Bernice Watson’s Coconut Cake

Mrs. Edward Z. Watson “disclaim[ed] any fame as a cook,” said a profile in the Afro-American in 1958. The article described the vivacious teacher, seamstress, and mother of two as a “party girl,” who “not only adore[d] going to parties but [was] not adverse to giving them either!”

They shared her cake recipe using “many of the newest methods,” including a MixMaster mixer. The title of the feature was “Mrs. Edward Watson makes the highest cake you’ve ever seen.”

Afro-American, 1958

The light and fluffy cake could be served a variety of ways. “For the chocolate frosting I use the recipe right on the Hershey can,” Watson declared. She also confessed to using ready-mix caramel icing. But Bernice Watson’s cake is no lazy feat. With egg whites beaten separately and folded into the batter, plus a seven-minute icing made over a double boiler, the cake requires plenty of attention and generates a fair amount of dirty dishes.

I just had to make it – particularly the coconut variation, which Watson would flavor with “lemon or almond” flavoring. (I used the latter.) I couldn’t find the canned style of coconut that she preferred, and I’m not skilled at cooked icings, but the recipe did indeed turn out a tall, light delightful cake.

“Sometimes I scarcely think it’s worthwhile. A big beautiful cake now. A few hours, no cake at all,” Watson sighed in 1958.

She was born Bernice Calverta Francis in Philadelphia in 1922, the granddaughter of a Sharp Street Methodist reverend, McHenry Jeremiah Naylor. After attending high school in Baltimore, and Coppin State Teacher’s College, she went into teaching at Baltimore City schools.

Along the way, she married fellow teacher Edward Z. Watson, who would serve a full career at BCPS as a teacher and later as an administrator.

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Lima Bean Dish With Eggs And Cheese, Mildred Stout

“Last summer while most of us had our minds on vacations the Woman’s League of the Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring were deep in the plans for a cookbook,” read an article in the women’s pages of the Washington, DC Evening Star in December, 1953. “In those three months they worked like beavers collecting favorite recipes, planning the art work and getting the first draft ready for the proofreaders. They can now sit back and rest on their laurels… the completed book titled, ‘Cooking Maryland Style’ ($2.50), came off the presses a couple weeks ago.”

The proceeds from the handwritten cookbook went towards building a new meeting hall at the Church of the Ascension in Silver Spring.

I can’t determine when this church on Sligo Avenue was founded. The church is still active today.

Mrs. Mildred Stout contributed several recipes to “Cooking Maryland Style,” including this Lima Bean Dish With Eggs And Cheese. I was drawn to the dish by Stout’s final comment in the instructions: “Good meat substitute.”

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Lord Baltimore Cake, Grace E. J. Hanson

As Lady Baltimore cake ascended in popularity in the late 19th century, it was quickly joined by a lesser-known counterpart.

A 1900 cookbook, “Miss Olive Allen’s tested recipes : 200 selected from many hundreds gathered from all over the world,” touted alongside its Lady Baltimore Cake recipe that the cake is “Delicious! Not expensive when egg yolks are used for Lord Baltimore cake.” Later in the book, the recipe for the latter cake was provided. “Economical. Save egg whites for Lady Baltimore cake.” One cake is “delicious,” the other “economical.” Lord Baltimore never stood a chance.

But wait: Allen’s recipe for Lord Baltimore cake used a filling of raisins, figs, and pecans. Those are Lady Baltimore’s ingredients. The Lady Baltimore Cake, on the other hand, contained maraschino cherries, pecans, and chopped pineapple.

Fannie Farmer corrected this switcheroo and perhaps did the most to popularize Lord Baltimore Cake, which she included in several of her early 1900s cookbooks. In addition to a vanilla-flavored “Ice Cream Frosting” made from egg whites and sugar, Farmer’s cake is filled with excitement: candied cherries, Sherry, pecans, almonds, and crushed dry macaroons. (Farmer may have actually been referring to meringues.)

1953

Between the Ice Cream Frosting and the macaroons, an issue arises: the egg math on Lady & Lord Baltimore just doesn’t add up. If you make both cakes, you’re still going to have some egg yolks to spare. (Lucky you – make this egg pasta!)

This is no big loss since the two cakes don’t form any balance to one-another flavor-wise, either.

One occasionally finds Lord Baltimore on his own in a community cookbook, but such appearances are rare.

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Oysters And Macaroni Au Gratin, Mrs. Robert Valliant

In 1948, three recipes of the wife of one Robert Valliant appeared in the now-legendary community cookbook, one that has seen many reprints over the years: “A Cook’s Tour of the Eastern Shore.” The Valliant family lineage is so enmeshed into Maryland’s lower Eastern Shore that it was hard to determine which Robert Valliant I might be looking into.

Mrs. Valliant’s contributions to the book were for Oyster Bisque, Fried Oysters, and for Oysters and Macaroni Au Gratin.

These choices, along with the timing of the publication of the cookbook, lead me to believe the contributor was Grace Marie Moore Valliant, wife of Robert T. Valliant, who ran the oyster packing company named after his uncle, W.H. Valliant.

The Valliant family was and is involved in many prominent positions spreading out from the Oxford-Bellevue area, from postmaster to chamber of commerce to mayor.

Marie Grace Moore was born in Woodside Delaware in 1915. In 1938, she married Robert T. Valliant, Sr., the son of Jeramiah Valliant, who was involved in farming and who was the “Bro.” of “W.H. Valliant & Bro. Packing Co.”

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Mayonnaise Cake, Marylee Felton

The Baltimore Sun ran a four-part series in the spring of 1988. The articles were about Baltimore City Public Schools, and they covered the usual woes we still contend with today – attendance, student performance, accountability, and standardized tests. The series was entitled “School Maze,” and was intended to “nettle defenders of the status quo.”

One family member of a student was surprised. They wrote a letter to share their positive view of Glenmount Primary School: “…when one enters the building [they notice] large well-made pictures on both walls of what the youngsters do and current events… Quietness is the order of the day. The PTA and other groups take part in the school work.” The reader, Frank J. Huebel shared anecdotes of his great-granddaughter learning math and reading and writing. “All of this tells me that Glenmount is a well-run school and that the youngsters are learning the basics, in spite of the ‘School Maze.'”

Huebel was not alone in his positive view of the school. A 1985 story about a blind student’s guide dog Lavette quoted the dog’s owner, Nancy Jaslow. “Everyone knows not to touch or play with a guide dog. My principal, Marylee Felton loves dogs and loves having Lavette around.”

A few decades after Lillian Lottier, Marylee Felton was taking the same path: serving the city and community through a career in education. Her position as a teacher and later as a principal would have her face school fires, understaffing, overcrowding, state politics, and all of the other tribulations faced by educators.

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