As The ROYAL BURGER Turns — Memories of the Secret Sauce Emporium

Paul Gratton

The secret is that they would put the sauce on the burgers once flipped while still on the grill.

Author’s Note- another recipe below.

Lost Ottawa

  · 

Royal Burger came up this morning on CFRA. Where were they? This is where they were in 1961. Tache Blvd, Richmond Road, and Montreal Road.

This ad from the Citizen says “Bruce MacDonald Announces.” I’m assuming this is the Bruce MacDonald of the motor hotel in west end as well?

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada07 Feb 1990, Wed  •  Page 40

Lost Ottawa

  · 

Mike Robert shares a fabulous photo which may have been shared in the comments of Lost Ottawa before.

It looks like family that would have a lot trouble fitting in to that Porsche, but it really fits with our sign theme of the week.

Behind the family? The sign for the Royal Burger just east of St. Laurent on Montreal Road.

Notes Mike: “love this sign at the corner of Mtl. Road and Brittany Drive where Mark Motors is located now. My mother’s house was the white house in the background that became a vet’s office. I fondly remember the drive-thru at the RB!”

Peter Parsons

Best onion rings ever made. Large sweet onions, my friend worked there and I i Rembrandt correctly they were hand made at one point. Very rare to find this kind of onion ring today.

Paul Devey

Love them. Our family went to the Royal Burger on Richmond Rd. as well as Carling and Woodroffe. Also in the 90s went to the one in Aylmer.

Barb Hughes

I live around the corner and had no idea that Mark Motors used to be a burger place. I still remember the drive up A & W on St. Laurent!

Rene H Beauchemin

Worked as a cook at that royal burger

Mike Komendat

Absolutely the best burger and their sauce was delicious!

Carol Booth

There was a Royal Burger at Woodroffe and Carling we went to a couple of times, but usually we went to Capital Burger which was cheaper on Croydon and Carling across from the Fire Station. I used to love the hot dogs, that were curled to fit a hamburger bun.

Lynn Forrest

My parents used to take us to the Royal Burger on Richmond Road where Kristy’s is now. Such a treat on the way home from the cottage.

Sandy Mulloy

I found this recipe for the sauce

Ann Mills Desormeaux

OK … for those of you who asked and messaged me

… it’s pretty easy …. and versatile

Equal parts finely chopped onion and dill pickle, ketchup and mustard … mix together.

Measurements don’t matter … it’s however much you want to make

You can try it out and tweak it however you want.

We like more of the chopped onion and pickle and less of the ketchup and mustard.

sometimes I leave it coarsely chopped and sometimes give it a quick pulse or two in the food processor. Mostly I do it by hand.

It’s awesome on sandwiches 

Dorothy Hill

I remember this Royal Burger. Loved the little pickles the RB put on their burgers.

Gene Hamelin

Best burgers and especially their “Bermuda” onion rings and real shakes to wrap up a great meal. Our daughter worked at the one in Peterborough. It closed and became a DQ. White house also vet clinic of Dr. Carioto. I would not be surprised if that was not the Mark family.

VR Hunter

Our first fast food chain “experience” was at the Royal Burger on Bank just north of Heron. 1963. Eating at a drive-in restaurant

Lost Ottawa

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Dining Out in Lost Ottawa, with a sign and a query shared by Al Thompson

Asks Al:

“Does anyone remember the Royal Burger on Montreal Road?”

Bonnie-Dee Racette

I remember it. We used to go there until they closed not long after McDonald’s opened in front of it.

About six years ago, I discovered The Hintonburger’s burgers tasted the same as the Royal’s and biting into one brought back good memories of the Royal Burger. Now, both are closed. 

Diane Turpin Pugliese

Loved Royal Burger. I believe they closed around 1973. I was pregnant, had a craving for their onion rings and made my husband drive all over Ottawa trying to find one but they were all closed.

Malcolm Stewart

Bank Street location biggest hangout……and a few doors away used to be the Marco Polo….best egg rolls ever.

Fred Zufelt

They were the first to have an intercom to order your food and have it ready when you arrived at the window. they had a slider window on the side for the carless customers. The special sauce was the taste. We liked the one on bank street, it was close and open late.. Owned by Lou MacDonald.

