The Mississippi Mud Pie Revolution
Talk about a dessert that made people do a double-take at the name. The Mississippi mud pie is another classic treat found in households and restaurants across the U.S. during the ’70s. The name was inspired by Mississippi River mud; the dense, chocolatey layers of the dessert resembled the sludge found in the river. Though, this association didn’t deter 1970s dessert lovers one bit from making it one of their favorite treats. This dessert is as delicious as it is easy to put together. All you need to do is put the layers together in the right order, and voilà, it’s ready to be enjoyed.
It was back in the 1970s, though, that the Mississippi Mud Pie came into being for the first time. Exactly how it was invented is slightly unclear, although some folks see it as a more modern version of the previously popular Mississippi Mud Cake, a similar dessert that had risen to prominence after World War II. What made this dessert truly special was how accessible it was to home cooks everywhere. At its core, though, the Mississippi Mud Pie is generally pretty recognizable: Layers of brownie-like filling, chocolate cream or custard, and a marshmallow topping sit in a delicious, biscuit base.
Hummingbird Cake Takes Flight
Here’s something that’ll surprise you – one of America’s most beloved Southern cakes actually has Jamaican roots. Like so many desserts that have gone on to achieve astounding popularity, the Hummingbird cake was first conceived in the comfort and warmth of a home kitchen. This cake first came to prominence in February 1978, when a Mrs. L.H. Wiggins submitted the recipe for it from her home in Greensboro, North Carolina to Southern Living magazine. The story behind its popularity is fascinating and shows how dessert trends can spread like wildfire.
The Jamaica Tourist Board capitalized on the craze for tropical fruits, commissioning and placing in newspapers around the country a recipe for hummingbird cake, built around two widely available local ingredients – banana and pineapple. Newspaper editors in the U.S., mostly in the South, were made aware of that recipe, too, and popularized it Stateside, where it remained one of the most frequently baked cakes throughout the 1970s. Its appeal lasted long after the 1970s finished, too: Over time, it became Southern Living’s most searched-for recipe by readers in the South. Named for the national bird of Jamaica, the hummingbird cake is a vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon-spiced sponge cake with bananas and pineapple finely blended into the mix. It’s topped with a cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts.
The Scandalous Watergate Cake
Not every dessert gets named after a political scandal, but the seventies were anything but ordinary. Watergate cake is a pistachio cake popular in the U.S. which shares its name with the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, although the name’s origin is not clear. This bright green confection became a household favorite, though its political connections remain murky at best.
The Watergate cake got its name in 1972, shortly after the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of Richard Nixon. As for why it gained this infamous moniker, it’s not because it was served to Nixon during the affair, or looked anything like the Watergate hotel. Nope: Apparently, it’s because the cake contains a bunch of nuts, under a distracting layer of bright, pleasing icing. The inside holds the truth, and the outside is what Nixon wanted us to see. Pretty clever, right? The Jell-O company started selling its pistachio pudding mix in 1976, amidst a trend in American cuisine whereby people created salad dishes containing ingredients such as Cool Whip, nuts, pineapple, and pudding. General Foods, then owner of the Jell-O brand, published a recipe for “Pistachio Pineapple Delight” that would later become Watergate salad.
Fondue Takes Center Stage
Picture this: dimmed lights, conversation flowing, and everyone gathered around a bubbling pot of melted chocolate. Fondue gained popularity in the 1970s as a fun, interactive, and communal meal. Not only was fondue, a name derived from the French word “fondre,” a hearty and indulgent addition to ’70s tables, but it was also a great way to use up stale bread. As the trend took hold, fondue became a centerpiece at dinner parties and featured far more than just bread and cheese.
One of the biggest and most all-encompassing fads of the late 1960s and most of the 1970s: the fondue party. Inspired by a faddish 1950s revival of the 18th century Swiss-French culinary tradition of dipping things like bread and meat pieces into a communal cauldron of hot and bubbling melted cheese, Americans embraced the very social dining phenomenon throughout the decade. As an extra treat to follow the main course, fondue lovers and fondue restaurants introduced a dessert that could be prepared on the same equipment they already had: chocolate fondue. A whole new round of decadent dipping would commence, with sweets like cookies, cake, and various fruits paring well with melted chocolate.
Robert Redford Cake’s Hollywood Appeal
Sometimes a dessert becomes famous simply by being associated with a heartthrob. It’s a rich and unctuous dessert made up of layers of chocolate crust, cream cheese and whipped topping, pudding, and pecans. Some versions of the cake include a cake mix crust and a variety of candy bars and sweets. This cake was a huge hit at potlucks and family gatherings; it was beloved for its rich, creamy texture and layered flavors.
In the ’70s, Redford had massive appeal, particularly from his adoring female fans. The cake became known as “the next best thing” to the actor, and the name stuck. It goes by other names as well, like chocolate delight, as well as the not-so-PG “Sex in a Pan” and “Better Than Sex cake.” This layered dessert became such a phenomenon that you’d find variations of it at practically every church potluck and family gathering. It was so popular that recipes for the dessert were featured in newspapers and magazines across the U.S.
