Earthquake Cake(1987); Dirt Cake(1989); Texas Tornado Cake(1990)

Thu May 22 16:21:59 UTC 2003

EARTHQUAKE CAKE

   There are 1,210 Google hits for "earthquake cake."  Compare this to "Tornado Cake" at the end of this post.
   There was an earthquake in Algeria yesterday.  I guess "Let them eat cake" will go over as well as "We bombed in New Haven" in today's tasteless joke department.

(FACTIVA)
Kitchen Klutzes have learned to cope with culinary disasters on home front
By Kathleen Kenna Special to The Star
24 February 1987
The Toronto Star
ONTARIO
A7
(...)
After 30 years of kitchen-disaster letters from readers, Douglas started the group when a minister's wife complained of making such culinary delights as California Orange Earthquake Cake and Santa Claus cut-out cookies that scared children. (She later became KKA vice-president.)

(FACTIVA)
A SUPER BOWL FEAST
Sheryl Julian, Globe Staff
27 January 1988
The Boston Globe
THIRD
37
(...)
SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE CAKE FROM "GOOD FRIENDS, GREAT DINNERS" BY SUSAN COSTNER (CROWN, 1987)
This recipe appears in Susan Costner's "Good Friends" book, but it comes originally from Carlo Middione, an Italian cook and author who runs the popular San Francisco lunch and carryout shop, Vivande. The cake was given the name "earthquake" because the top crust is flaky after baking and falls slightly in the middle. Earthquake cake is made in a springform pan -- it is quite high -- so the sides can be released and lifted off. The cake is dense, but very moist, intensely chocolatey and luscious. When you cut into it, the texture is supposed to be quite wet.

24 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

8 large eggs, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted onto waxed paper or into a bowl

1/2 cup potato starch

2 cups heavy cream, softly whipped (for serving)

Set the oven at 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch springform pan and line the bottom with waxed paper or parchment paper cut to fit it exactly. Grease the paper and dust the inside of the pan with flour, tapping out the excess.

In the top of a double boiler set over (but not touching) simmering water, melt the chocolate the butter together, stirring with a rubber spatula. Lift off the double boiler top and leave the chocolate until it is cool but still liquid.

In the largest bowl of an electric mixer beat the eggs over a medium heat until they are thick and heavy ribbons form on the batter when the beaters are lifted. (CORRECTION: Because of a reporter's error, a line in the San Francisco Earthquake Cake directions in the Jan. 27 Food pages was incorrect. The eggs should be beaten with an electric mixer at medium speed (not over medium heat) until they are thick and form ribbons.)

Fold the chocolate mixture into the egg batter, then fold in the sugar and potato starch.

Gently pour the batter into the springform pan and transfer the cake to the center of the oven. Bake it for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until it is soft in the middle and cracked slightly.

Leave the cake to cool completely, then slide a knife around the edge to release it from the sides, if necessary, and unclamp the spring. Lift off the ring. Use two wide metal spatulas to release the cake from the bottom of the springform and carefully transfer the cake to a board. Cut it into wedges -- you will not be able to keep the wedges perfectly intact, so don't worry if it gets a little messy -- and transfer them to dessert plates. Garnish each plate with a spoonful of softly whipped cream and serve at once.

(FACTIVA)
10 February 1988
The Boston Globe
THIRD
56
Correction: Because of a reporter's error, a line in the San Francisco Earthquake Cake directions in the Jan. 27 Food pages was incorrect. The eggs should be beaten with an electric mixer at medium speed (not over medium heat) until they are thick and form ribbons.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
  San Francisco; JEANNETTE FERRARY; New York Times (1857-Current file), New York, N.Y.; Jan 20, 1988; pg. C3, 1 pgs
("Favorites include...and earthquake cake, a flourless chocolate cake with a cracked top."  At Vivande.)

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DIRT CAKE

   There are 4,760 Google hits for "dirt cake," so it's obviously popular.

