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In this Issue: Refrigerator Cakes Strawberry Refrigerator Cake, Luscious Chocolate Icebox Cake Celebrity Citing James Cagney's Chowder, Bruce Dern's Stew, Kirk Douglas' Meatloaf, Telly Savalas' Lamb Bread Baked in Cans Date Nut Bread two waysButtery Meringue Crescents Yugoslav Kifle, Sweetheart Crescent Flowerpot Breads Herb and Onion, Plain Reader favorites Brazilian Beef, SeaFoam Brown Sugar Divinity, Sea Foam Frosting, Pepper-Cheese Bread Convito-style, Apple-Nut Cake two ways Better Left Lost Corned Beef Jello Salad

You can add more layers of cream, fruit and lady fingers, or arrange layers differently to suit the size of your mold & your taste.

Strawberry Refrigerator Cake

Dreamy, chilled desserts full of cream, marshmallow, or mousse were very popular with housewives of the forties and fifties when the potential of the home refrigerator was still being explored. From bombes and baked Alaskas, to mousses, meringues, marlows and mallobets-- refrigerator cookbooks celebrated them all. Steering around more-dubious creations like the Fig Banana Brick (!) We revisit a classic Strawberry Refrigerator Cake here--layers of creamy fillings and fruit over ladyfinger cookies, which soften as the desserts set.

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Adapted from Mary Meade Refrigerator Desserts. Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
  • 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
  • 1 Tbsp plain gelatin granules (Knox)
  • 1/4 cup cold water
  • 1 pint whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 dozen lady fingers
  • 2 bananas, sliced (optional)
Instructions
  1. Wash, drain and slice berries. Set aside
  2. Soak gelatin in cold water. Heat in microwave (at 50% power) in 30 second increments until liquified.
  3. Whip cream, beating in 1/4 cup sugar gradually. Add gelatin and beat with cream to smooth consistency.
  4. Line a loaf pan with waxed paper, lengthwise and widthwise, leaving excess hanging over the edges of the pan. Line bottom of pan with lady fingers, sugar side down, if using sugared lady fingers.
  5. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the lady fingers. Over this, press sliced strawberries in rows to cover.
  6. Spread whipped cream over strawberries, then another layer of lady fingers. Add another layer of cream, then press sliced bananas in rows to cover. If you are out of space in the pan at this point, fold waxed paper ends from the sheets you layered into pan at the start, over the bananas. Wrap entire shebang with plastic wrap. Chill overnight.
  7. To unmold, grasp ends of waxed paper and lift dessert out of pan. Invert onto cake plate and remove waxed paper.

Although there are lady finger recipes out there, I didn't bake ladyfingers, but bought packaged ones from an ethnic grocery. I opted for the stiff, slim Italian variety with sugar coating on one side. These held their shape well, and were still lovely and soft once the dessert was ready to eat. You can experiment with the softer, shorter variety, too.
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