Wayne R Cunneyworth

No, but I remember the Royal Burger on Bank Street which was managed by Ralph Maves. Great burgers, neat cars but a short-lived location to hang out.

Dave Alburger

When I ate there a long time ago, I said to my date “If we ever have a son, let’s name him Roy”.

Roch Brunette

there is still a RB sign on the 148 highway towards Luskville

Bill Anderson

If memory serves me the Richmond road and Carling Avenue stores were owned by the Bruce family that also owned Bruce Fuels and Frazer Duntile (the quarry on Clyde Avenue). I worked for the Bruce family (old man Reginald and son Bob) in the mid 70s. There office was a big White House on Carling avenue stuck between two tall apartment buildings just next to Carlingwood. It was the longest year of my life. Swore I would never work for a family business again, at least as an outsider.

Sherry Drew

I sure do! My husband and I lived on Montreal Road right across from Royal Burger. Their burgers were the best, as were their onion rings. I remember the Royal burger, with 2 patties was 60 cents, and the burgerette, with one patty was 25 cents. Oh, for the good ol’ days of the 60s. 

M Frederick Mason

I used to go to the one just east of the Champlain Bridge when I was a kid. The last one I remember was at the corner of Richmond and Ambleside. I last saw “Mike” at Super Ex running a Royal Burger ‘truck’ that he said was doing the fair circuit at the time. He rememberd both my mom and me and even gave me my burger for free. That can’t be more than 5-10 years ago.

James Jim Taylor

I worked at the Richmond road location as a teen, I remember making the “Special Sauce” in 5 gallon pails that pickles or other food products came in. We would pour all the ingredients in the pail, then stir it with your arm fully emerged in the product.

Barry Lemoine

I worked for a year at the one on Carling at cross if Woodruff Ave. Friday and Sat. Were madhouse. A lit of folks at Britania Drive inn would make food run before second feature and I remember frilling 25 Royales at once for a single order.

Adam McDonald

Yes. That was my grandfather Reg Bruce’s chain of burger places. He also had Royal Donut. The ” Bruce MacDonald ” that someone is referring to is the “Bruce /MacDonald Motor Hotel that my grandfather built on Carling Ave. His business partners last name in that hotel was MacDonald. It’s now called Embassy West Hotel. So there’s some history for you. 

David Sampson

There’s an ad on this CMN chart(From June 1963) in the top left corner with a list of the Royal Burger locations. I’ll post the actual chart below so you can enjoy it too.

Pierre Vachon

Four years after our marriage, in 1964, we rented an apartment on the West end of Hull, on the very street where the first Royal Burger was installed. It was built from prefab components in less than a week. Thereafter, every evening until the wee hours, we were treated to “Yeah!”, “with the works” and wonderful phrases like that, never to be forgotten. Wafts of burning flesh perfumed the air all summer long. Wonderful memories!

Curtis Webster photo

Randy Lacey

I must have been 5 or 6 (1969-70) when for a treat my parents would hit the Royal Burger on Richmond rd. It was a drive-through and i was allowed to yell into the order board what I wanted. It was always the same thing “Chip & Coke). Yes, I was very exciteable back then. Can’t say I was upset years later when Harvey’s occupied the same land.

Brian Hilton

I only remember the one on Bank Street. Does anyone remember their display on the Sparks Street Mall with the 1957 Desoto dinky car that continuously ran in a circle?

Patricia Cassidy

What was ever in their special sauce…..if I got a stain on my clothes…..no matter what I used could. to get it out hmmmmm????

Bran Martin

The one in Hull was Royal in name only after Bruce Macdonald shut the doors. My first job (after paper routes) was sweeping the parking lot on Richmond Rd. I impressed the manager that he hired me. I remember getting rides home in his 57 Canary yellow Chevy. Loud and fast, back then not as many cars on the road then. Especially after dropping the takings at the hotel. I remember Harvey’s bedside us. We traded burgs for fries. Funny our meat was fresh and fries frozen. While Harvey’s was the opposite. And our rings were made daily. Double dipped was that procedure. The closest to them would be A&W rings.

