We Don’t Make it like THAT Anymore—
The changing form of Mrs. Schrader’s Frosting
In 1935, Mrs. Schrader lived a couple of doors down from the girlhood home of my wife’s mother in Urbana, Illinois. Mrs. Schrader had a well-deserved reputation as a marvelous cook, and was glad to share her recipes—And so it was that Grandmother Salome acquired this recipe, used continuously by her descendants for the past 85 years.
‘Mrs. Schrader’s Frosting’ is a rich, boiled chocolate frosting that congeals with a shiny finish. Here is the earliest known typed recipe card, probably typed in the 1930’s or 1940’s:
“What are you doing?” asked my wife.
“It says we have to melt the chocolate over hot water,” I replied. “Doesn’t that mean we need to use a double boiler?”
“No, no, no,” she said. “We don’t do it like THAT anymore.”
So I took notes on how we DO do it now. That way, the next 85 years of descendants will have some hope of understanding how to make this recipe. Here we go, line by line:
2 squares chocolate--- melted over hot water
“2 squares” refers to “Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate.” It has a logo of a woman in an ankle-length dress holding a chocolate cake in her hands, presumably a chocolate cake.
At this writing, the Baker’s company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kraft foods. It is distributed by Kraft Heinz Foods in Chicago, IL.
The Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate Bar is divided into half-squares, about ½ inch by 1 inch. At the time of the writing of the recipe, each half-square was a half-ounce. It stayed that way until at least 1964. I know this because the 1964 edition of the Joy of Cooking tells me, on page 522, that “a square of Baker’s Chocolate is one ounce.” But somewhere in all the buyouts, someone in the Kraft Heinz Baker’s chocolate company decide it would be a good idea to make their bars only half as thick as they used to be. So one OLD square of chocolate now equals two NEW squares. We should then change the recipe to call for “2 OUNCES of chocolate” to account for current and future chocolate bar deflation.
We already know that we don’t use a double boiler to melt the chocolate over boiling water. Instead, an additional step is used; We leave the appropriate number of ounces in the wrapper and place it on a cutting board. Using a sharp-pointed, yet sturdy knife, stab the chocolate 50 to 100 times in cuts a quarter-inch apart to break it into bits. Then carefully transfer the bits into a standard saucepan.
1 yolk of an egg ----- beaten until light
We break the egg yolk, but do not beat it. Separate the yolk, and put the yolk into the same cold saucepan with the chocolate bits.
X 1 and ½ cup butter X 2 Tablespoons
It looks like the original recipe was typed as 1.5 cups of butter. That’s struck out, and someone has written “2 Tablespoons.” I melted the butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave, but that was apparently wrong. “We don’t do it like THAT,” I was told. We should have chipped up the butter and put it into the cold saucepan. The melted butter seemed to work OK, and may have even softened up the chocolate, but that’s just my opinion.
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup milk
At the time it was written, skim milk was a new concept and I am fairly sure that 2% milkfat milk had not yet been invented. “Milk” here means 4% milkfat milk, but the recipe seems to work with 2% milk anyway.
“Sugar” here means granulated white sucrose, a dimer sugar that consists of one molecule of dextrose linked to one molecule of fructose. That much has not changed in 85 years, but no guarantees on the next 85.
A little salt
This means about 1/8 to ¼ teaspoonful.
½ teaspoon vanilla
While the original recipe implies we add the vanilla to everything else, “We don’t make it like THAT…”
Hold back on the Vanilla for now—
Dump everything but the Vanilla into the saucepan, and heat it on medium-high heat, stirring like crazy. The chocolate bits and butter bits will eventually melt and blend with everything else. Keep stirring until the mixture boils, and then boil it for exactly one minute. Remove it from the stove.
Patience. We’ll get to the Vanilla…
Set the pot aside until it is cool enough to touch the sides of the warm saucepan. Today, it took 45 minutes to get that cool, but if your house is colder than mine, it may take less time. THEN stir in the Vanilla. You have about 10 or 15 minutes to frost the cake before it freezes solid.
A double recipe barely covers a 9 x 13 inch sheet cake, so I recommend you always make a double recipe. Maybe we really should be adding a cup and a half of butter. No, probably not! Quadrupling the recipe doesn’t seem to work out.
SO…
Re-typing the recipe for today’s conditions:
MRS SCHRADER’S ICING AND FILLER FOR CHOCOLATE CAKE
A boiled chocolate icing recipe
Ingredient Single Recipe Double Recipe
Baker’s Chocolate 2 ounces or 60 grams 4 ounces or 120 grams
Egg Yolk 1 Egg Yolk 2 Egg Yolks
Butter 1 ounce or 30 ml 2 ounces or 60 ml
White Granulated Sugar ¾ cup or 180 ml 1 and ½ cup or 360 ml
4% Milkfat Whole Milk ¼ cup or 60 ml ½ cup or 120 ml
Salt 1/8 teaspoonful or ½ ml ¼ teaspoonful or 1 ml
Vanilla Extract ½ teaspoonful or 2½ ml 1 teaspoonful or 5 ml
Chip chocolate inside the wrapper into small bits, and add to a cold saucepan.
Chip Butter into small bits and add to cold saucepan.
Add sugar, egg yolks, milk and salt to the butter and chocolate.
Mix ingredients, then turn on heat and stir constantly until mixture boils.
Boil and stir for one minute, then remove from heat.
Allow to cool for 30 to 45 minutes or until saucepan is cool enough to touch.
Stir in the Vanilla Extract. Frosting is done when chocolate ribbons off the spoon and persists on the surface of the liquid in the saucepan.
Pour onto cake or fill into pastry. Allow to cool and enjoy.
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