(FACTIVA)
Employees want to help; Andy gets benefit cookbook
DOTTY BAGBEY
5 January 1989
The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate
6-D
(...)
The medical group's book has a recipe for Rock Cookies, made with dates, and one for Dirt Cake, the last recipe to be added.

Leslie Zeringue, who has a number of recipes in the book, was helping put finishing touches on the copy before it went to the printers. Her son, Michael, came rushing in from school saying she had to try some cake a classmate's mother had made. He called it, "Dirt Cake."

The dessert, made of Oreo cookies, cream cheese, instant vanilla pudding and whipped topping, is placed in a plastic or clear flower pot. Ingredients are layered and refrigerated overnight. To serve it, Juanita Garrison, its creator, said one should "Plant' silk flowers in the pot," adding that "It's entertaining and edible."

(FACTIVA)
`Dirt' cake is a big hit with kids
ANN CRISWELL, Houston Chronicle Food Editor
Staff
25 January 1989
Houston Chronicle
2 STAR
3
(...)
Recipes that accompany this story may be viewed on Houston Chronicle microfilm. Dirt Cake Capitol Punishment (Beer) Chili

(FACTIVA)
You've come a long way baby *** ...from mud pies to Dirt Cakes
TOMMY C. SIMMONS
4 May 1989
The Baton Rouge Morning Advocate
1-H
One "Oh Wow!" dish can make a party. It doesn't have to be fancy. In fact, it can be really simple, if it's served imaginatively. Dirt Cake is just such a party-making recipe. The recipe is easy-to-make. It's nothing more than crumbled Oreo cookies layered with a whipped topping and cream cheese filling. Yet it definitely qualifies as an "Oh Wow!" dish.

Serve Dirt Cake to kids or adults, at a birthday party or spring luncheon.

(FACTIVA)
Cooking for a cause: `1 great recipe' x 400
Ann Burckhardt; Staff Writer
21 June 1989
Star-Tribune Newspaper of the Twin Cities Mpls.-St. Paul
METRO
01T
(...)
A blue-ribbon dessert from Rita Williams, Minneapolis receiving and marking:

Dirt "Cake"

1 pkg. Oreo cookies

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1 c. powdered sugar

1 (8-oz.) pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature

2 small packages vanilla or chocolate instant pudding

3 1/2 cups milk

12 oz. Cool Whip

A flower pot or a pail large enough to hold 3 quarts

Gummy worms or silk or plastic flowers

Crush the cookies and set aside.

Mix the butter, powdered sugar and cream cheese until smooth. In another bowl, prepare pudding by beating pudding mix and milk together; fold in Cool Whip.

Fold the cream cheese mixture and the pudding mixture together.

Wash flower pot or pail well, then line with aluminum foil. Layer the crushed cookies and the pudding mixture in the pot or pail as follows: 1/3 cookies, 1/2 pudding mixture, 1/3 cookies, 1/2 pudding, 1/3 cookies. Chill to set.

To serve: garnish pail of "dirt" with gummy worms or flower pot filled with "dirt" with silk or plastic flowers. Makes about 10 servings.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)
  Making masks for Halloween Pirates and ghost stories A spooky festival Pumpkin sail.; Dulcie Leimbach; New York Times (1857-Current file), New York, N.Y.; Oct 27, 1995; pg. C4, 1 pgs

  New Food Products; Geared to Charm Children; By Phyllis Hanes Special to The Christian Science Monitor; Christian Science Monitor (1908-Current file), Boston, Mass.; May 16, 1990; pg. 14, 1 pgs
("Another new item, one that may have big appeal for kids, is Pelican Bay's 1 Can Bake Dirt Cake with Mud Frosting.")

---------------------------------------------------------------
TEXAS TORNADO CAKE

   There are 59 Google hits for "tornado cake."  Is this the same as "earthquake cake"?

(FACTIVA)
Recipe found for peanut butter chocolate candies
Kim Kaplan Times-Dispatch staff writer
15 February 1990
Richmond Times-Dispatch
f-4
(...)
Thelma Bryant of Waynesboro asked for the recipe for Texas Tornado sheet cake from Duff's Restaurant. This recipe is not Duff's, but I hope it will do.

