1941 Halloween Black Midnight Cake

Reorganizing the many hundreds of pins I’ve saved on Pinterest, I came across an older pin for a 1941 Halloween Black Midnight Cake. I’m not one to invent or create new recipes, but I definitely enjoy putting a theme together and making recipes for the spooky season. This cake was the perfect think to spark my collection of treat-making attempts for 2021.

About four years ago, I made four different Samhain dishes from an old Irish recipe book my mom had. I thought it would be very fun to make a full meal one might have enjoyed during Samhain. It was really fun, although I regret not documenting the process. I thought it would be fun to attempt a similar idea, but with different Halloween catalog recipes from the 40’s and 50’s. And so, enters the first recipe in the form of a 1941 Black Midnight Cake.

What is a Black Midnight Cake?

If you click on the pin below, the original author shared this picture and recipe from an old home magazine with this recipe. To sum it up, it is a devil’s food cake with white icing. They also go into even more history and give a wonderful step-by-step guide for making it.

We are so lucky these days with our themed boxed bake goods, but in the 1940s and 1950s, most people had to make things from scratch. Usually, they would find them in magazines like the ones shared in the pin. Lucky for us, Halloween was on the rise, so Halloween recipes were on the rise as well!

I made the assumption that if a 1940’s housewife could make this recipe happen, I might be able to pull it off as well. I will preface this with the honest truth. Although I love cooking and really try to bake, my baking projects don’t always turn out. Apparently, the oven believes I’m a terrible baker. I allow it to think so in the hopes that it will continue to work with me on delicious meals instead.

The End Results?

I was extremely happy with how this cake turned out and after looking into how to cream the shortening, everything else went rather smoothly for my baking attempts. The cake was very light and tasty, especially for a chocolate cake, of which, I am not usually a fan.

But shouldn’t we leave the verdict to my dearest little Monster and Boo? If we’re judging just off their faces, this was a success. The cake batter says so!

If you’re interested in giving this 1941 Halloween Black Midnight cake a go, I think it is very friendly for bakers of all levels. As I mentioned before, I most certainly wouldn’t consider myself baking-inclined, but was over the moon with my results. It whipped up quickly and easily with minimal ingredients.

The Countdown continues with Twenty-six Days until Halloween!

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