Gettin’ Kitschy in the Kitchen with Cheerwine Cake
If you’ve ever wondered what your trusted staff is up to when they aren’t on the reference desk, it looks a little like this:
Not too long ago I had my first can of Cheerwine, and I was curious to find out more about this North Carolina soft drink. It turns out that the Cheerwine website lists several recipes using their soda, including punch, cherry pie, barbecue sauce, and my personal favorite, the CheerDevil Cake, which Harry and Jason can be seen eating above. I think I’ll have to make a batch of Cheerwine ice cream next. To get to the recipes section of their website, first click on product, then recipes.
I won’t post the recipe here, but I will leave you with a great tip, suggested to me by none other than our very own Jason Tomberlin: after the cake cools, poke holes in it using a spatula so that the icing can drip down into the cake. Delicious!
When I’m not baking, I’m at the NCC working on the North Carolina Postcards project. Below is a postcard from ca. 1916, showing the interior of the bottling facility at the Chero-Cola Company in Winston-Salem, NC. Click on the image to view its record in the NCPC digital collection, where you can zoom-in.
June 29th, 2009 at 9:11 am
I believe that the NCC Gallery also has a few Cheerwine and Chero-cola bottles . . . And I want to tell you that you have certainly “flung a craving” on me for some Cheerwine cake this morning. (But, I have to tell you, that think homemade Cheerwine ice cream might even be better . . . )
June 29th, 2009 at 9:54 am
From our “You’re not from around here, are you?” files:
“BATF, a branch of the Treasury Department, may… make an inquiry into Cheerwine, a soda pop from Salisbury, N.C.-based Carolina Beverage…. Critics who recently discovered the 75-year-old brand believe the ‘wine’ in its name and a jingle that alludes to ‘a new state of mind’ will help encourage underage drinking.” — Beverage World, May 31, 1992
June 30th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Amazing! I sure could use a cheerwine up here in the northland… especially if it ever gets above 75 degrees….
June 30th, 2009 at 2:59 pm
I would also like to point out that while Jessica Sedgwick worked in the NCC, she created a small exhibit titled, “Postcards to Maude.” Here’s the text from the exhibit: “In digitizing the Durwood Barbour postcards, we couldn’t help but notice that one woman was the most popular addressee in the collection: Maude Efland, of Efland, N.C. We’ve found roughly twenty cards to Maude so far, some of which are displayed here, and even a few that picture the lady herself.”
You can’t see the original exhibit, but you can see Maude-related postcards by clicking here.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
The Eland House is still for sale
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3416-Southern-Drive_Efland_NC_27243_1080927615
July 1st, 2009 at 11:19 am
The Efland estate! If only it could stay available until I’ve racked in my fortune as an archivist….