Tigeron October 18, 2021 at 6:14 pm
I love the little house books. I read them every winter. It makes the winter go faster. I tried some of the recipes in the books.
Reply
Barbara Parsonson July 10, 2020 at 9:04 pm
Pate a choux can be fried into French crullers. Leave out sugar. Voila!
Reply
Jessicaon April 13, 2019 at 6:18 am
I am thinking maybe like a cream puff batter only fried?
Reply
Annaon July 2, 2019 at 5:00 pm
I think so too. Cream puffs are made from the French dough “pate a choux,” a dough that’s the basis for many desserts, which Ma probably knew about, given her upbringing. It’s yellow, mostly egg, not sweet, and puffs up with a hole in the middle. Plus it melts in your mouth. Im pretty sure it was pate a choux.
Reply
Kayon March 16, 2020 at 8:40 pm
I looked into that, pate a choux incorporates a lot of butter and also is oven baked.
Reply
Kayon March 16, 2020 at 8:57 pm
Never mind my previous post, I think you may be correct. I have found a couple of videos that help.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcL2EfHerds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxkKU4ZvqME
If it is reported that Laura didn’t remember the actual recipe, then it must have incorporated the butter.
Reply
Missyon February 21, 2021 at 7:52 pm
Love this! A choux paste makes sense!
Reply
Jessica L Capizzoon December 8, 2020 at 11:32 pm
Yes ❤️ vi agree
Reply
maryon January 4, 2019 at 3:27 pm
I love this recipe
Reply
Michiakion September 24, 2018 at 4:10 pm
Hello, this is very nice site! Does anyone have real authentic recipe for this vanity cakes? Would very appreciate. Mostly egg and not sweet, and I will cook in lard just same as Mrs. Ingalls all the years ago. Thank you!
Reply
Jessicaon September 9, 2019 at 12:05 am
They sound like cream puff batter, it’s not sweet, and is a crisp bubbly puff
Reply
NicoleKon August 2, 2018 at 4:06 pm
They can’t have had sugar, Plum Creek specifically says they are NOT sweet.
Reply
Anne Schnoebelenon June 7, 2018 at 1:39 am
In On the Banks of Plum Creek, “Country Party” chapter, Ma makes vanity cakes, and Laura specifically remarks that they are not sweet. So the additional of confectioner’s sugar is definitely a modern addition. Remember the Ingalls family rarely ate sugar.
Reply
Cindy Hatcheron April 16, 2020 at 7:37 pm
Carrie wanted sugar on hers.
Reply
Christine Capelleon February 26, 2017 at 5:38 pm
Would the Vanity Cakes turn out just as well if I doubled or tripled the recipe?
Reply
Beth Odabashianon February 28, 2017 at 8:28 am
I am going to double the recipe. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work?
Reply
Carol Callahanon February 24, 2017 at 7:47 pm
They didn’t have powdered sugar back then. I don’t remember the dipping sauce either. Did she just sprinkle white sugar on them ?
Reply
Danitaon June 15, 2017 at 11:15 am
In her letter memoirs, from the book “The selected letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder”, written by William Anderson, she (Laura) says “They are mostly egg, fried in deep fat, eaten hot, crunchy, not sweet. Sort of a bubble”… So, I don’t think they had the sweetness… if they had strawberries, I’m sure that would have been wonderful, or maybe honey… But, from her comment, it sounds like they were just fried and eaten hot.
Reply
Jessica L Capizzoon December 8, 2020 at 11:30 pm
Sounds like a pastry batter, like for cream horns or something.
Reply
Anwaron January 9, 2021 at 12:42 pm
Yes!! We just read that chapter and were looking for the recipe. Laura specifically said they were not sweet but rich. Thank you. We want to experience the real prairie party fun. Next we need to find a creek…
Reply
Pamelaon June 5, 2019 at 6:21 am
I am reading “The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder” by William Anderaon. In chapter six Laura states in a letter that she cannot remember the recipe. At the time she wrote the letter Carrie was the only other sister still living and Carrie also did not remember the recipe. Laura did say in this letter that the vanity cakes were NOT sweet. She stated they were mostly egg and yellow in color. She said the yellow was from the egg yolks.
Reply
Barbara Parsonson July 10, 2020 at 9:02 pm
They weren’t a sweet treat. No sugar . I believe they drank milk with them.
Reply
mary powellon February 24, 2017 at 5:22 pm
Lard is good for you.
