1946 to 1962 Cake #8

Hershey Bar Cake

Milton Hershey was born on a farm into a Pennsylvania Mennonite family, but by the time he was 14 years old he started an apprenticeship with a confectioner in Philadelphia. He then moved out to Denver to learn the art of caramel making. After developing a successful business in Denver, he sold it so that he could pursue the chocolate business. One of his top priorities was to make chocolate bars affordable to everyone. He located his business in his birthplace of Derry Church, Pennsylvania, due to the convenience of being in the middle of dairy country. Hershey was a clever marketer and when his first chocolate bars came off the line, in the year 1900, he had his name embossed right into the bar. Hershey kisses arrived in 1907 and the almond bars one year later. The town of Derry Church has since been renamed to Hershey, Pennsylvania.

The Hershey Bar Cake recipe was first printed in the Kerrville, Texas newspaper, in 1958, as an homage to the chocolate bar. A baker, named Ruth Harrison, contributed the recipe which calls for 6 melted Hershey bars to be mixed into the batter of a simple pound cake.

My Experience:

Making this cake is pretty easy. The procedure of putting it together is the same as making a pound cake with the added bonus of getting to pour in a bunch of melted chocolate and chocolate syrup. This cake bakes for over an hour and then has to cool for an hour and a half. I had to be patient because I really wanted to try it, it smelled so nice and I love chocolate. Unfortunately, after building up the anticipation to try it, it was a bit of a let down. The cake had a nice texture but I felt like the flavor was too subtle. It could possibly be due to the fact that I am a ravenous chocolate eater and milk chocolate does not pack a strong enough punch of flavor for me anymore. I felt like my feelings about the cake being underwhelming were confirmed when I did not get one comment back from the neighbors. The cake was just boring and no comments were needed.

I am including an excerpt from the book down below that I found very interesting about how the Hershey company helped to nourish the American troops during World War II.