ISSUE 75, OLD AMERICAN DESSERTS, Part 5: Dolly Varden Cake
Dolly Varden Cake
In June of 1870 Charles Dicken’s, the greatest Victorian novelist, died in Portsmouth. A month later, his heirs sold off the many items of the estate, including a lively oil portrait by William Powell Thriff of Dolly Varden, the heroine of the novel Barnaby Rudge (1841). This novel was set in the 1770s and Dolly represented a vivacious belle of that sociable age. In the 1870s a kind of cult grew up around Dolly.
One expression of that cult was the invention in 1872 of the Dolly Varden Cake. In the United States the Dolly Varden boom got intermingled with a colonial revival craze spurred by the American Centennial. While the ornateness and fanciness of the cake evoked 1870’s ideas of the 1770s, the recipe called for baking powder, that chemical leaven that was the hallmark of modern baking in the mid-19th century.
The distinguishing character of the Dolly Varden cake that the batter was divided in half—one half was a plain pale crumb cake—the other was colored dark with molassess, raisins, and spice. These would form alternating light and dark layers. Coconut and jam might be put between the layers and a white icing applied to the crown. I enclose an early (1878) recipe. In the later 1880s a tinge of chocolate was sometimes put in the icing. In the 20th century some began using the Dolly Varden Cake—or maybe the character of Dolly herself—to turn the confection into an imitation large skirt dress. As soon as mimesis became the goal, the coloration of the icing became a matter of free play, with cherries and preserved fruits serving as adornments. Often plastic Barbie or other dolls surmount the dress-cake. If you search for google images of Dolly Varden cake you will encounter a plentitude of this version of the cake.
The image at the head of this newsletter derives from the Historical Recipe Project’s image of the original recipes. This was a company cake and it was frequently iced on the sides and available at metropolitan bake shops.