Baked Alaska’s Theatrical Glory
Nothing says “dinner party showstopper” quite like bringing out a flaming dessert. A true showstopper dessert of the ’70s, the Baked Alaska is considered a visual spectacular. The baked Alaska relies on its hair-raising ability to cook on its outside, generating a bronzed, crispy meringue exterior, while keeping the ice cream inside chilled and solid. It’s little wonder that these extremities appealed to a ’70s crowd who were looking for a little wow factor. It was a mainstay on dessert menus across the country and the world during the 1970s, but nowadays you’re more likely to find it on cruise ships or vintage-themed restaurants.
The best way to summarize the Baked Alaska is layers of sponge cake topped with ice cream and encased in a fluffy meringue. To finish it off, the meringue briefly flambeed, which creates the toasty coating. What’s great about this dessert is that you can mix up the flavors of ice cream and cake to create your own unique version. Despite what the name suggests, It was actually created by a French chef named Charles Ranhofer in New York City long before it rose to popularity in the ’70s.
The Carrot Cake Health Food Illusion
Here’s where the seventies got a bit sneaky with their dessert reasoning. It all had to do with the decade’s closely related dieting trends and health food movement. Americans made an effort to eat healthier, and that meant incorporating more vegetables into their diets. With many eschewing processed foods and traditional desserts, but still wanting a sweet treat on occasion, the carrot cake emerged as a compromise. While it’s a standard spice cake made with plenty of flour and sugar, the shredded carrots in the batter were perceived as making the densely caloric dessert appear healthy.
Dessert-lovers in the 1970s believed carrot cake was a healthy alternative to other puddings because of the nutrients in the veg, and it took off in a big way. In fact, the sugary bake, made with grated carrots, raisins, cinnamon, oil, sugar and cream cheese frosting, was listed as one of the top five fad foods of the 1970s by Food Network. Nevertheless, carrot cake took the 1970s by storm and packaged versions were seen in the frozen aisle of almost every major grocery store. In 2005, the Food Network listed carrot cake as one of the top five food trends of the 1970s. The irony wasn’t lost on everyone, but that cream cheese frosting made it all worthwhile.
Chiffon Cake’s Light and Airy Elegance
The lemon chiffon cake, an airy and elegant cake with a zesty citrus flavor, was another popular dessert of the ’70s. What sets this cake apart from others is that its base is made from oil instead of butter, which gives it a light, fluffy, and moist crumb. It also has a delicate structure, thanks to the whipped egg whites that are added to the batter. This wasn’t exactly a new invention, though – it had quite the backstory.
The original chiffon cake was invented in the 1920s by Harry Baker, a California insurance agent turned caterer, who kept the recipe under lock and key. It became a national sensation later in the ’40s when General Mills bought the recipe from Baker. Advertised by General Mills as “the first really new cake in 100 years”, chiffon cakes were everywhere in the late 1940s. Elegant and tall, they were made with oil instead of butter which gave them a super-soft texture and were baked in a cake tin with a metal tube in the middle to help them rise high. By the seventies, these cakes had found their groove as sophisticated dessert options.
Instant Pudding’s Convenient Conquest
The 1970s ushered in the era of convenience foods, where quick, easy-to-make meals and desserts became household staples. During those years, instant pudding became an instant sensation. This wasn’t exactly brand new technology, but the seventies saw it reach new heights of popularity. Previously a solely made-from-scratch dessert, the first boxed pudding mixes hit stores in 1918. But the first time that pre-made, instantly eatable pudding was broached to the public was with the arrival of Hunt’s Snack Pack in 1968. Within a few short years, the pudding would rank among the most popular desserts for 1970s children.
Few desserts are as commonly associated with the 1970s as instant pudding. During this decade, it felt like every household in America had a couple of sachets in their pantries, ready to whip up at a moment’s notice when someone in the family wanted something sweet. The treat was first made many years prior, in 1918, when it was introduced by a company called My-T-Fine. In 1936, Jell-O brought its own version to market in a variety of flavors, including tapioca, butterscotch, egg custard, and even rice pudding. In the late 1960s, another brand entered the instant pudding market: Bird’s. Its version of the instant dessert, sold under the name Angel Delight, was launched in 1967, but only really got traction in the ’70s when it reached peak popularity.
Frozen Yogurt’s Cool Debut
Before frozen yogurt became the health-conscious dessert darling of later decades, it had its humble beginnings in the seventies. Can’t imagine life without soft, refreshing, low-calorie frozen yogurt? You only have to go back to the 1970s, which is when it was first created at Hood Dairy, in Lynnfield, Massachusetts. At first people thought it was too tart and similar to normal yogurt, so it took a few years and adjustments of the recipe to catch on. It wasn’t an immediate hit, which might surprise people who think of frozen yogurt as naturally popular.
The early versions were quite different from what we know today – much more tart and yogurt-like in texture and taste. It took some serious recipe tweaking throughout the decade before frozen yogurt found its sweet spot with American palates. Those Massachusetts dairy scientists were onto something though, even if it took a while for everyone else to catch on.