Lost Ottawa

  · 

Dining Out in Lost Ottawa … at the Royal Burger on Quebec Route 148 as you head up river to the Pontiac region.

Shared by Bruce Mitchell, who says:

“This Royal Burger sign is all that remains of what might have been the last Royal Burger. It is on Highway 148 in Quebec just west of Ottawa before Luskville.

When I started taking this route 12 years ago there was a burned out restaurant and they were still operating out of a trailer.

Both gone now but I did enjoy stopping for the occasional burger!”

Micheline Beauchemin

Actually it is in Luskville, corner Dominicain and the 148

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada17 May 1973, Thu  •  Page 9

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada05 Oct 1963, Sat  •  Page 49

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CLIPPED FROMThe Kingston Whig-StandardKingston, Ontario, Canada21 Oct 1961, Sat  •  Page 12

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa JournalOttawa, Ontario, Canada20 Feb 1964, Thu  •  Page 8

popular in the 60s

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada30 Jun 2007, Sat  •  Page 40

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada25 Jan 1972, Tue  •  Page 22

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada21 Aug 1961, Mon  •  Page 32

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada19 Dec 1962, Wed  •  Page 5

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada08 Jan 1966, Sat  •  Page 84

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada30 Jan 1969, Thu  •  Page 43

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada04 May 1988, Wed  •  Page 84

The Maple Leaf Forever —- Maple Leaf Tavern

Fight Over the “Restaurant on Wheels” 1899 — The First Food Truck Fight

Food Review of the Smorgasbord at The Queen’s Royal Hotel 1947

Let’s Have Some Curb Service!

So tonight I made the Old Royal Burger with their secret sauce that was in Ottawa in the 60s and 70s that I wrote about today..

AMAZING!!!!

And a One, and a Two….. Linda Knight Seccaspina

And a One, and a Two….. Linda Knight Seccaspina

For nearly 28 years I think I watched every single episode of the Lawrence Welk Show– or, sometimes it felt like I did. Lawrence Welk was the musical voice of my Popeye candy cigarette generation. His shows carried on for almost 30 years, and after I stopped watching them I knew that my Grandmother and others had not stopped the tradition. In all honesty, Lawrence Welk never ever really went away.

Through the magic of syndication and of course the internet, the late Lawrence Welk still blows his signature bubbles to this day. I was born from a generation that has long forgotten Welk’s music, comparing it to music found in second hand shops or those occasional visits to your granny’s home. Then there were some of the odd things that I will never forget about the program. Maybe they weren’t strange to some, but I couldn’t figure out what kind of allure those Irish tenors had. Or, was there ever really a wrong time to get up and polka?

But, really it was the innocence of it all, something the whole family could watch and enjoy– especially those Lennon Sisters. It was a very different era when they were known as America’s sweethearts with their sugary smiles and angelic voices. Actually, did you know that most of Welk’s  musical numbers consisted of pre recorded lip- and finger-sync performances? Finger -synching means accordion player Myron Floren was just tickling those accordion keyboards and not really playing.

Those were the days of no remote control and you had to get up to change the channel. My grandfather not only got up to change it, but he also adjusted the “rabbit ear” antenna on the top of the television set. I can still remember the clicking as it turned to one of the 5 channels we had.

What was watched on television was determined by the elders in your family. Evening television wasn’t watched until dinner was done, dishes put away, and the only television was in the living room.

We watched specific programs at night and never really strayed. Lawrence Welk was a favourite, but so was Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday nights. Then there was the Sunday afternoon Hymn Sing, Ed Sullivan and Bonanza on Sunday evenings, and of course Tommy Hunter’s Country Jamboree on Friday night.

Every Saturday night my grandfather would cross South street to Varin’s Pharmacy and buy a large bar of chocolate. In the winter he would sit in his chair and carefully break apart the bar so we could all share while watching the Admiral television. In the summer the treat would be a bag of Laura Secord Fruit Flavoured Jelly Slices.There are many cosy memories of huddling around the TV set with my grandparents that I will never forget. 

