be, but it didn’t look appetizing. And note the popcorn-ball clowns lurking in the background. The entire scene just screams “forced gaiety.”
I leave you with the best page of the whole book, a chocolate cookie recipe that really works—my 12-year-old daughter uses it when she bakes cookies, and they are still delicious. But what makes it perfect is the dollop of sarcasm added by my sister at the very end. Happy eating!
That was my first cookbook, a Christmas gift when I was 9 or 10. I still have it, and it makes an interesting comparison to the most recent edition, which I gave to my daughter as a Christmas gift last year. The recipes are very similar (some are the same), but the graphics have been updated to be more hip — meaning, they’re more aggressively kinetic, featuring ADHD cartoon characters.
My sister just sent me the link to this post – so good. It looks like you and I were on the B.Crocker tip around the same time last fall – I got all nostalgic and weepy over it, while reviewing a bakery in Portland last November:
http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/?author=36
Have you checked out Amy Sedaris’ “I Like You”? She “borrows” several recipes from the book, with no acknowledgement whatsoever. Shocking and shameful, but I love her anyway. Her versions of the Enchanted Castle Cake and the I Love (Step)Mom cakes totally win.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446578843/bookstorenow69-20
I enjoyed your post – thanks for sharing.
Joanna
Wow! I’m so glad you liked it! I just checked out your post and am wondering why I never made the chocolate pudding cake—I’m putting it on the list for this weekend.
Hello
Great book. I just want to say what a fantastic thing you are doing! Good luck!
Bye
Hey, this was my first cookbook too! I still make that castle cake from time to time… it DOES live up to it’s image, thank you very much. It’s easy enough to let a kid of any age concetrate on the fun part (decortating it), and since you can use any cake mix you can get your paws on, it’s cheap and it tastes good! I collect cookbooks of all kinds now, but I still pull that old critter out every once in a while. Kids today just don’t know what they’re missing…
AWESOME cookbook! My mom had one when I was a little girl and we used to do a LOT of things out of it. Mom worked in resort hotels until I was school age and dad was a chef, so cooking seemed to come naturally.
I have to disagree with Connie though, partly, some kids DO know what they’re missing! I have a 17 year old who is dedicated to being a pastry chef and has set herself the goal of opening her own bakery by the time she’s 30! She will be going to Johnson and Wales next fall and has been planning this since… oh… about the time she could walk!
You are right in a sense though, most kids don’t have a clue about the work and time that goes into these creations, nor would they take the time to learn about them. I have to say that I’m thrilled with the site and I’m absolutely bookmarking it…
I am not sure if anyone will read this in time but I need your help!!! When my daughter was a little girl she would always look at my mom’s copy of the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook and she always asked for the Castle Cake. I was a bad mom and never made her one. She is having her 18th birthday party this weekend and she has…you’ve guessed it…asked for a Castle Cake. The cookbook is long gone and I don’t have the recipe. Can someone please email it to me…It will make her sooooooo happy. Jo1168@aol.com
That is a (J) in Jo1168
No problem, Jodi. I’m sending you a scan of the recipe.
Wow! I received this cookbook when I was 7, from my aunt. She is gone now, but her memory lives on through my love of cooking. The dish that I still get the most requests for is from this cookbook. The chocolate pudding cake. While my sister was going through chemo for breast cancer, she had trouble eating. However, she always requested this cake and managed to eat a generous portion. She is also gone and I haven’t made one since. Beware, there are millions of wanna-be recipes out there, but none are quite like this.
This site made me smile and cry. I noticed the front of the cookbook has the same worn look that mine does. Somehow mine has come up missing and I am just shattered. I would love to purchase another copy to pass on to my grandchildren someday. Thanks for the wonderful memories.
I can’t even tell you how happy I was to see the cover to this cookbook! I will never forget it and how I loved looking at the little boy behind the table.
This book was my older sister’s and she made many things from this book that we all got to eat. I was too little for long time to make anything but I wasn’t too little to stare at the pictures! I did make many things myself in later years but somehow the book went missing about 20 years ago. For many years I was sure it would turn up at my parent’s homes but it hasn’t.
It was pretty raggety the last time I saw it and it had stains on the front.
Thank you for putting the pictures up! I really got memory lightening bolt when I saw the cookie recipe with the flower stem painted on the page!! There were some other cookies I loved to stare at too. The animal ones with the painted icing!! Fantastic! I’d love to see that again.
The person that said she wanted the castle cake. Bad. Me too.!!
I actually tried to make it for my daughters years ago and I told them about the devine picture and everything!! We did make it but I couldn’t remember everything and it was delicious but not as devine looking!!
Thank you again. What a pleasure!
Wow. Just the castle I was looking for, straight from my childhood memory banks. I made the castle, the bunny salad, and even the ham loaf Hawaiin; loved them all!
