You Heard Me -- Maraschino Cherry Cake

By Jeri Quinzio

My mom's favorite cake recipe seemed so retro that I didn't make it for years. But I recently rediscovered its deliciousness. Here's the story behind the recipe.™

Jennifer Causey

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A Childhood Tradition

When I was growing up, my mother's go-to cake for all of our birthdays was a colorful confection we dubbed Maraschino Party Cake. It came from a 1933 cookbook called All About Home Baking, published by the General Foods Corporation. The book is clearly well used, its yellow plaid cover faded, its pages butter-stained. But "Maraschino Cherry Cake," on page 134, is the only recipe in the book with Mom's handwritten changes in the margin.

The notes say that she added cherry juice to the milk, so her cake had more cherry flavor. The recipe said to sprinkle cherries and nuts on top of the cake in lieu of frosting, but "I add them to the batter," Mom wrote. We always had frosting.

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