Reply
Gaylaon February 13, 2019 at 2:14 am
This is correct. According to Prevention Magazine lard is lower in saturated fat than other animal fats like butter and tallow, and higher in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat—the type that gives olive oil its health halo. Lard is made up of 50% monounsaturated fat—compare that to only 32% in butter and 6% in coconut oil. Plus, in its natural form, lard has none of the trans fats that we know are bad for you.
Reply
Bethon April 25, 2020 at 9:07 am
What once was old is now new.
Reply
Molly Hayeson August 3, 2020 at 10:37 pm
lard is NOT good for you
please, use organic olive oil or coconut olive.Reply
Jessica L Capizzoon December 8, 2020 at 11:28 pm
Olive oil will burn at the temperature needed to cook these. Just use a vegetable oil.
Reply
Connie in Coloradoon February 24, 2017 at 1:28 pm
Vanity cakes always seemed to be a mystery to me until I read Barbara Walker’s recipe in “The Little House Cookbook” years ago. Once I made them I was overjoyed to see they were just like my favorite sopapillas in Tex-Mex restaurants. And then, on a trip to New Orleans I discovered the famous beignets – all puffed up and dusted with sugar! Laura and Ma were sharing their simple pioneer culture with a gentle nod to humility when making vanity cakes for not only Nellie Olson but readers of the Little House books.
Reply
Charion February 24, 2017 at 11:34 am
I clicked on the, “Posts you might like.” It deletes the posts instead of taking you to the link.
Reply
FAQs
What did Little House on the Prairie eat? ›
From fried cornmeal mush eaten on the wide-open prairie to improvised green pumpkin pie to bread baked from wheat seeds pulverized in a coffee grinder during a starving season, the nine books of Wilder's beloved series overflow with descriptions of the food she and her family produced and consumed.
What cake does Miss Maudie make? ›Lane Cake comes up several times in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Miss Maudie Atkinson — the Finches' neighbor — is known all over the fictitious town of Maycomb for her famous Lane Cakes.
What disease did Albert have on Little House on the Prairie? ›They find out Albert has Leukemia. The rest of the episode focuses on Albert living out the rest of his life doing what makes him happy.
What disease did Mary have in Little House on the Prairie? ›Scarlet Fever in the 19th Century
Mary Ingalls went blind in 1879 at age 14. Between 1840 and 1883, scarlet fever, caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, was one of the most common infectious causes of death among children in the United States.
Seeing only two small cakes, Scout worries that Miss Maudie forgot Dill, but she serves Jem a piece of the big cake and tries to reassure him about the trial. This is a sign that Jem is becoming an adult.
Which cake is traditionally eaten on 6 January name the trinket that is hidden inside the cake? ›These delicious buttery, almondy cakes are galettes des rois, (king's cake) traditionally baked for Epiphany (6th January) but commonly eaten from around Christmas throughout the month of January. Hidden inside each galette is a surprise; a little porcelain charm/trinket/figurine.
What kind of cake is Miss Maudie planning to make Mr. Avery to thank him? ›Also in To Kill a Mockingbird, Miss Maudie bakes a Lane cake for Mr. Avery, who was severely injured in an attempt to put out a fire in her home. “Mr. Avery will be in bed for a week—he's right stove up.
What did the Ingalls family eat for breakfast? ›In Little House on the Prairie, Ma made fried cornmeal mush in a cast iron bake oven (similar to a Dutch oven) rubbed with pork fat. The family ate their cornmeal mush with fried salt pork and coffee in their covered wagon.
What did people eat on the prairie? ›In summertime or fall, pioneers might feast on bear meat (Laura's favorite), buffalo, venison, elk, and antelope, unconstrained by the big game laws of the Old World. But in winter, when nothing grew or could be hunted, pioneers were vulnerable. Families like the Ingalls family had it especially tough.
Did pioneers eat bear meat? ›Early American settlers also utilized bear meat, hide, and fat. Folks like Daniel Boone made a living selling the stuff to market. Eating bear was fairly normal until the early 1900s when the Teddy Bear was brought to life after Teddy Roosevelt spared the life of a bear that was tied to a tree.
Did pioneers eat popcorn? ›
Colonial housewives served popcorn with sugar and cream for breakfast - the first "puffed" breakfast cereal eaten by Europeans. Some colonists popped corn using a cylinder of thin sheet-iron that revolved on an axle in front of the fireplace like a squirrelncage.