The Spencer
Put into a shaker one tablespoonful of chocolate syrup, one tablespoonful of maple syrup, and two tablespoonfuls of sweet cream. Add a small spoonful of ice cream and shake well. Serve in frappe glass with whipped cream and a cherry.
A soda-fountain drink rather than a hot cocoa, despite its place in the chapter. It comes together in under a minute, and the whole point is texture: cold, thick and foamy.
- Sweet creamIn period usage this means fresh, unsoured cream, as opposed to sour cream. Use heavy or whipping cream; the fat is what lets the drink hold air when shaken.
- Chocolate syrupFountain chocolate syrup was typically cocoa, sugar and water cooked to a pourable syrup, generally thinner than modern bottled sundae sauce. Any good bittersweet syrup works; if using a very sweet one, cut the maple back slightly.
- The ice cream is structuralThat "small spoonful" is not a garnish. It supplies the cold and the body that make the drink a frappe rather than sweetened cream. Use plain vanilla, and use it straight from the freezer.
- No ice in the shakerNothing here says to add ice, and you should not. Ice would water the cream down; the chill comes from the ice cream and from chilled ingredients.
- Frappe glassA small stemmed fountain glass holding only a few ounces, wider at the mouth than a tall soda glass. A coupe or small wine glass stands in perfectly well.
- Shake hard, serve at onceTwenty to thirty seconds of vigorous shaking is enough to aerate the cream. It will begin to separate within a few minutes, so pour immediately, top with whipped cream and set the cherry on it.
- YieldFour tablespoons of liquid is about two fluid ounces; with the small spoonful of ice cream and the air beaten in, it makes one small drink. Double it if you want something that fills a modern glass.
This is fountain writing, not kitchen writing: the language of shakers, frappe glasses and a cherry on top belongs to the American drugstore soda counter, where dispensers built drinks from bottled syrups, cream and ice cream to order. Books of non-alcoholic drinks and fountain formulas were widely published in the years around Prohibition. Named drinks like this one filled the space a cocktail list would otherwise occupy, borrowing the barroom's vocabulary while trading gin for maple syrup. Its placement under "Cocoa" reflects a habit of filing by principal flavour rather than by method, which is why a cold shaken frappe sits among hot chocolate drinks. Maple syrup as a fountain flavouring was a North American touch, and maple was often paired with chocolate or walnut in period sundaes.