Baked Alaska – The Spectacular Show-Stopper That Vanished
Picture this: a server approaching your table with a dessert on fire, flames dancing dramatically as you watch in awe. This was Baked Alaska, a dessert consisting of ice cream and cake topped with browned meringue that would melt hearts and impress a mother-in-law or birthday celebrant, commonly appearing on restaurant menus as a special shared dessert. Despite its name, this dessert is now a rare sight on menus anywhere, including the state it’s named after, as Baked Alaskas are a lot of work, and restaurants and diners alike don’t really want to bother with them anymore.
The dessert was originally featured under the name “Alaska, Florida” in chef Charles Ranhofer’s 1894 cookbook, The Epicurean, and today, Delmonico’s continues to serve it at $13 in more or less the same fashion as the original: walnut sponge cake layered with apricot compote and banana gelato, covered with torched meringue. About 36,000 diners per year actually travel to experience this elaborate dessert, averaging about 100 per day, most of whom probably know little of the history behind this elaborate creation.
Junket – The Mysterious Milk Dessert Nobody Remembers
While it may be hard to believe now, junket was a popular dessert in the twentieth century, especially in the northeast, yet somehow nobody around here has ever heard of Junket, and zero of friends were ever served Junket as a kid. This dessert is basically a sweetened flavored milk that has magically taken on a jelly consistency courtesy of rennet – an enzyme that makes milk proteins coagulate, and is used in many types of cheese and ice cream, creating a custard-like, rennet-based dessert with an incredibly long history.
The story of the Junket brand begins in Denmark in 1874, when Christian D. A. Hansen founded Hansen’s Technical-Chemical Laboratory, and in 1886 Hansen’s Household Rennet Tablets made their appearance, accompanied by a simple recipe to make junket, an English dessert known also by other names such as curds and whey, slip, or rennet custard. Apparently Junket is pretty much unknown here in the U.S. (although it seems to have been readily available), but much more common in Europe, with junket tablets still available in grocery stores, usually on the top shelf of the Jello/Pudding/Tapioca section.
Brown Betty – The Presidential Dessert That Lost Its Crown
Typically, apples, pears, or berries are baked, and the fruit is then layered with sweet buttered crumbs and kissed with a dollop of whipped cream, with President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, being fans of the Apple Brown Betty when living in the White House. And, no, Betty is not Betty Crocker; the origin of the dessert’s name is up for grabs. This homestyle dessert was once a staple of American tables, representing the perfect marriage of seasonal fruit with simple, comforting ingredients.
The charm of Brown Betty lay in its simplicity and versatility – home cooks could adapt it to whatever fruit was in season or available in their pantry. Unlike more complicated desserts that required precise measurements and techniques, Brown Betty was forgiving and accessible to cooks of all skill levels. The dessert disappeared from popularity as more elaborate and Instagram-worthy desserts took center stage, leaving this humble but delicious treat relegated to dusty recipe books.
Hermit Cookies – New England’s Forgotten Spice Treasures
The hermit was wicked popular in New England in the early twentieth century, thanks to Fannie Farmer, who had a recipe for the spicy cookie in her cookbooks, including the uber-popular Original Fannie Farmer Cookbook in 1896, though the homely hermit disappeared for the most part, although the cookie comes out of reclusiveness occasionally. These weren’t your ordinary cookies – they were packed with warm spices, raisins, and sometimes nuts, creating a dense, chewy texture that could last for days.
Growing up on the West Coast and in the latter half of the twentieth century, many people never had the pleasure of eating hermits (a type of spice cookie from New England), buckles (a cake made with fruit and streusel), or other regional specialties. The cookies earned their name either because they were stored away like hermits or because they were so good that people would hide them away to eat later. Their decline coincided with the rise of mass-produced cookies and the shift away from regional baking traditions.
Lady Baltimore Cake – The Southern Belle’s Wedding Star
This classic American beauty was created with white cake layers and a fruity and toasted nut filling (figs, raisins, pecans, walnuts) and was crowned with boiled marshmallow icing, serving as a Southern belle cake that often had a leading role as a wedding cake in the early twentieth century. The Lady Baltimore cake apparently had nothing to do with the city of Baltimore, or a lady, for that matter, with the origin of the cake’s name remaining an enigma from most accounts.
This elaborate cake represented the height of Southern hospitality and culinary artistry, requiring multiple components and considerable skill to execute properly. The combination of the delicate white cake layers with the rich, textured filling created a dessert that was both visually stunning and deeply satisfying. As wedding traditions evolved and commercial bakeries took over much of the special occasion cake market, the time-intensive Lady Baltimore cake gradually faded from popularity, though it remains a testament to the elaborate dessert traditions of the American South.
