Do you know where some of your favorite, delicious and classic cake recipes come from? It is tough to pin down the backgrounds for our most treasured sweet dishes.
With some brownies and cake recipes dating all the way back to the 19th century, this has not stopped a plethora of myths about origins from surfacing. When it comes to one of world’s most loved sweet dishes, history follows the trend.
Brownies and brownie cakes have been around for decades, but their real origins can only be estimated at best. There are several myths about how they were first created and who created these deserts, though. The question here is, do you dare to wade through the history of this delicious, simple, yet decadent dessert with us? If so, must read on!
From Where Brownies and Brownie Cake Originate?
Brownie cake came from a cook at Chicago’s Palmer House Hotel in the late 19th century. It all started when Bertha Palmer want to make request a special sweet dessert for ladies attending the famous Chicago 1893 World Fair.
What she actually wanted was a sweet dish that is bit smaller than a piece of cake, though still retaining cake-like elements & easily eaten from boxed lunches. Surprisingly the first brownie was cooked, specially topped with walnuts & with an apricot glaze.
It was an instant hit at that point of time and this same dessert recipe still remained and still served today at “The Palmer House Hilton” in Chicago. There are hundreds of thousands of recipes, both “cake” types and the “fudge” types.
Either is perfectly correct – and tasty. It’s effortless to see that the brownie cake got its name from its dark chocolaty brown color. There’re many legends surrounding the origin of the brownie cake. The legend is told that: a professional cook mistakenly added some melted chocolate to a bunch of biscuits – a chef was making a brownie cake but didn’t have enough flour.
The popular myth, cited in Betty Crocker’s Baking Classics & John Mariani’s The famous Encyclopedia of American cuisines and drink, tells of a housewife in the city of Bangor, Maine, who was creating a chocolate cake but she forgot to add baking powder. When her cake didn’t rise accurately, instead of tossing the cake out, she cut & served the flat pieces.
The Truth About Brownies!
Story 1: MYTH If you know anything about baking, you could effortlessly debunk this myth. By simply adding chocolate to a simple biscuit batter does not make the most edible result.
Story 2: TRUTH That’s right, the actual origin story is that brownies cake were made as a special dessert that could be eaten and carried in a normal lunch box. The wife of the owner of the ‘Palmer House Hotel’ in the Chicago asked that they be made so she could put them in the lunch boxes of her women’s board for ‘World Columbian Exposition’ in 1893. This story is the originally accepted true origin story.
Final Thoughts
Brownie cakes are a classic sweet dessert treat & the key to a great brownie cake is rich chocolate (and lots of it!). Brownies and brownie cakes can be a great day-starter for anyone. You can take these cakes with your breakfast or you can enjoy these delicious brownie cakes with a cup of tea..
Some Favorite Brownie Recipes
Best Brownies You Will Ever Eat
From Tasty 101 (Youtube)
Chocolate Brownie Cake With Cocoa Powder
From Spice Bites (Youtube)
How To Make A 3 Layer Chocolate Fudge Cake
From World Food 4U
