Desserts from the 1960s?

[pjm333]

Have a party this week for 150 people and the theme is the 1960's, I need 10 to 15 desserts from the 60's... Have a couple of ideas but would appreciate any input / ideas ? Thanks !

[heidih]

Baked Alaska,  Angel Food tunnel cake (our fave had a dark cherry mousse-like tunnel), Danish dessert w/ rennet http://www.junketdesserts.com/danishdessert.aspx

 

What is already in your idea hopper?

[Darienne]

Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Lemon Meringue Pie.  Date Squares.  Mince Meat Tarts.

Edited July 20, 2015 by Darienne (log)

[heidih]

Ooh yes date squares from some Betty Crocker or Duncan Hines mix-  positively addictive

[barolo]

Grasshopper pie

[pjm333]

I was thinking floating islands, chocolate pudding, pineapple upside down, fudge, some sort of fruit gelatin dessert, chocolate layer cake....

[Deryn]

Jello. My parents had all the above suggestions at various times when they had a grownup dinner party, but we kids had .. jello. Once in a while we had jello that had been mixed with whipped cream or had a can of fruit cocktail added to it.

[heidih]

Classic eG rainbow jello

 

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/128274-rainbow-gelatin-mold/#entry1696906    recipe

 

post with image  http://forums.egullet.org/topic/81699-showstopper-jello-desserts/#entry1108065

[Lisa Shock]

My mom would serve Cherries Jubilee. (sometimes with ice cream or pound cake) There was a time in the early 60s when flambè was all the rage. She also made Rumtopf to serve flaming over ice cream, you probably don't have time to do that unless you vacuum-marinate the fruit.

 

Remember that the 60s were the heyday of Julia Child and the first volume of Mastering the Art, so desserts from that book would have been everywhere.

 

In the early part of the decade, when Kennedy was President, there was a fascination with all things French, so classic French desserts in general were in vogue. I personally like
La Cuisine de France: The Modern French Cookbook (1964) by Mapie, Countess de Toulouse-Lautrec

 

Boxed mixes were being pushed in women's magazines by the burgeoning packaged food industry, but, not everyone bought into that type of eating. Health food, which had been around for decades, also took off with Rachel Carson, a growing hippie movement, etc.

 

I'd throw in a few health food desserts like zucchini bread, carrot cake, and whole wheat cake-style gingerbread.

[ElsieD]

I'd add peach Melba and crepes Suzette. At least I think they were '60s.

[ElsieD]

Jello. My parents had all the above suggestions at various times when they had a grownup dinner party, but we kids had .. jello. Once in a while we had jello that had been mixed with whipped cream or had a can of fruit cocktail added to it.

My mother used to cook up rhubarb, add strawberries and a package of strawberry jello. It had a fairly soft set and I loved it which is saying something because I detest rhubarb.

[weinoo]

Carvel.

[Alex]

Hash brownies (late 60s ).

 

Also, Neopolitan ice cream bombe. Pound cake (preferably Entenmann's) with thawed frozen strawberries and Redi-Whip. Coffee cake.

[liuzhou]

Knickerbocker Glory

 

Banana Split

 

Both pre-1960s but very popular then, as I recall.

[djyee100]

The "Tunnel of Fudge" cake that won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966. It was a craze like the molten chocolate cakes of the 2000's.
http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/tunnel-of-fudge-cake/8d3b4927-2f71-41a3-9dab-7750f045f252

 

Stained Glass jello, which I found totally fascinating when I was a kid.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Stained-Glass-Jello/

 

Mentioned upthread, Baked Alaska and Crepes Suzette were haute bourgeois for the 1960s.

[JohnT]

How about Jelly (Jello) Fluff with a twist?

PINEAPPLE FLUFF

Ingredients:

1 packet pineapple jelly

1 (410g) can evaporated milk, refrigerated overnight

1 can crushed pineapple, juice reserved

boiling water

Method:

Pour the reserved pineapple juice into a measuring jug and make up to 300ml with boiling water. Add the jelly powder and stir until fully dissolved. Refrigerate until just turned syrupy.

Beat the evaporated milk until stiff and fluffy.

Beat in the jelly and then the crushed pineapple.

Pour into individual glasses or a 23 x 33cm (9 x 13") serving tray (50mm / 2" wall). Cover with cling-wrap and refrigerate until well set.

Garnish with a cherry segment.

[ChrisZ]

I'm enjoying this but not sure what I would think if I saw "tunnel of fudge" on a menu.  That's a new one to me!

Lots of suggestions are just a google search away, including this site with pictures.