I was wondering if there was anyway you can scan the castle cake for me and email it to me. I made some of these with my dad when I was about 9 and we won some girl scouts bake offs with it. I’m 29 now and it would be fun to re-live that memory with him. Any help you can provide would be appreciated!! 🙂
~Nichole (forgve70x7@gmail.com)
Nevermind…I found it online. Thanks so much for posting this (even if it was a couple of years ago). It helped me find it since we now had the exact name of it. 🙂
WOW! I just left my dads house and my brother who still looks after my father gave this book to my youngest daughter. My mother who has been deceased for 2 yrs used this book back in the day to try and inspire her 5 boys to cook! Well not only did she teach us to cook but she gave us many, many, fun memories in her kitchen, and this reciepe book was a big part of that.
My sister and I loved this cookbook when we were kids – I would scan through the book savoring all the wonderful pictures, and your description of the cakes — my experience exactly. I’ve had the castle cake many times in my life, and each time it gets more creative and elaborate. I had the great joy of making one for my son’s fifth birthday just a few weeks ago – so much fun, and we let the kids decorate it. Last year we made him a pirate ship cake. These cakes definitely live up and surpass expectations – it’s pretty amazing how well coconut flakes and a little blue food coloring make a moat or other water – and it’s so much fun finding candies of various types to add as architectural details.
I sent this link to my sister – she was thrilled; thanks for posting it!
Hi,
I found your post today by accident. Thought you would like to read this:
http://rochambeau.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/07/how-i-learned-t.html
You and I had the same experience!!
Constance
My mother made me the castle cake when I was 8 for my birthday, and now I’m 45 and its the only cake I remember.
Any idea where I can find this cookbook?
Oh my gosh, I used to poor over my sister’s cookbook and dream about having a castle cake. Somehow the version of the same cookbook that I was given years later just didn’t add up – the castle cake was missing. I talked about the cake for years, my mom was not brave enough to let me make one. However, for my 21st birthday, I was surprised with my very own castle cake. I was in heaven. I want to recreate the cake for my nieces sweet 16 next month. I was so glad to find your site.
Does anyone have the recipe for the chocolate pudding cake in the cookbook?! I want to make it for my oldest friend’s birthday. Thank you!
Here’s a link to the castle recipe on ehow
http://www.ehow.com/how_5146076_create-castle-cake.html
I loved this book too…it was my older sister’s
My mother & I were just looking through this cookbook. She was trying to remember how to make the castle cake & for some reason, the page with that recipe is missing. We can pretty much figure out everything from the picture, except for the turrets. Is half the sheet cake cut into thirds, & then is one of those thirds cut into half & rounded off for the turrets?
Oh my gosh. My sister bought me this cookbook when I was 10. I learned how to cook from this book. I still have the cookbook. Unfortunetly I lost 1 page my favorite receipe “Meat Loaf”. Does anyone have this receipe?
Dear Brigid,
Do you have the recipe for gingerbread men on page 94? We used it so much it fell out and we want to make them again. I would really appreciate it if you could send it to me.
Thank you very much.
Helen warren
I LOVED this cookbook. All of my birthday cakes came from here. And, I mean all–I had the castle cake, the animal cake, I believe there was a carousal cake, too. This book is simply the best!
I still have mine and I still love it. My kids are using it today and LOVE that it helps them with projects and MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Had this cookbook as a child. There was a gingerbread cookie receipe and a picture at a picnic in the book. Does anyone have the cookie and frosting receipe. I think the receipe was boxed gingerbread but not sure about the icing receipe. please email me.
Hi
This was my first cookbook too! A few years ago I tracked down a vintage copy on the web so I could make my daughter the c
Enchanted castle cake. We are now traveling o. The east coast (we live in denver) and I don’t have the book with me– and of course she just requested it for tonight. Any chance you can share the recipe/instructions with me so I can give her a great memory?
Thanks!
Ellen
I had this book as well and my Mom made me the coveted cake. I am now a mom and taught my daughter how to make this from memory – she has made 3 and each time she gives one to a girlfriend they are amazed. thanks for sharing, it did indeed bring a smile to my face!
I have this book but I’m missing a page – the nuts and bolts recipe. Any chance you could send it to me.
Thanks, linda
Hi Linda, I do have that page. I’ll send you a scan later today.
Brigid
This was my first cookbook too. My grandmother gave it to me and I used to love to make things out of it and look at the pictures. So funny, I used it today to make sugar cookies from the recipe I used as a child. I don’t have the first page with the copyright date…does anyone know when this version was published?
I was given this book as a child. I vowed that one day I would make it. That day came many years ago when my oldest was about 10. I made the cake for his class..except that I made it bigger and I used peppermint sticks for the draw bridge and rock candy around the moat. I couldn’t believe that I found this post. Now aI can make it for my grand daughters. Thanks!