1917 to 1945 Cake #14

Edith Warner's Chocolate Loaf Cake

Edith Warner moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico, in 1922. Around the age of 30, she became a caretaker of a train depot along the Rio Grande; a place known as Otowi Bridge. Her tearoom was a place of refuge for visitors and friends. One of her most popular items was a chocolate cake with a chocolate coffee frosting.

During World War II, the Manhattan project came to Los Alamos. Edith's tearoom became a popular place for Robert Oppenheimer, Enrico Fermi, and Niels Bohr, the fathers of the Atom bomb. They would often come for dinner, cake, and conversation.

A quote from the book is as follows: "This is the chocolate cake with satiny chocolate-coffee icing that fed the souls of the men who built the first atom bomb." I am not sure if that quote is inspiring or chilling, but it is impactful to say the least.

My Experience:

There are two elements to this cake; the cake itself and the icing that gets slathered on top. Both parts are straightforward without too many steps involved. One thing that I found odd about the cake was that the recipe asks for you to change the temperature of the oven three different times without any explanation as to why. The temperature starts low and progressively gets hotter so maybe that process keeps the edges from overcooking; I am not sure.

The cake part of the cake was fine. It tasted fine and the texture was fine; nothing wrong with it, but not very exciting. The icing, however, was very easy to make, looked nice, and had a really good flavor. I marked the icing down as a winner.

Neighbor's comments:

"Looks delicious!"

"I got a little too excited when I opened the box."

"That icing....yummmmmm!"