Edited July 21, 2015 by ChrisZ (log)

[Kerry Beal]

Similar to JohnT's fluff above - here is what I grew up with as key lime pie - not a key lime harmed in it's production. It has a graham cracker bottom and nilla wafers around the sides. Very classy for it's time!

 

Key Lime Pie

• 3 tbsp butter
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• vanilla wafer cookies around crust
• 1 can evaporated skimmed milk
• 1 pkg lime gelatin powder
• ½ cup boiling water
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup lemon juice and grated zest
• green food coloring

Beat evaporated milk until consistancy of whipping cream. Fold into jello and rest of ingredients as they are starting to set.

[Darienne]

JohnT's and Kerry's desserts brought back an old memory of my M-i-L's Christmas dessert: Lemon Brisk.  Why 'Brisk' I cannot say and my M-i-L is long passed away.  The 60s was the first decade of ou long marriage and I don't really remember any desserts I made.  I couldn't cook when I got married amd my DH had to teach me how.

 

I made the Lemon Brisk dessert for Christmas a few years ago for fun and then we all pretty much gagged over the sugary content. 

BTW, I still have the recipe if anyone wants it.

 

[SylviaLovegren]

Grasshopper pie, Grand Marnier cake or souffle (or I have a good recipe for a Grand Marnier torte with orange chocolate sauce from Libby Hillman's 1963 "Lessons in Gourmet Cooking"), chocolate mousse, crepes suzette, cherries jubilee, chocolate fondue !!! 

 

One of my Betty Crocker cookbooks from the period has a lemon cake with lemon frosting with flaming sugar cubes (soaked in lemon extract) on top. 

 

I also have a recipe for what I call "Bomb Shelter Chocolate-Cherry Delight Cake" because I'm pretty sure it could survive a nuclear blast (from BH&G in 1969):

1 package devil's food cake mix

20 oz can cherry pie filling, undrained

3.9 oz package instant chocolate pudding mix

2 T cocoa powder

2 cups Cool Whip

Bake the cake in two layers as directed.  Whirl the pie filling in a blender for a few second, then stir in the pudding mix and cocoa. Fold in the Cool Whip.  Use about 1/2 cup of the cherry glop to cover the bottom layer of the cake. Top with second layer and use rest of glop to frost.  Garnish with optional maraschino cherries.  Chill until serving time.  

 

Another big 60s dessert was American style (not NY style) cheesecake made with gelatine with pineapple or blueberry glaze. 

 

Fruit cocktail cake made with cans of fruit cocktail -- actually quite delicious and very childish -- think super sweet cottage pudding. 

 

Jello cake, made with an actual box of jello powder baked in the cake -- there was also one (see the Sterns) that had jello liquid poured over the cake.   

 

Tang Pie, made with whipped topping (or Cool Whip), Tang, sweetened condensed milk and sour cream, served in a graham crust.

 

If you want any of the recipes, let me know. 

 

One last thing, for purists:  Cool Whip didn't actually come on the market until 1970.  Before that we had boxes of "whipped topping"  -- a dry powder you mixed with water before whipping into something that didn't taste as good as Cool Whip.  If you want to be really authentic you could see if you can find whipped topping anywhere...but Cool Whip seems a pretty fair substitute, to me.

Edited July 21, 2015 by SylviaLovegren (log)

[cakewalk]

Chocolate fondue. 

[Alex]

The "Tunnel of Fudge" cake that won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 1966. It was a craze like the molten chocolate cakes of the 2000's.

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/tunnel-of-fudge-cake/8d3b4927-2f71-41a3-9dab-7750f045f252

 

There's a nice essay about the Bundt pan, complete with recipes for Tunnel of Fudge Cake AND Chocolate Pistachio Cake (first two ingredients: white or yellow cake mix and pistachio instant pudding mix) in Bonny Wolf's book Talking With My Mouth Full.

[cakewalk]

Flo Braker has a recipe for her own version of tunnel of fudge cake in one of her books, but I forget what she calls it. She doesn't use any mixes (of course), and she also doesn't use a Bundt pan. Her version is baked in a Pullman loaf pan. It's a recipe I've been meaning to try for years, but I never got to it. (That list is rather long for me.)

[djyee100]

...Danish dessert w/ rennet http://www.junketdesserts.com/danishdessert.aspx

 

Oh no, not junket. My brother and I used to pour it on the floor for the dog to eat when our mother wasn't looking.

 

(sorry, Heidih.  )

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Compared to some of the other candidates in this thread, I rather liked junket.  But I don't think I've had it since the 60's.