-- Laura Baldwin, Chesterfield

TEXAS TORNADO CAKE 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 3 cups fruit cocktail with liquid 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup chopped nuts

Cream together sugar, eggs, fruit cocktail, baking soda and flour.

Pour into lightly greased and floured 13x9x2-inch cake pan.

Mix brown sugar and nuts together and sprinkle onto unbaked batter in the pan.

Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top. Ice cake while hot. ICING

1/2 cup margarine

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup evaporated milk 1 cup flaked coconut

Boil margarine, sugar and milk 2 minutes.

Stir in coconut.

Spoon over cake as soon as cake is taken from the oven.

(FACTIVA)
  Here's a trio of favorite sweet treats Series: YOU ASKED FOR IT
ANNE LONG
8 November 1990
St. Petersburg Times
CITY
7D
(...)
Texas tornado cake is the recipe Shirley Campbell of Clearwater is looking for.

Alice Green of Largo tasted white Texas sheet cake at a luncheon in Ohio and wants to know how to make it.

Chocolate sheet cake was on the Hershey's cocoa can for years. Cinnamon was one of the ingredients. Martha Wheeler of Gulfport is eager to have the recipe along with its fudge frosting. Martha also wants the recipe for creamy marshmallow and pineapple salad.

(FACTIVA)
COOK'S CORNER Texas `Tarnato' Cake got lost in twister
SHARON OBERHOLTZER
21 June 1992
Peoria Journal Star
ALL
B10
Remember the game "Operator" from your childhood? What was whispered at the beginning of the line was nothing like what the last child in line repeated.

While we aren't quite that bad, it seems the requested Texas Tarnato cake is actually Texas Tornado. Betty Haney of Vermont shares this original clipped recipe:

TEXAS TORNADO CAKE 1 1/2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 cups fruit cocktail, including liquid 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups flour TOPPING: 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup nuts ICING: 1 stick margarine 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup evaporated milk 1 cup coconut

Use a spoon to combine all ingredients, except topping and icing, to avoid breaking up the fruit; mix well. Pour into lightly greased 9-by-13-inch pan. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter. Bake at 325 degrees for 40 minutes.

In a saucepan combine all icing ingredients except coconut; boil for 2 minutes. Add coconut and pour over cake while cake is still hot. Let cake cool before cutting.

(FACTIVA)
Mixed fruit swirled in Tornado Cake
by Barb Holland
1 September 1993
The Toronto Star
Final
E2
It's easy to whip up a Tornado Cake on short notice for family or friends.

Texas Tornado Cake

Mima Kapches of Toronto sent in the recipe for Cherie Bertin of Scarborough.

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 cups fruit cocktail , including syrup

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup chopped pecans or other nuts

Icing :

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup evaporated milk

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup flaked coconut

In large bowl, combine sugar, eggs and fruit cocktail.

Combine flour and baking soda . Stir into fruit mixture until smooth.

Spread batter into greased 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Combine brown sugar and nuts. Sprinkle evenly over batter. Bake in preheated 325F oven 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

While cake is baking, combine icing ingredients in small saucepan. Bring to boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Spoon over warm cake to allow cake to absorb most of icing. Cool and cut into squares.

Makes 16 servings.

(FACTIVA)
Shake that 'quake cake
Cheryl Chapman
Staff Writer of The Dallas Morning News
14 January 1998
The Dallas Morning News
HOME FINAL
2F
The main caution readers had for C., who wants to make an Earthquake Cake, is not to try to squeeze it into a smaller pan than specified. As S.B. says, C. wants an earthquake, not a volcano.

This rich chocolate cake is ideal for shipping, says M.H., because nothing more can happen to its looks, and it's so delicious it's always welcome.

H.F. says it's also called a Texas Tornado Cake and "is good with either name."

"No leftovers," says J.N., and C.R. takes one with her when she volunteers at the Garland City Jail. "I firmly believe the only reason they let me do this is I always bake them a cake," she says. "The Earthquake Cake is the favorite of all the detention officers and many of the police officers."