Thank you for reading, Amie! I treasure this little book of recipes so much, largely because of my grandmother's distinctive handwriting and the little clues into my past that are just starting to open up a whole new work to me.
A summer staple in rural Wisconsin on our farm once the strawberries arrived - a delicate cloud with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries was sublime. Mary Bergin lived a mile away and was our babysitter!
Thanks for sharing that, Amy! You describe it perfectly as a delicate little cloud. It is truly sublime. Where in Wisconsin, if I may ask? I am still trying to trace just how far back my lineage goes but my great-great grandmother and great-grandmother both grew up on a farm in Spring Prairie near Elkhorn.
Wonderful story! I didn't know how firmly rooted the Schaum Torte was in Wisconsin only knowing of it through the Joy of Cooking. Kept my old copy of the 1977 edition primarily because it was the last one to include it. You should have put it in your American Cakes book, but I can hardly criticize that work, it's so well done, even though I'm guessing the Cake Mix Doctor was more profitable.
Tom, and thank you for reminding me of the Joy of Cooking and it being an invaluable resource documenting early 20th century recipes, especially those with German heritage as Irma Rombauer’s family was of German descent.
I didn’t think of Schaum Torte as a cake, but Susan makes a good case that it is one! I did include Blitz Torte in American Cake, and that is one fabulous cake. Filled with custard between the layers and each layer is baked with its own meringue and sliced almonds on top. So lovely and old world. No frosting. Yes, CMD sold a few more copies than American Cake!
My German grandmother grew up on a farm in Michigan outside of Ann Arbor. Her great grandparents were deeded the land when they arrived from Germany and the farm and house remained in the family for generations. My favorite memory of my Grandma is when my sister and I used to race to the kitchen upon arrival and peek in the oven to see if she’d made what we called “Crunchies” (Shaum Tortes)! She almost always did knowing we loved them, which she served with macerated strawberries. So delicious and such a fond memory!
I have made Schaum torte for most of my life. Learned how to make when I was a young girl. My mom made often with strawberries or fresh pineapple and always a scoop of ice cream first. Just made at Easter this year. Old recipes the best!!
Enjoyed the note of Mary Bergin as she was a babysitter for me many years ago. Have her books on Supper Clubs n given for gifts.
A note to Anne, Mary Bergin baby sat for my daughter, now Dr. Amy Valentine. Married to Dr. Jim. Small world! Your cookbooks are beautiful.
Mary, thank you. I was beginning to think Mary Bergin might have babysat for the entire state of Wisconsin. Didn’t know how she did that…Big fan of your daughter and her husband. Thank you for the connection. And yes, old recipes are the best!
What a wonderful tradition! I've never seen it in my Pennsylvania-German heritage, so it may be from a different part of Germany originally. I can imagine how delicious it is.
I remember using a rotary beater at home, usually for mixing the batter for french toast.
Interesting, Denise. Would be interesting to see if the Wisconsin Germans had different desserts and traditions from the Pennsylvania Germans. I know in my research for the book American Cake that the Pennsylvania Dutch were either pie people or cake people, or so they called themselves.
The Pennsylvania Germans, aka Pennsylvania Dutch, came to the US for religious freedom reasons, whereas most other German immigrants came to start over for other reasons--second sons, land, adventure, new life, etc... like the German ancestors on my dad's side.
Those of German descent make up the largest ancestry of American immigrants. All of my ancestors came in through the Port of Philadelphia, and they spread out from there. Philadelphia was one of the biggest ports for immigration prior to the Ellis Island years. I remember studying a lot of this in 6th grade, but I don't remember a lot of the particulars.
From there, you would follow the pattern of how the immigrants spread to the first West (now the Midwest), and later to the rest of the US. The first group (1700s) was mostly from the Palantine region (mostly Protestants of different faiths, including the Plain People), but the later and largest groups (1800s) came from different regions and inhabited greater portions of the Midwest and Texas--they were not the Plain People. I think this is where the cuisine differences are most apparent (opinion).
