Post #1 – Women’s Memoirs, ScrapMoir, Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett
By Kristiane McKee Maas
Growing up in the San Jose area, I knew that prune anything was immensely popular: Prune Whip, Prune Souffle, Prune Butter Pinwheels. My grandmother’s specialty was Prune Cake Deluxe. She let me lick the whipped shortening and sugar off the beaters when she made it. I still remember the rich taste and texture of that sweet mixture on my tongue. I think of it even now, when I use her old KitchenAid mixer — a delicious childhood memory.
Dagmar Kirsten Andersen, my maternal grandmother, was born in February of 1875 in San Francisco – a mere decade after the tumultuous Civil War. Her life was nearly that of a spinster. Her mother, Johanna, passed away when Dagmar was 12. She remained at home to care for her father while her musically-inclined, successful sister, Hulda, traveled. My grandmother worked at a Danish-run bookstore in San Francisco.
Then, much to her surprise and pleasure, Dagmar married Godfred C. Thuesen on June 24, 1908. She was 33!! Godfred owned Patek & Company, a San Francisco soaps and detergents business, which afforded his new family a very comfortable lifestyle “on the Peninsula.” Entertaining houseguests and friends from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Stanford University was routine at their large Dutch colonial style home on Grant Road in Mountain View, called “Permanente Lodge”.
My grandmother chaired a group of women known simply as The Reading Club. I can remember her saying, “Oooh. The Reading Club is coming on Tuesday.” With that remark, she’d start her elaborate preparations. I looked forward to the desserts and the table settings. Ah, the beautiful table settings.
Once a month, this progressive and intellectual group of ladies met at my grandmother’s house or at Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park, CA. They each read excerpts from a book they had selected the previous month. They discussed the book while they knitted, crocheted or did needlepoint and, of course, sipped sherry. Usually a luncheon was served before the reading such as chicken a la king or broiled lamb chops with Jello salad.
When The Reading Club arrived, they found Dagmar’s home filled with arrangements of hydrangeas, redwood branches, and whatever lilies or dahlias were blooming in her cutting garden. The dining room table was set with monogramed or embroidered linen and matching napkins, Royal Copenhagen blue-and-white bone china and Georg Jensen silver. The details – from napkin rings, place cards, and miniature Danish flags in the flower arrangements to the correct style of stemware for sherry – were always attentively accounted for by my grandmother.
But the best part about The Reading Club was that I could help with setting the table and preparing the dessert. I was around five years old then and learned fine table settings even at that young age – where a butter plate was placed, and the proper location for a soup spoon, butter knife, and dessert fork. My grandmother made fantastic pies, apple cakes, prune cakes, pound cakes, fruitcakes and various Danish desserts. She often let me help her in the kitchen. I loved measuring all the dry ingredients. I still have her well-loved, time-worn measuring cups. She taught me how to alternate the milk with the dry ingredients such as the spices, flour and soda.
As an odd story to add to these memories, my father’s sister had 25 acres of walnut trees in San Jose. We were never without walnuts for baking. We even hid them in the garden instead of Easter eggs. One evening, we were enjoying Dagmar’s Prune Cake when “crrrrack.” My father broke a tooth on a bit of walnut shell. Lots of apologies followed.
The small details remain vivid. I see the morning light brightly streaming in through Dagmar’s window above the sink. The sun highlighted her beautiful dishes, visible through the glass-front cabinets. I remember walking to the back porch to see the brand new “Cold Spot” freezer on the day when it assumed the place of honor next to the old screened pie safe, where grandmother’s freshly baked prune cakes and fruit pies cooled.
But mostly, I remember my eyes remaining fixed on the table where I enjoyed the breakfasts of thick egg-battered, pan-fried French toast with butter pooling on the top, lunches of deviled egg sandwiches, and cooking times when I measured all the flour, cinnamon, and cloves for the Prune Cake Deluxe. How grateful I am for the best childhood memories from my grandmother.
Recently, when I was looking through my grandmother’s trunk, I found a lovely invitation that brought to mind the Prune Cake. The invitation was to a Violet Tea. Do you think they used fresh violets to make tea? Well, I see the party was in February, so it was probably dried violet petals. I can imagine the lovely pale lavender color of the tea as it was poured from an antique silver tea pot into Danish bone china cups.
I like to imagine that my grandmother’s Prune Cake was served along with the violet tea. Perhaps small square pieces placed on delicately detailed dessert plates. Ah sweet memories.
Prune Cake DeLuxe
[Recipe by Dagmar Kirsten Andersen Thuesen]
Put into a bowl:
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts (not chopped)
6 T sherry
Cream together:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
2 or 3 eggs
1 t vanilla
Beat like anything until light and fluffy.
Add to above creamed mixture:
9 T evaporated milk mixed with 1 T vinegar to curdle
Sift together:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1/2 t ground cloves
1 t ground mace
1 1/2 t soda
2 t baking powder
Add alternately:
Dry ingredients and creamed mixture until combined.
Add:
2 cups pitted and chopped prunes
Raisin-walnut mixture (no juice)
Stir only to blend.
Bake in 3 9-inch tins at 375 degrees for at least 40 minutes.
Put layers together with butter icing.
Butter Icing
1/4 lb butter
1 lb powdered sugar
6 T sherry (or brandy)
Pinch of salt
1 whole egg
Beat.