My grandfather would only sit in his upholstered chair beside the old radio that he listened to the BBC news on. My grandmother was in her well worn armchair on the left with a stack of Reader’s Digests on the small table along with whatever needed darning that week. I sat on the long blue couch that was covered in plastic that had never been removed since its entry into the house decades ago. It made a loud crunch each time you sat on it, and the plastic stuck to you in the summer heat. But, everyone covered their couches in those days to preserve its beauty, and it was as normal as having a daily cup of tea. Today, I wondered if they all had been secretly preparing for a virus.

I still occasionally watch Lawrence Welk on PBS and memories of my ageing neighbour comes to mind who loved this show too. In the mid mark of her dementia a few years ago she and I were watching a rerun of the famed bandleader and she turned to me and quietly said during a commercial,

“You know dear, I’ve always liked Lawrence Welk. But, I think he was better before he died.”

Now that statement was worth any bar of accordion music any day of the year. Thanks for the memories Mr. Welk!

Music in the 60s- Memories of Herman’s Hermits

Back to The Future — Twisting Your Dignity Away

The Day I Tried to Long Tall Sally Paul McCartney

Kindle Fire Minutes of “Dancin the Feelin“ with James Brown

The Magic of Television — Linda Knight Seccaspina

The Magic of Television — Linda Knight Seccaspina

I once wrote a story about writing letters as a child to the media and it got me thinking.The first TV program I remember watching as a child was the Mantovani Show, and not only was it boring, but it was in black and white. But then exciting things came to television like Coca Cola and Dick Clark. Here were some of my favourites:

Cartoon Corner and Howdy Doody 

Cartoon Corner, Friendly Giant and Howdy Doody were daily favourites of mine in black and white on CBC. I also remembered having to unplug the TV when a thunderstorm occurred in the afternoon as my Mother said it was “going to blow the house up if one of those bolts wrapped around the venetian blinds”.

Razzle Dazzle

Every night at 5 in 1961 I would watch the CBC- TV show Razzle Dazzle hosted by Suzanne Somers’ husband, Alan Hamel. I had entered a writing contest and was eagerly waiting to hear if I won a pen with my “meatless meat pie” essay. A few weeks later I found out that I had indeed won a Razzle Dazzle pen for my story along with a photo of Howard the Turtle.

Hockey Night in Canada

In 1967 the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup and I was a member of the Dave Keon fan club who scored the winning goal that year for the last game. I was a proud card carrying member, and for 25 cents you got a signed glossy photo of him and a membership card. 

The day after the playoffs I brought in that black and white 8 by 10 photo of him and taped it to the classroom blackboard. My teacher Mrs. Shufelt, who was not a fan of Dave Keon or said team, had an upset look on her face when she saw it. Yes, it was worth the 25 cents I had spent on it. I can still see the frown on her face like it was yesterday.

Hello Boys and Girls, it’s time for Magic Tom!

Every afternoon as a child, I was glued to the TV set awaiting my beloved Magic Tom Auburn on CFCF TV out of Montreal. Tom once described himself as a “man who played with silk hankies” but to me and every child he was a man with something new up his sleeve every single day. Canada’s Man of Magic was never fully appreciated by my Father as he constantly said Magic Tom needed to polish his act up. 

Magic Tom once said that little girls only wanted to be three things in life: a Mommy, a Nurse, and an Airline Stewardess. It was the same thing I heard a few years later in the Cowansville High School Vice Principal’s office when I told him I wanted to be a fashion designer.  I often wondered if they were related.

Tom began his career at age 13 with a bout of scarlet fever, a magic book and a lot of time on his hands just outside Cornwall. It is the unspoken ethic of all magicians to not reveal the secrets, and once in a blue moon Tom did. Sometimes the kids thought he was cheating and expressed their sentiments– but the next time you saw the same trick, maybe you didn’t see that glass of milk sinking under the red cloth– and wondered if you had been right the first time.

Each day I waited until the end of the show to see the empty silver dish suddenly become full of candy for the kids with a simple mere tap of his magician’s wand. No matter how hard I looked I could not find out how Magic Tom did this trick. 

I later found out however that this same trick was performed in WW11 by a small group of French Patriots who were being held prisoner by the Germans. They made a deal with their captors that if they performed this trick they would be let go. There was a happy ending and they were freed. 

