Vintage Recipes: The Beautiful Wives Cookbook and Baking With Barbra Streisand
I recently discovered a new, and
mindbogglingly fabulous, vintage cookbook entitled "The Beautiful
Wives Cookbook: Glittering Recipes from Celebrities' Kitchens"-I
kid you not. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows her
that I came across this cook book at my Aunt Lisa Witt's home. She
is, after all, one of the most beautiful wives I know. And
honestly, she glitters a bit herself--enough to be noticeable but
not overdone. She just happened to have two copies of this vintage
gem on hand (also not surprising) and has allowed me to barrow
one.
The first thing I did with this cook book was pour over the liner
notes and short anecdotes associated with each celebrity recipe.
Published in 1970 by Mrs. Earl Wilson (Rosemary to her friends) and
Ruth Pool, it reads like a who's who of socialites of the day.
Within the pages I found recipes contributed by Charo, Mrs.
Jacqueline Kennedy (pre Onassis), Grace Kelly, Mrs. Ed Sullivan
(Sylvia), Rosemary Fine, Carol Lawrence, and Raquel Welch, just to
name a very few. Some are recipes that the stars enjoyed at notable
places like the Four Seasons or the White House. Some, like this
treat, are recipes that the stars enjoyed to make in their own
presumably glittering kitchens.
Barbra Streisand, the diva herself,
contributed an entire menu to "The Beautiful Wives Cookbook," I
couldn't wait to try the crowning jewel, "Barbra's Fool-Proof
Chocolate Cake," which the book states is "what she likes most of
all."
Ingredients
¼ pound butter
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 eggs
½ pint sour cream
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cup Dutch cocoa
1 tablespoon cooled coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Cream butter and sugar and add whole eggs. Add sour cream
alternately with dry ingredients, which have been sifted together
three times. Add coffee and vanilla. Bake at 357 in two 9-inch
layer tins for 20 minutes, then about 10 minutes more at 350.
Babs suggests serving the cake with the following frosting:
Ingredients
9 heaping tablespoons confectioner's sugar
3 heaping tablespoons unsweetened Dutch cocoa
½ pint sweet cream
I opted to serve mine with my standard vanilla butter cream icing.
Far be it from me to second guess a diva, but that is what I had
the ingredients on hand to make, and unlike Babs, did not have a
chauffeur waiting to bring round the car and run me out for some
sweet cream. Besides, I hate dealing with all the paparazzi.
Here is my result:
DELICIOUS!
My husband even declaired this his new
favorite!
I look forward to sharing more glittering goodness from the
"Beautiful Wives Cookbook." If you want your own copy, and you
don't have a fabulous fairy godmother type Auntie to bestow one
upon you, you can buy one, gently used, on
Ebay or
Amazon. Cheers!