1870 to 1899 Cake #5

Milwaukee Sunshine Cake

Cake History: In the late 1800's Sunshine cakes were popular across America. The most famous one was baked by the Cook sisters, in Wisconsin. They opened a tea room called the Cook Tea Shop in downtown Milwaukee. The shops specialty was a cake made of lemon sponge, filled with custard filling, covered with seven-minute frosting, and topped with grated orange zest. At one point, a luxury retailer, George Watts moved to town and opened a store. The Cook sisters relocated the tea room to his building and their recipe is still served today at The Watts Tea Shop!

My Experience: This cake was a complete disaster! The custard was the only part that turned out alright. The cake was all wonky and the boiled white icing was my nemesis! This icing requires you to make a syrup and heat it until it is very hot and then slowly mix it in with some egg whites. Well my syrup crystallized as it got combined with the egg whites and made tons of hard chunks in the icing that could practically chip your teeth, Whoops! It tasted very lemony and I had one friend at work that looked past the teeth-chipping chunks and ate some anyways.

This recipe used a total of 12 eggs and the eggs were obviously not my friends. Enjoy the pictures:)