Magic Tom and his wife Dolores have long passed and are buried in the Cornwall region at the St. Lawrence Valley Cemetery near Long Sault/Cornwall. I hope people remember Magic Tom as a  kind man who brought magic to the people as he pushed the boundaries of wonder for all of us. 

Some people say there isn’t magic. Some people say there is. I say there always will be— as in a way, we are all magicians, and so was television when I grew up in the 50s and 60s. They provided a wonderful open door to the everyday pleasures when life was just  a simpler world.

Clippings of –The Naughty Boys –The Eastern Passage -60s Music

CLIPPED FROMThe Ottawa CitizenOttawa, Ontario, Canada02 Dec 1966, Fri

CLIPPED FROM
The Ottawa Citizen
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
02 Dec 1966, Fri

Married to Bob Gauthier —Since November 18, 1972

I met him months after the band broke up.in December 1970. But most of them remained friends after. ( Elaine Gauthier) Thanks to Elaine and Bob Gauthier for sending me these clippings.

Those Naughty Boys

Profile:

More than any other SJA act, Those Naughty Boys were the epitome of the garage band. In 1965, Bobby Gauthier got expelled from high school for letting his hair grow past his collar. Shortly after this, he got a bunch of teenagers with little or no prior musical knowledge together and formed a group. After only a few practices, they booked some time at H.H. Bloom Studios and cut their first demo. With the help of former Esquires roadie Don Nicholson as manager, they landed a recording contract with Montreal-based Fantastic Records, much to the surprise of some of their rivals. Their first single, “Baby,” was issued during the winter of 1966, thus establishing them on the scene. They gigged constantly throughout much of the year and regularly toured remote parts of north-eastern Ontario and western Quebec. During such a tour, their van cart-wheeled off the highway, while en route to a date in Maniwaki. They survived uninjured and told the tale the following week when they were interviewed on CJOH-TV’s Saturday Date. Being enterprising young men, they invested their earnings in their own Club 400, in Cornwall, Ontario, booking all the major touring acts from Ottawa and Montreal into it. By the time their Sir John A. single came out, the group was on the verge of splitting up. Gauthier had strained his vocal cords and couldn’t sing. As the band was booked solid for the next three months, they hired former Eyes Of Dawn frontman, Wayne McQuaid to take over the lead vocals. But the constant touring had taken its toll and dissension was rife. Gauthier had turned down several offers from a little known group called The In-Sect, but once The Naughty Boys’ commitments had been fulfilled, in April, he accepted and renamed them The Eastern Passage.

Thanks to Elaine and Bob Gauthier for sending me these clippings.

More than any other SJA act, Those Naughty Boys were the epitome of the garage band. In 1965, Bobby Gauthier got expelled from high school for letting his hair grow past his collar. Shortly after this, he got a bunch of teenagers with little or no prior musical knowledge together and formed a group. After only a few practices, they booked some time at H.H. Bloom Studios and cut their first demo. With the help of former Esquires roadie Don Nicholson as manager, they landed a recording contract with Montréal-based Fantastic Records, much to the surprise of some of their rivals.

Their first single, “Baby,” was issued during the winter of 1966, thus establishing them on the scene. They gigged constantly throughout much of the year and regularly toured remote parts of north-eastern Ontario and western Québec. During such a tour, their van cart-wheeled off the highway, while en route to a date in Maniwaki. They survived uninjured and told the tale the following week when they were interviewed on CJOH-TV’s Saturday Date. Being enterprising young men, they invested their earnings in their own Club 400, in Cornwall, Ontario, booking all the major touring acts from Ottawa and Montréal into it. By the time their Sir John A. single came out, the group was on the verge of splitting up. Gauthier had strained his vocal cords and couldn’t sing. As the band was booked solid for the next three months, they hired former Eyes Of Dawn frontman, Wayne McQuaid to take over the lead vocals. But the constant touring had taken its toll and dissension was rife. Gauthier had turned down several offers from a little known group called The In-Sect, but once The Naughty Boys’ commitments had been fulfilled, in April, he accepted and renamed them The Eastern Passage. CLICK HERE

Bob GauthierLost Ottawa
December 15, 2013  ·  Lost Ottawa
On the roof of Freiman’s Dept Store 1967 looking down on Rideau St.

