The Catskill Chronicle

By Jude Waterston

“Come on,” my sister, Janet, said, taking my hand. “Where are we going?” I asked. “Mommy gave us money for the Cake Box.” “Are we getting charlotte russes?” I asked. “Of course,” Janet replied. The Cake Box was the bakery in the shopping center a few minutes walk from our apartment complex. It was where my family got rye bread and cinnamon rugelach and where people who liked chocolate babka got their babka. A charlotte russe can best be described as heaven on earth. It consists of a half inch of yellow pound cake encased in a cardboard cylinder. Atop the cake stands five healthy inches of fresh whipped cream crowned with a sticky maraschino cherry.

Janet and I walked passed the country club we didn’t belong to and the bowling alley where I often lounged against the jukebox hoping a boy from my fifth grade class would notice me and stop to talk. Janet walked slowly, controlling our pace so she had plenty of time to daydream about the charlotte russe to come. She was savoring it mentally in anticipation of eating it literally. Meanwhile, I was quietly praying that I wouldn’t drop the entirety of the whipped cream on the pavement as I usually did. The problem for me was that I wanted to eat some of the cake simultaneously with the whipped cream. I would attempt to edge the cake up slowly from the bottom to free it from its cardboard collar. Though I thought I was moving as painstakingly slowly as possible, I was, apparently, moving too quickly and, as the cake appeared at the top of the cylinder, the whipped cream plopped to the ground with a hushed splat.

As if reading my thoughts, as we entered the Cake Box, Janet turned to me and said, “Just eat it the way I do.” She ordered a rye bread with seeds and slung the plastic bag over her sleeve, pushing it up to her elbow so she’d have plenty of freedom to steadily hold the box in which the precious charlotte russes sat.

We left the store and walked to a wood and cement bench at the edge of the shopping center. I held my treat nervously and watched Janet. First she quickly ate the maraschino cherry. I could see it didn’t matter all that much to her. Then, with half closed eyes, she began to very slowly lick the tower of whipped cream while almost imperceptibly turning it round like a carousel. She seemed to be in a trance, her eyes taking on a glazed look. I’m sure she had forgotten I was sitting next to her. I knew instinctively that I did not possess the patience or willpower to follow her example, and besides, I wanted to taste the cake with the whipped cream, not after it. I slipped my hand under the cardboard collar and began to push at the little disk of cardboard that sat under the cake. I moved as slowly as was humanly possible. Delighted, I could see the yellow cake emerging and edging its way upward. Another millimeter and I would be home free. I could feel Janet watching me. I turned to her to smile smugly just as I heard the familiar dull thud of whipped cream hitting the ground.

I imagine you would expect instructions on preparing your own charlotte russe here, but I’ve never made one, let alone eaten one, successfully. I will, instead, give you a recipe for good old-fashioned pound cake, enlivened with the addition of citrus juice and zest, and you can replicate a charlotte russe, if you’d like, by cutting the finished cake slices into circles using a large round cookie cutter, topping each disk with a big dollop of homemade whipped cream and a few fresh berries (or a maraschino cherry, if you are so inclined).

Lemon Orange Pound Cake

Serves 6 – 8

½ pound (2 sticks) butter, softened (plus some for greasing the pan)

2 cups cake or all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch salt

1 cup sugar

5 eggs, separated

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

Zest of ¼ lemon

Zest of ¼ orange

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 5” loaf pan. Combine flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Put the butter in a large bowl and with an electric mixer cream it until smooth. Add half the sugar and beat until well blended, then add the rest of the sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Add vanilla, zest and citrus juices. In another bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Using a colander, sift the dry ingredients over the creamed butter and stir until just incorporated. Fold in the egg whites gently but thoroughly. Turn the mixture into the loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 – 1 ¼ hours, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let rest in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes, then turn out onto the rack and let cool completely. Keep, covered with waxed paper, for a day or two.