Whoopie Pies – Maine’s Messy Sandwich Cookie
You may remember this fluffy, subtly-chocolate dessert from when you were a kid, originating from the Amish, with the soft white filling sitting perfectly between two cake-like cookies, and it’s no secret that everyone makes a mess while eating one every time, becoming an American staple dessert back in the early 1900s, but especially a huge hit in Maine and Pennsylvania. These weren’t quite cookies and weren’t quite cakes – they occupied a delicious middle ground that made them irresistible to children and adults alike.
The beauty of whoopie pies lay in their imperfect perfection – the soft, pillowy cookies would often squish the filling out the sides when bitten, creating a delightfully messy eating experience that somehow added to their charm. While they haven’t completely disappeared, finding authentic whoopie pies outside of Pennsylvania and Maine has become increasingly difficult as mass-produced versions replaced the homemade originals that made them special.
Chiffon Cake – The Revolutionary Light-as-Air Wonder
Light and airy thanks to the many beaten egg whites that are folded into the batter, this chiffon cake was one of the first to use vegetable oil instead of more traditional solid fats like butter. This was revolutionary in the baking world of the mid-twentieth century, creating a cake that was remarkably moist yet incredibly light. The technique required precise timing and careful folding to maintain the airiness that made chiffon cakes so distinctive.
Chiffon cakes represented a bridge between the heavy, dense cakes of earlier eras and the lighter desserts that would follow. They came in numerous flavors and were often served with fruit or light glazes that complemented their delicate texture. However, the technique proved challenging for many home bakers, and as cake mixes became more popular and convenient, the art of making chiffon cakes gradually disappeared from most home kitchens.
Bananas Foster – New Orleans’ Flaming Fruit Finale
Another flamboyant dessert, boozy Bananas Foster was invented in the early ’50s at Brennan’s restaurant in jazzy New Orleans, serving as an applaud-worthy dessert made with bananas, vanilla ice cream, butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon and dazzled with dark rum and banana liqueur and then set aglow. The theatrical presentation made dining out feel like attending a performance, with servers skillfully maneuvering flaming pans tableside as the sweet aroma of caramelized bananas and rum filled the air.
What made Bananas Foster special wasn’t just the spectacle – the combination of the warm, boozy banana mixture over cold vanilla ice cream created a perfect temperature and flavor contrast. The dessert required not just culinary skill but also showmanship, making it a signature dish that elevated the entire dining experience. As restaurant service became more streamlined and focused on efficiency, these elaborate tableside preparations largely disappeared, taking with them some of the magic and theater that once made dining out truly special.
Pudding Pops – The Frozen Treat That Defined Childhoods
For decades, Pudding Pops were an ice cream staple you would look forward to as an after-school treat or dessert, but over the years, sales dwindled, and after multiple iterations, the product was finally pulled from shelves, with knock-offs occasionally popping up, but nothing compares to this treat in its heyday. These frozen treats were popular for multiple reasons beyond being tasty, and Bill Cosby was the dessert’s spokesperson in Jell-O commercials, but Pudding Pops were discontinued by 2010, despite being a beloved frozen dessert, with current versions not quite the same as that recipe kept deep-frozen in our memories.
The genius of Pudding Pops lay in their texture – they weren’t quite ice cream and weren’t quite popsicles, but something uniquely satisfying that captured the creamy essence of pudding in frozen form. They came in classic flavors like chocolate and vanilla, providing a cooling treat that actually tasted like the pudding kids loved. The discontinuation left a hole in the frozen dessert market that various imitators have tried to fill, but none have quite captured the original magic.
Philadelphia Cheesecake Snack Bars – The Hidden Fridge Treasure
Philadelphia cheesecake snack bars were an edible delight worth hiding – and more importantly, a treat worth paying the consequences for finding and eating, and considering that these sweets had to be refrigerated, they weren’t even that hard to locate, leaving children with plenty of time to relish the rich taste of this handheld confection before getting busted for looting the fridge, with this dessert being a favorite of everyone in the family until they were sadly discontinued some twenty years ago, with no hint of their possible return.
This is not to say that people haven’t rallied behind a comeback for the snack, with Philadelphia’s cheesecake bars still very much present in the minds of some snackers, as evidenced by an online petition that’s garnered over 51,000 backers. The bars offered the luxury of individual cheesecake servings without the need for plates or utensils, making them perfect for sneaky snacking or quick dessert fixes. Their creamy, rich flavor concentrated all the best aspects of traditional cheesecake into a convenient, portable format that was perfect for busy families.
