Howard & Elvira: Love and the German Chocolate Cake

Lori Olson White

, known in our community for her incredible publications,

The Lost & Found Story Box

and

Culinary History is Family History

, prepared for us today a fantastic film to tell her family story about Howard & Elvira and their love expressed in the form of a cake. After 60 years, the story took a twist that made it more memorable. You recognize from classics like O’Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. 

After watching Lori’s film, several audience members engaged in a lively discussion, sharing family stories, recipes, favorite Substack publications, and more. To start us off, Lori shared two recipes mentioned in her story:

The Original Baker's "German's Chocolate Cake" Recipe

2.19MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Lori Olson White's Stelljes family "German Chocolate Sour Cream Cake" Recipe

1.42MB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Shared in the discussion, publications highlighting food memories, recipes, and family stories:

• Ruthtalksfood Newsletter
  (by
  Ruth Stroud
  )

• The Recipe Graveyard
  (by
  Hannah | A Feral Housewife
  )

• Culinary History is Family History
  (by
  Lori Olson White
  )

• My Vintage Cookbooks
  (by
  My Vintage Cookbooks
  )

• Soulspun Kitchen
  (by
  Erin E. Moulton
  )

• Seafood Savvy
  and
  Long Live the Recipe Box
  (by
  Cynthia Nims
  )

The discussion bubbled up many memories, among them:

• Springerle cookies

• German Pork Hocks

And books about food, family & culture:

• 97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman

• Sweet Land of Liberty, The History of America in 11 Pies by Rossi Anastopoulo

• The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family by Laura Schenone

Kerri Kearney

joined us and referenced her Project Recipe for a five-generation family cookbook. She’s now in the process of updating to be able to include edits and copies for more family members.

Then there were those favorite family recipes that turned out to be those classics on the back of the package:

Ocean Spray’s Cranberry Orange Relish:

Toll House Cookies:

Are there more publications you’re aware of? Add them to the comments!

Thank you so much for exploring these stories with us. If our

Projectkin Community Forum

is new to you, we’re delighted to have you. Learn more about coming events and consider joining us!

Explore our coming events at Projectkin.org/events.

All events are free and freely shared with our community, friends, and neighbors.

Though we welcome small coffee contributions, one of the best things you can do to support us is to tell your friends by sharing this post or the publication. If you have a publication, you can also recommend

Projectkin Community Forum

,

The Lost & Found Story Box

, or any of the other publications above. Share the love by going to your own “Add Recommendations” page and, well, add recommendations!

By including “blurbs” to say why, your recommendation may appear on their /welcome page.¹ Nice!

Finally, let me leave you with one last clip. As many of you know, Projectkin now does a live program each Sunday (Monday on the far side of the International Date Line see your local time) to highlight the week’s upcoming events. This past week,

Lori Olson White

was my guest:

Take a listen, note the past note for context, and kindly boost the Note with a ❤️ or comment. Maybe our Substack hosts will see our enthusiasm and grant us a “Genealogy” category (or label). Thank you so much! 👋

1. Note: This only works if you have a “publication.” See the Substack support page.