Hurry Up Cake

Okay, Erma, you can get off your soap box, but I agree entirely with you. It’s like these Hollywood stars aren’t in unless they have drug convictions, DUI’s, fights, or stays in rehab on their resumes. Spoiled brats. That’s what they are.

Mel suggested last night that since Paris Hilton has that hotel and restaurant background that they assign her to the jail kitchen. “Teach her a good skill,” is what Mel said. “Like me. Navy taught me to cook, and now I have my own Diner If Paris could learn to cook, she could open her own restaurant afterwards and go straight.” Can’t you just imagine Paris in a big, white apron flipping the pancakes, and dishing up the Thursday Night Special of Chicken Fried Steak?

Mel still has the Navy cooking manual he used in the service, and he still uses some of the large quantity recipes. This one was called Hurry Up Cake, and it makes 100 servings.

Hurry Up Cake:

2 quarts of sifted flour
1 1/4 quarts of white sugar
5 tablespoons of baking powder
1 1/3 tablespoons of salt
2 cups of solid shortening
1 quart of milk
1 1/2 tablespoons of vanilla
1 teaspoon of lemon extract
12 egg whites

Mix everything together in a professional size mixer. The bigger the better. Beat until smooth for a couple of minutes. Pour into square silicone cake pans, or into cup cake papers set into 12 cup muffin tins. Bake the cakes at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Mel says they called these Hurry Up Cakes because they were the quickest and easiest cakes to make. And they often made 4 or 5 makings of Hurry Up Cake so they could feed the whole crew. He says that sometimes the cooks would pour a fruit sauce over the squares, or put a dip of ice cream on them, but mostly it was plain.