In Jess Touchette’s second contributor post, she shares the fascinating history of frosting and layer cakes. Read on…

In a recent post about 17th-century “biscuit bread,” I traced the centuries-long evolution of “cake” from sweetened, enriched bread to the light and airy confection that we know and love today. There, I noted that the increased availability (and affordability) of refined flour, refined sugar, and commercial leaveners like baking powder enabled 19th-century bakers to produce true, modern cake for the first time. Yet our story doesn’t end there, for two more mile-markers on the road to cake as we now know it remained.

I’m so excited to have created a copycat Ted Drewes Frozen Custard recipe that tastes crazy close to the original. This recipe can stave off frozen custard cravings and can give those who haven’t had the opportunity to visit St. Louis a refreshing taste of our hometown!

Ingredients and Equipment

I’ve been told over the years that Ted Drewes uses honey as a sweetener. My first attempt at a copycat version used 1/3 cup of honey and 2/3 cup of sugar. The result was delicious, but didn’t taste like Ted Drewes (I know because I sent Jonathan to pick some up for a side-by-side comparison). The honey flavor in my version was WAY too strong. My final version ended up with just 3 tablespoons of honey to about 3/4 cup of sugar. There’s definitely honey in the original, but not as much as some might think.