The photo on the roof on Rideau St was on the roof of Freimans Dept Store.  We snuck up a fire escape and the photographer that helped us trespass was an RCMP Officer who my sister was dating at the time!-I am the one that is holding on for dear life at the front with my fingers- I was about 16.

Cheers,

Bob Gauthier

Skip Layton–Don Billows, who owned ‘The Oak Door’ on Bank St., managed this band.

Those Naughty Boys – Tell Me Why b/w Somebody Told My Girl

Format: 45
Label: Sir John A RG 1020
Year: 1967
Origin: Ottawa, Ontario
Genre: garage
Keyword: 
Value of Original Title: $400.00
Make Inquiry/purchase: email ryder@robertwilliston.com
Release Type: Singles
Websites:  No
Playlist: Ontario, The Garage, Rock Room, 1960’s, Sir John A Records

CLICK here

Frpm Jim Hurcumb’s Book-Rockin’ On The Rideau: Ottawa’s Golden Age of Rock and Roll BUY HERE CLICK

Thanks to Elaine and Bob Gauthier for sending me these clippings.

Photos- Thanks to Elaine and Bob Gauthier for sending me these clippings.

Thanks to Elaine and Bob Gauthier for sending me these clippings.

The Canadian Beatles aka The Beavers- Mike Duffy was their Road Manager –Bands of the 60s

Saturday Date with “Thee Deuce” in Almonte

Dance Hall Days with The Coachmen

The Coachmen Return!!! Born to be Wild Circa 1985

The Day I Tried to Long Tall Sally Paul McCartney

Kindle Fire Minutes of “Dancin the Feelin“ with James Brown

Music in the 60s- Memories of Herman’s Hermits

Back to The Future — Twisting Your Dignity Away

Vintage Music stories

Musical Notes About the Rosetta Violin

The Heirlooms- Ferguson Violin

Dueling Shoes and Fiddles and Step Dancing Contest July 15 1974

Notes of Lanark County Dances and Fiddlers

Good Old Lanark County Music–From the 70s to now

Fiddling in Lanark County by David Ennis

Lanark County Dance Halls 1950s, 60s & 70s

Fiddler’s Hill— Where the Green Grass Doesn’t Grow in Lanark

A Musical Thief– Hector G. Dallimore and Isobel Brown

Vintage Easter and Bunny Cake Recipes from the 60s and 70s

1. Easter Bunny Cake recipe (1950)

A feather in your Easter bonnet — this luscious Easter bunny cake… Best cake you’ve baked in a month of Easter Sundays… and you… yes, you… can take all the glory!

Ingredients

1/2 cup Dexo (shortening)
2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
3 teaspoons double-action baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1% cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs, unbeaten

Directions

Measure shortening into bowl. Sift dry ingredients onto shortening. Add vanilla to milk. Add 2/3 of the milk.

Blend and beat 1 minute (count at least 150 strokes per minute). Add remaining 1/3 milk. Add eggs. Beat 2 minutes. Bake in two greased and floured deep 8-inch layer pans in moderate oven, 375° F for 25 to 30 minutes.

When cool, frost with butter frosting. Color coconut green, using vegetable coloring. Place on top of cake.

Arrange Easter candy bunny on coconut. Decorate with colored jelly beans.

Bake Swan’s Down Yellow Cake Mix in two 8-inch layers, following directions on package. Make Easy Chocolate Frosting, using the recipe on the back of the blue and yellow package of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate.

1. Cut each cake layer in two, about 1/4-inch off-center. This will make two large and two smaller pieces.

2. Place these four pieces together with frosting between them, the smaller pieces on the outside. Stand them upright, cut sides down, on a cake plate.

3. Trim the outside pieces at the top outer edges to help round off sides of cake for egg shape.

4. Then trim off lower ends of outside pieces, slicing diagonally, to give cake an oval shape at base.

Cover the whole mound with remaining frosting, filling in to make an egg shape. Decorate with white and tinted frosting and jelly beans. Make a nest of green-tinted Baker’s Coconut around egg. To serve, cut across the egg, making four-layer slices of cake.