I remember learning the products (food and other things, including autos) in the US brought/invented by German immigrants (whether the immigrant was Protestant,, Catholic, or Jewish).
Homemakers, Church groups, and Dairy Farmers cookbooks line the shelves of all of us former farmers/4-H ers. German potato salad, fresh spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, brats, state fair cream puffs …
Have gone to them for last 50+ years! They’re all over the state. Always subject of debate with regard to who has the best Friday fish fry, old fashioneds, relishes!
I'm familiar with the Pavlova story, but after your story and the Schaum Torte recipe, I'm wondering if it's not an original after all. Just the kiwis on top, maybe? No matter - a true delight, whatever it's named. Magical and easy to do.
Oh nice! Sheboygan County area just outside of Greenbush which is ~ half way between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan. We were about an hour north of Milwaukee. My mother and grandmother belonged to Homemakers groups. Have several old cookbooks. The West Bend Cookbook (https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~zcAAOSwM0xjRui1/s-l1600.jpg) - was our Bible!
Oh cool, thanks for sharing this, Amy! My next deep dive is into Wisconsin supper clubs. I had never heard of them before but now I am fascinated. Have you ever been to one?
I just love this, especially the link to the past through handwritten recipes! My mother made marvelous meringue cookies (sometimes with chocolate chips!), but I don’t recall a pavlova. I’d definitely like to try making this recipe--it seems like a perfect summer dessert.
I hope you make it and love it as much as my gamily and I did when I made it for Mother's Day! in the same little cookbook is my great-grandmother's recipe for cornflake macaroons, cookies that include both cornflakes and coconut -- a great use for bottom of the box cereal. I made them and they were delicious too, but super sweet! the whipped cream and berries balances the sweetness of the Schaum Torte.
I’m hoping for just the right occasion because it looks like a showstopper, with all that fruit and cream. I love that the fillings cover the cracks--definitely my kind of dessert!🍰
Schaum Torte or Pavlova - Ganz fantastisch! I usually keep four to six egg whites in the freezer in case of urgent cravings. Now I'm wondering where and when the Pavlova was really first created.
great idea on freezing the whites! In the story I mentioned that according to my research pavlova was named for a Russian ballerina performing in Australia and New Zealand early in the 20th century -- hence the kiwi topping...but the origin of the meringue goes back at least to the 1600s!
It looks delicious and so summery. One of our family names is Lentz. So close to Frentz! I wonder...did they get the spelling wrong at Ellis Island? You never know! I also treasure my handwritten recipes.
You may be right about the spelling, Gina! We never know just how many ways we all may be connected but love trying to figure it out via family recipes....
I made a version of this for years and we all loved it. It's quick and delicious. Thanks Anne for listing this one back. Always YUM filled with any fruits!
You are welcome. Thanks to Susan for digging into her recipe past. My mother made meringues like this in Nashville and filled them with ice cream! Either chocolate or peppermint. We have no German or Austrian ancestry that I know of, but meringues were very popular in the South back when people made ice cream or a lemon curd or custard with the yolks. You either made meringues or baked an angel food cake with the whites that were left.
Wonderful! My grandmother, raised in a German speaking household in Ohio, made a version of this when she came to visit every year, only she made individual meringues, broke the top with the back of a spoon, then added the fruit and topped with whipped cream.
I'm going to try making individual ones next time just for the convenience of serving. I also broke the top of mine with the back of a spoon which is a fun part of the ritual. I will cherish this recipe forever!
I love that handwritten recipe, especially the last paragraph. Rich with history!
Handwritten recipes are the best ever.
So true!
Thank you for reading, Amie! I treasure this little book of recipes so much, largely because of my grandmother's distinctive handwriting and the little clues into my past that are just starting to open up a whole new work to me.
A summer staple in rural Wisconsin on our farm once the strawberries arrived - a delicate cloud with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with fresh strawberries was sublime. Mary Bergin lived a mile away and was our babysitter!
