{"id":5575,"date":"2018-07-18T09:00:09","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T15:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=5575"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:42","slug":"maraschino-cherry-cake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2018\/07\/18\/maraschino-cherry-cake\/","title":{"rendered":"Maraschino Cherry Cake"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 18, 2018<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In \u00a0September 2012, at a wine paring dinner at The Compound Restaurant<\/a> in Santa Fe during the holy days of Santa Fe Wine and Chile Fiesta<\/a>, a group of us hatched an idea to start a dinner group.<\/p>\n

After a lot of discussion and email exchanges, we decided to name the group Santa Fe Ate, both for what we do and for the (play on the words regarding the) number of people in the group.<\/p>\n

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From the “Things You Can Cook in a Wood-Burning Oven” dinner: Roasted Cauliflower with whipped Goat Cheese, Ricotta, and Olive Oil Dip and Cannellini alla Toscana<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had our first dinner in January 2013 and we\u2019ve been going strong ever since. \u00a0We meet about once every three months, rotating houses.\u00a0 At each dinner we decide the theme for the next dinner.\u00a0 This may not be the best time to make such a consequential decision given the amount of alcohol typically consumed.\u00a0 For example, one of our themes was French Indo-China 1920s to 1930s!<\/p>\n

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Frank and Doug don\u2019t really cook so their group assignment is always to come up with a signature cocktail and appropriate wine pairings for each course.\u00a0 They have leeway to be creative in finding or creating a cocktail, which they have to do for even for cultures where drinking alcohol is not really common.\u00a0 If the theme of the dinner relates to a wine producing region, the wines are generally from that region to the extent feasible.<\/p>\n

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From the French Indo-China 1920s to 1930s dinner: Cambodian Fish Amok (Fish and Coconut Milk Curry Baked in Banana Leaves)<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The other six of us do successive rounds of emails refining the list of dishes to be prepared and organizing them into courses.\u00a0 Our task is to be as authentic to the theme as possible.<\/p>\n

French Indo-China 1920s to 1930s was probably our most narrow theme.\u00a0 Others have included, for example, Summer in Provence, Winter in Friuli, Along the Silk Road, Persia (not Iran but Persia), Comfort Food, and Things You Can Cook in a Wood-Burning Oven (for which the entire meal was cooked in our outdoor wood-burning oven).<\/p>\n

The only meal we\u2019ve had which strayed from the basic plan was Timballo.\u00a0 Timballo is a (typically large) pastry-encased and baked dish of layered pasta, hardboiled eggs, cheese, meatballs, and other meats, all moistened with tomato sauce.\u00a0 Each of the cooks was assigned one or more components of the timballo to make at home.\u00a0 We got together to assemble and bake the final dish.\u00a0 This was a multi-hour process, even with all the prep work done in advance.<\/p>\n

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Unmolding the timballo<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To help pass the time, Frank and Doug devised a blind wine-tasting in which we had to try to identify the varietal and provenance of each wine.\u00a0 I believe the eight of us tasted six bottles of wine.\u00a0 After we finished those, we opened some more.\u00a0 This was the dinner at which we decided the theme of French Indo-China 1920s to 1930s.\u00a0 You may notice a correlation between alcohol intake and unusual dinner themes!<\/p>\n

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Earlier this year, our theme was Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, first edition, published in 1950.\u00a0 Every dish had to come from the cookbook with no changes, substitutions or updating unless absolutely necessary.\u00a0 One of the appetizers was anchovies rolled around cornichons!<\/p>\n

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Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book, 1950, First Edition<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The food was actually surprisingly good.\u00a0 I suspect part of that was related to how each of us selected our dish or dishes (Becky, who did appetizers selected three!).\u00a0 The wines were, undoubtedly, fabulous.\u00a0 In the United States, if you were drinking wine in the 1950s you were likely drinking French wine, and good French wine, at that!\u00a0 On that night, so were we!<\/p>\n

I made a Maraschino Cherry Cake with Almond Cr\u00e8me Filling and Maraschino Boiled Frosting.\u00a0 Though if I were making the cake again, I would probably substitute my recipe for Italian Pastry Cream for Betty\u2019s Cr\u00e8me Filling, I really wouldn\u2019t make any other changes.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the recipe directly from the first edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook with a few minor adaptions of the technique by me.\u00a0 For you bakers out there, I\u2019m providing the original sea-level measurements as published in the cookbook.\u00a0 Since I baked this at nearly 8000 feet in elevation, I followed Betty\u2019s recommendations for adjusting for high altitude.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Getting ready to make Maraschino Cherry Cake<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Maraschino Cherry Cake<\/h2>\n
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You can divide the work for this cake over several days. The filling can be made up to three days in advance and refrigerated, tightly covered. Stir in the toasted almonds just before using. The cake layers can be made a day in advance, wrapped tightly and refrigerated. The frosting should be made when you\u2019re ready to frost the cake. The original recipe called for \u201crich milk\u201d in the almond cr\u00e8me filling. Remember, this recipe was published before the advent of homogenized milk. Half-and-half is a good substitute. Except in professional recipes, it is rare to see egg whites measured in volume but it is a very good idea as the white, much more than the yolk, varies with the size of the egg.<\/div>\n
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Prep Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Cook Time <\/span>1 hour<\/span><\/span> hr<\/span><\/span><\/div>
Total Time <\/span>8 hours<\/span><\/span> hrs<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div>\n
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Servings: <\/span>12<\/span> people<\/span><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ingredients
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