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Tutti Frutti Refrigerator Cake
1 1/2 tablespoons gelatine 1/3 cup cold water 3 egg yolks 2 tablespoons orange juice 1/2 teaspoon orange rind 1/2 cup sugar salt 1/2 cup pineapple syrup 1/4 cup canned pineapple, cut up and drained 1/4 cup canned cherries, cut up 1/4 cup preserved ginger, cut up 1/2 cup almonds, blanched and shredded 3 egg whites, beaten stiff 1 cup cream, whipped 3 dozen lady fingers Dissolve gelatine in cold water. Beat egg yolks slightly, add orange juice and rind, sugar and salt. Cook over hot water until mixture thickens. Add gelatine and pineapple syrup. Chill. When mixture begins to thicken, add fruits, well drained, and nut meats; fold in egg whites and cream. Line mold with lady fingers. Add half the mixture, then a layer of lady fingers, then mixture. Chill in ice box 48 hours to set. Serves twelve.
Blanche's Jello Refrigerator Cake 1 package lemon jello 1 3/4 cups boiling water 1/2 cup granulated sugar 12 Maraschino cherries 12 marshmallows 6 macaroons 8 to 10 almonds, chopped 1 cup cream, whipped lady fingers To jello, add boiling water and stir until dissolved, then add sugar. When dissolved set aside to cool and when thick like molasses, fold in cherries and marshmallows which have been cut into pieces. Fold in crushed macaroons with cream and almonds. Line a spring form mold with lady fingers, pour in jello mixture and place in ice box to set. Serves six to eight.
An icebox charlotte: a lady-finger-lined mold filled with an orange custard set with gelatine and lightened with whipped cream. Nothing is baked, so the two things that decide success are getting the yolk custard thick enough and adding the fruit at exactly the right stage of setting.
- Add the fruit at the right momentThe mixture must be cold and beginning to thicken to the consistency of raw egg white before the fruit, nuts, whites and cream go in. Too warm and the ginger, cherries and almonds sink into a solid layer at the bottom; too far set and it will not fold smoothly.
- Gelatine1 1/2 tablespoons is roughly 2 standard 1/4-oz envelopes of powdered gelatine (each about 2 1/4 teaspoons). Sprinkle it over the 1/3 cup cold water and let it swell for five minutes before it goes into the hot custard, and stir until no grains remain.
- Cook the yolks properly"Cook over hot water until mixture thickens" means a double boiler over water that is steaming, not boiling, and the custard should reach 170-175F and coat a spoon. Below that it will not thicken; above it, or over direct heat, the yolks scramble.
- Raw egg whitesThe beaten whites and the cream are folded in cold and never heated. If you are serving anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immune-compromised, use pasteurized egg whites, which whip perfectly well for this.
- Pineapple syrup, not fresh juiceThe 1/2 cup of syrup is the liquid from the can. Use canned only: fresh or frozen pineapple contains bromelain, which digests gelatine and will leave the cake soupy. Canning heat destroys the enzyme.
- Preserved gingerThis is stem ginger in heavy syrup, or crystallized ginger, not fresh root and not ground. Rinse the syrup off crystallized ginger before cutting it up so the pieces do not weep.
- Lady fingers and moldThree dozen Italian savoiardi will line and layer a 2-quart charlotte mold or an 8- to 9-inch springform. Cut them to stand upright around the sides, flat side inward, and pack them tightly so the filling does not seep between.
- Chilling timeForty-eight hours suits an icebox, which ran warmer and less steadily than a modern refrigerator. In a modern refrigerator this should set firm in a matter of hours; overnight is likely ample, and much longer risks softening the lady fingers.
- Salt and yieldThe unquantified salt is a pinch, perhaps 1/8 teaspoon, to sharpen the sugar. The recipe gives twelve servings, which is honest for a 2-quart mold of something this rich.