What a small world! This is lovely! ❤️
Thanks for sharing that, Amy! You describe it perfectly as a delicate little cloud. It is truly sublime. Where in Wisconsin, if I may ask? I am still trying to trace just how far back my lineage goes but my great-great grandmother and great-grandmother both grew up on a farm in Spring Prairie near Elkhorn.
Wonderful story! I didn't know how firmly rooted the Schaum Torte was in Wisconsin only knowing of it through the Joy of Cooking. Kept my old copy of the 1977 edition primarily because it was the last one to include it. You should have put it in your American Cakes book, but I can hardly criticize that work, it's so well done, even though I'm guessing the Cake Mix Doctor was more profitable.
Tom, and thank you for reminding me of the Joy of Cooking and it being an invaluable resource documenting early 20th century recipes, especially those with German heritage as Irma Rombauer’s family was of German descent.
I didn’t think of Schaum Torte as a cake, but Susan makes a good case that it is one! I did include Blitz Torte in American Cake, and that is one fabulous cake. Filled with custard between the layers and each layer is baked with its own meringue and sliced almonds on top. So lovely and old world. No frosting. Yes, CMD sold a few more copies than American Cake!
My German grandmother grew up on a farm in Michigan outside of Ann Arbor. Her great grandparents were deeded the land when they arrived from Germany and the farm and house remained in the family for generations. My favorite memory of my Grandma is when my sister and I used to race to the kitchen upon arrival and peek in the oven to see if she’d made what we called “Crunchies” (Shaum Tortes)! She almost always did knowing we loved them, which she served with macerated strawberries. So delicious and such a fond memory!
That’s a fabulous memory, Susan! Thank you for sharing. Such a rich baking heritage in the upper Midwest.
*correction: Schaum Tortes
I have made Schaum torte for most of my life. Learned how to make when I was a young girl. My mom made often with strawberries or fresh pineapple and always a scoop of ice cream first. Just made at Easter this year. Old recipes the best!!
Enjoyed the note of Mary Bergin as she was a babysitter for me many years ago. Have her books on Supper Clubs n given for gifts.
A note to Anne, Mary Bergin baby sat for my daughter, now Dr. Amy Valentine. Married to Dr. Jim. Small world! Your cookbooks are beautiful.
Mary, thank you. I was beginning to think Mary Bergin might have babysat for the entire state of Wisconsin. Didn’t know how she did that…Big fan of your daughter and her husband. Thank you for the connection. And yes, old recipes are the best!
What a wonderful tradition! I've never seen it in my Pennsylvania-German heritage, so it may be from a different part of Germany originally. I can imagine how delicious it is.
I remember using a rotary beater at home, usually for mixing the batter for french toast.
Interesting, Denise. Would be interesting to see if the Wisconsin Germans had different desserts and traditions from the Pennsylvania Germans. I know in my research for the book American Cake that the Pennsylvania Dutch were either pie people or cake people, or so they called themselves.
The Pennsylvania Germans, aka Pennsylvania Dutch, came to the US for religious freedom reasons, whereas most other German immigrants came to start over for other reasons--second sons, land, adventure, new life, etc... like the German ancestors on my dad's side.
Those of German descent make up the largest ancestry of American immigrants. All of my ancestors came in through the Port of Philadelphia, and they spread out from there. Philadelphia was one of the biggest ports for immigration prior to the Ellis Island years. I remember studying a lot of this in 6th grade, but I don't remember a lot of the particulars.
From there, you would follow the pattern of how the immigrants spread to the first West (now the Midwest), and later to the rest of the US. The first group (1700s) was mostly from the Palantine region (mostly Protestants of different faiths, including the Plain People), but the later and largest groups (1800s) came from different regions and inhabited greater portions of the Midwest and Texas--they were not the Plain People. I think this is where the cuisine differences are most apparent (opinion).
I remember learning the products (food and other things, including autos) in the US brought/invented by German immigrants (whether the immigrant was Protestant,, Catholic, or Jewish).
