All you Betty Crocker types might be interested to know that the ubiqutous bundt pan, a round, heavy dish used for baking rich coffee cakes served at your bubbie’s, has Jewish origins: JTA reports that in 1950, a group of Minneapolis Hadassah women (fed up with the bland, fluffy cakes popular with American housewives) wanted to get back to their German roots and the traditional, heavier cakes like those from the Old Country. But no such pan existed, so the Jewish women approached aluminum manufacturer H. David Dalquist. He manufactured the pans and let the women sell them to their friends and neighbors, giving the Hadassah chapter a lasting source of revenue. Dalquist died Sunday at age 86, leaving behind a tasty tradition.
Now you can impress everyone with a lovely anecdote when you serve Bertha’s Big Bourbon Bundt Cake at your next koffee klatch.