When I go to a family reunion, or maybe church homecoming, THIS is the type of Coconut Cake I want to see on the dessert table.  One look, and you can tell it was made by a dear, older Mother or Grandmother, that’s been baking for years.  Sure, she wants it to look good, but she’s more concerned about how it tastes.

There might have been a day, years ago, when she could make her cake look like something in a bakery window.  Now, the years have taken a toll on her body.  Her hands shake a bit these days, as she adjusts layers and spreads the icing.  Her legs just don’t have the strength to stand at her table, and work and fuss with it like she once did. She has to take frequent breaks lately, just to rest awhile, so she can work on it a little bit more.

As a young child, she learned how to make this cake standing beside her own mother.  She’s never used a recipe, but now, her mind continues to wonder if she’s somehow forgotten a key ingredient.

All through the years, she’s heard people talk about how great her cakes are.  She just smiles, often looking downward as if embarrassed, but her heart is made happy as she tenderly says, “Thank You.”

Out the corner of their eye, everybody seems to watch when they realize her cake is being brought in. Some even strain their neck a bit, to see exactly where it gets placed among the others on the long table. You know hers will be the first empty cake plate on that table, and you have already schemed up a plan to get a slice.  Heaven forbid if someone should take the last piece before you get yours.

My mother made a great Coconut Cake, one that was similar to this one. Her icing was more of a clear type and you could clearly see the layers beneath that frosting and the layer of coconut spread on top. In the earlier years, she always used a fresh coconut, grating it by hand. She would always hand me the small leftover pieces that she didn’t grate, and that was like pure candy in my book.

Cake Ingredients: Sungold Coconut Cake

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Butter, at room temperature
• 4 Eggs, separated
• 1 cup Evaporated Milk
• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Pinch of Salt

Coconut Cream Icing

• 3 cups Coconut
• 3 cups Confectioners’ Sugar
• 8 Tablespoons Heavy Cream, approximately.
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

---

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

1. Place flour, baking powder, and pinch of salt, in a sifter.
2. Sift three times. Set aside.
3. Place butter in a large mixing bowl.
4. Add Sugar.
5. Beat butter and sugar to a smooth cream consistency.
6. Separate the egg yolks from the whites, set whites aside.
7. Beat the egg yolks well.
8. Add egg yolks to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until very light.
9. Add the sifted flour, alternating with the milk, to the first mixture, mix to combine.
10. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth.
11. Add the vanilla extract to the batter mixture.
12. Gently fold in the egg whites to the batter.
13. Butter and flour two 9 inch cake layer pans.
14. Divide the batter between the two pans.
15. Bake at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes, or until done.
16. Insert a wooden toothpick or skewer in the center of the baked layer. If it pulls out clean, cake is done.
17. Remove from oven, place on a wire rack, let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan.
18. Let layers cool completely.
19. Prepare layers as desired before frosting.

To Make The Icing and Assemble The Cake

1. Place sugar in a medium size mixing bowl.
2. Add the cream, a little at a time, beating steadily.
3. Add Vanilla.
4. When icing is of the right consistency, spread over the top of the layer.
5. Sprinkle a good layer of coconut on top of layer.
6. Repeat with the next layer.
7. Ice the final layer and sides of the cake.
8. Cover the entire cake with remaining coconut.
9. Serve and Enjoy!

ow to make an Easter Bunny cake:

This is a cake that my mom used to make for us on Easter Saturday from a pattern she found in a magazine back in the early 70’s. It’s simple and clever: one round cake serves as the bunny face and two simple slices in a second cake create the ears and a bow tie. You then frost, cover the imperfections with coconut (that’s what I do), and decorate with goodies.

Bunny cake diagram

This is the diagram from the old magazine clipping.

Mom used to frost the cake with boiled icing which looks lovely and bunny-like. I haven’t yet learned to make boiled frosting so use a simple white frosting instead. You’ll need a good 4 cups of icing to ice the cake.

Make your bunny cake with this molasses devil’s food cake

Easy creamy icing

1/4 cup soft butter

3 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

3-4 cups of icing sugar

Cream the butter with the milk and vanilla. Add the icing sugar one cup at a time until you get a spreadable consistency.

**You’ll need to double the recipe to fully frost a layer cake.

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