Homemakers, Church groups, and Dairy Farmers cookbooks line the shelves of all of us former farmers/4-H ers. German potato salad, fresh spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, brats, state fair cream puffs …
Have gone to them for last 50+ years! They’re all over the state. Always subject of debate with regard to who has the best Friday fish fry, old fashioneds, relishes!
https://wisconsinsupperclubs.com/club-list/
I am truly fantasizing about doing a tasting tour of these — they sound like a blast!
I'm familiar with the Pavlova story, but after your story and the Schaum Torte recipe, I'm wondering if it's not an original after all. Just the kiwis on top, maybe? No matter - a true delight, whatever it's named. Magical and easy to do.
Oh nice! Sheboygan County area just outside of Greenbush which is ~ half way between Fond du Lac and Sheboygan. We were about an hour north of Milwaukee. My mother and grandmother belonged to Homemakers groups. Have several old cookbooks. The West Bend Cookbook (https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/~zcAAOSwM0xjRui1/s-l1600.jpg) - was our Bible!
Oh cool, thanks for sharing this, Amy! My next deep dive is into Wisconsin supper clubs. I had never heard of them before but now I am fascinated. Have you ever been to one?
Susan, Amy knows all things Wisconsin food. You are in good hands!
Amy, you and Susan definitely should confer. She’s so interested in Wisconsin food right now, and you are the one to help her!
I just love this, especially the link to the past through handwritten recipes! My mother made marvelous meringue cookies (sometimes with chocolate chips!), but I don’t recall a pavlova. I’d definitely like to try making this recipe--it seems like a perfect summer dessert.
It would be with your gorgeous Calif fruit!
I hope you make it and love it as much as my gamily and I did when I made it for Mother's Day! in the same little cookbook is my great-grandmother's recipe for cornflake macaroons, cookies that include both cornflakes and coconut -- a great use for bottom of the box cereal. I made them and they were delicious too, but super sweet! the whipped cream and berries balances the sweetness of the Schaum Torte.
I’m hoping for just the right occasion because it looks like a showstopper, with all that fruit and cream. I love that the fillings cover the cracks--definitely my kind of dessert!🍰
That’s what toppings and icings are for!
Schaum Torte or Pavlova - Ganz fantastisch! I usually keep four to six egg whites in the freezer in case of urgent cravings. Now I'm wondering where and when the Pavlova was really first created.
great idea on freezing the whites! In the story I mentioned that according to my research pavlova was named for a Russian ballerina performing in Australia and New Zealand early in the 20th century -- hence the kiwi topping...but the origin of the meringue goes back at least to the 1600s!
It looks delicious and so summery. One of our family names is Lentz. So close to Frentz! I wonder...did they get the spelling wrong at Ellis Island? You never know! I also treasure my handwritten recipes.
Lots and letters were dropped and added, I am sure! Yes, the treasure is in the handwriting.
You may be right about the spelling, Gina! We never know just how many ways we all may be connected but love trying to figure it out via family recipes....
Pavlova by another name. 😁. Recipe is the same except for 1 TBs of cold water, and 1 TBs cornflour.
Very nice. As long as you had eggs and some sugar, you had meringues in places around the world.
I made a version of this for years and we all loved it. It's quick and delicious. Thanks Anne for listing this one back. Always YUM filled with any fruits!
You are welcome. Thanks to Susan for digging into her recipe past. My mother made meringues like this in Nashville and filled them with ice cream! Either chocolate or peppermint. We have no German or Austrian ancestry that I know of, but meringues were very popular in the South back when people made ice cream or a lemon curd or custard with the yolks. You either made meringues or baked an angel food cake with the whites that were left.
Wonderful! My grandmother, raised in a German speaking household in Ohio, made a version of this when she came to visit every year, only she made individual meringues, broke the top with the back of a spoon, then added the fruit and topped with whipped cream.
What a sweet and wonderful memory of your grandmother, Anna! Thank you for sharing!
I'm going to try making individual ones next time just for the convenience of serving. I also broke the top of mine with the back of a spoon which is a fun part of the ritual. I will cherish this recipe forever!