Mrs. Snapp’s Peach Cake

A good recipe for Baltimore Peach Cake.

John Bouchat had been painting a third-story balcony of Baltimore’s legendary Barnum’s hotel in 1883 when he had a fatal fall. “In order to get at the front of the portico he took a ladder and stretched it in a diagonal position across the balcony of the second-story, with the base of the ladder resting against the wall of the building, and the other portion projecting over the railing,” according to the Baltimore Sun. The ladder slipped and tossed him into the air. Conscious on the ground “he asked in German several times for his wife, and she arrived shortly after the accident happened.” He died on the site, aged 60.

It was a time before OSHA, when diseases ran rampant, and lawlessness was a social norm. The pages of the Baltimore Sun were filled with violence and tragedy, and the Bouchat family saw their fair share.

A decade later, John’s son of the same name died the same way his father had, falling off a ladder while painting.

A daughter, Pauline, died in 1888 during an abortion procedure performed by a fraudulent doctor. The ensuing scandal ended with the doctor, imprisoned for second-degree murder, dying of consumption while in jail awaiting trial. The Baltimore Sun covered Pauline’s funeral in detail, listing every attendee by name and transcribing the part of the service that was in English, possibly for the benefit of the press: “… let bad people say what they will, our daughter had friends… and the sympathy of all good people.”

A few years earlier, in 1884, another Bouchat sibling named Frank got in a gunfight with the father of his love interest and was shot in the arm. The incident was reprinted in newspapers all over the country, which reported that Frank “carried off his prize,” but he appears to have never married.

Yet another of John Bouchat Sr.’s sons, August, was hit by a train in 1912. August Bouchat, born in 1862, left seven children, including a girl named Rose, born in 1891. Rose married Charles Bennett Snapp, Jr., who also had German ancestry.

It’s hard to research a Baltimore-area resident born around the turn of the 20th century without finding German heritage, but I was particularly expecting it in the case of Rose Snapp. In 2021, a reader shared a recipe via the form on my website for Mrs. Snapp’s Peach Cake. “My parents lived on Heatherwood Road in Arbutus for a few years in the late 1950’s,” they wrote. “Their next-door neighbors were an older couple, Mr. and Mrs. Snapp. Mrs. Snapp shared her recipe for the most delicious peach cake ever. Every summer my mom would make this peach cake and share it with family. It is delicious and the best that I have ever tasted!”

With Baltimore Peach Cake’s German origin, I figured I would find that lineage in Mrs. Snapp’s family tree.

It took me several years to attempt this recipe, but the results were indeed excellent. Mrs. Snapp’s recipe makes a fairly wet dough, and includes shortening instead of butter for a slightly softer final product. The recipe also yields twice as much dough as most peach cake recipes. It can be halved, using one egg plus one yolk, with good results. But another good approach is just to freeze half the dough. When you want another peach cake just give it a good thaw and roll it out and you’re ready to go!

Charles Snapp, Jr. was a Post Office clerk. No available censuses show Rose working outside the home but the Snapps has two sons, Charles B. III, born in 1916, and Stewart, born in 1918. The elder son followed his namesake’s career path, also working at Baltimore’s downtown post office.

According to her obituary, Rose volunteered for the Red Cross and Salvation Army during World War II, and was a member of the “Sunshine Club.”

I don’t have any other clues about Mrs. Snapp’s personality, but her husband seems to have had a sarcastic streak. In 1912, he wrote to the Sun, mocking Baltimore’s drinking water. “That flavor of ancient vegetables and stale water is delicious,” he wrote, “and should be called ‘the nectar of the gods.'” Charles advocated for a water filtration system like they had in Washington D.C. “There is a plant at Lake Roland in which chloride of lime is placed in the water to kill the ‘bugs.’ With good filtration, there would be no aforesaid ‘bugs.'”

Charles died in 1965 and Rose in 1970. They left five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Nothing about their low-profile life of government work, social clubs, and public service reflects the rough-and-tumble lives of their immigrant ancestors. I suppose many of us could say the same.

We can never know, but I love to think that Mrs. Snapp’s Peach Cake recipe traveled from Germany via Annie Elizabeth Bouchat (nee Erbe). When the traditional plums weren’t available, fresh Maryland peaches were an obvious substitute. And somewhere along the recipe’s journey to modern times, butter or lard was replaced with shortening. The recipe made its way through generations, and eventually, neighbors. I feel so lucky that it made it’s way to me.

Recipe:

2 envelopes yeast
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Cup warm water
1 Cup milk
6 Tablespoons shortening
.75 Cup sugar
1 Teaspoons salt
3 beaten eggs
7 Cups flour

“Lots of peaches, cut into slices, skin on or off, your choice (I take the time to remove the skin). Dissolve yeast and 1 T sugar in 1 C warm water. Scald milk, add shortening, sugar and salt. Let cool to lukewarm. Mix in 2 c flour. Add yeast mixture and eggs. Stir-stir-stir. Add remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead until it comes together and isn’t sticky. Let rise until double. Punch down. Divide in half and place on 2 large cookie sheets. Spread out (this takes some work because the dough is very elastic.) Lightly butter and sugar the top of the dough. Line with peach slices. Sprinkle with sugar and nutmeg. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle with 10x [confectioner’s] sugar. Enjoy!!!”

Kara’s notes: The person who shared the recipe cuts peaches into slices. I prefer quarters – some people use halves. I added about 2tb of melted butter over the top. I had better results when I rolled the dough out with a rolling pin to keep it uniform, and then I let it rise a second time before I topped with peaches and baked.