Claudette Colbert's Claudette Colbert Cake

I've been putting off testing this as it looked like a bit of a challenge. It was, but it was worth it! Basically I made a Rita Hayworth's Angel Cake then followed Claudette's instructions for fancifying it with home made lemon curd filling and lemony frosting. Oh YUMSKI as my French colleague Marie-Agathe put it.

We've had a lovely redhead rockabilly girl working with us for a couple of months and she's such a peach I decided to make the cake for her last day. What a success it was. Everyone piled up to the mezzanine waiting for their slice - it was gone in a flash! I decorated it with little pink sprinkles and some mini eggs to make it look Eastery. A BIG success!

And by the way, I hereby award test cook Miss Dorothy an internet MEDAL for making this for an event at the Cinema Museum. It is the most time consuming cake I have ever made so bravo Ms D over there at the British Film Institute.

Claudette Colbert's Claudette Colbert Cake

"I know what's best for me, after all
I have been in the Claudette Colbert business longer than anybody.”

Oh what a lovely day it was yesterday! I was DJing with my wind-up gramophone at the Home Movie Day at the Cinema Museum and it was so gorgeous to see everyone dressed up in cinema uniforms from the 1950s. Looking utterly charming in her usherette's outfit, Dorothy was not only mistress of ceremonies, she had also taken the time to make a Claudette Colbert Cake! Superb it was too. I had a great big slice with a cup of tea while I wondered if I'd ever get the sound system to work.

Another of our lovely test cooks, Jennifer, had asked her boyfriend's flatmate to lend us his valve amp and such a splendid thing it was too. Like something from a Frankenstein movie we had to wait for the valves to heat up, jiggle around with various wires and hope for the best. It worked! I fell in love with the way the element in the four glass tubes glew red as the sound of movie related 78s filled the room. I want my own valve amp! My favourite part of the day was playing tunes to fit a screening of Phyllis Calvert's home movies which her grandson had brought along.

Magic!

Claudette Colbert's Claudette Colbert Cake

“It took me years to figure out that you don't fall into a tub of butter,
you jump for it.”

I'm going to the hairdresser tomorrow - I may well take this picture in and get my fringe done like Claudette's. She is the star I am supposed to look most like - according to the special face measuring wheel in my "Westmore Beauty Book" of 1939. I don't have that moody face on much though...

Marion, our super cake tester from Texas, reported back that Claudette's eponymous cake was rather good. In fact, so good that she has decided to tinker with the recipe and add it to her collection. I have not attempted this one myself, mostly because the first ingredient is "1 Angel Food Cake" so I think I need to master that first!

Marion suggested, "I bet this is the cake Claudette served John Wayne when he brought her "wings" back in Without Reservations" and continued, "I find it amazing that she did so well with her career because she wasn't that dazzling good looks movie star variety...just cute and clever." Hm, bearing in mind that I am supposed to look like Claudette, perhaps that applies to me too?!

A big thanks to Marion for mentioning Silver Screen Suppers in her blog - http://texasjot.blogspot.com/2009/09/across-pond.html - and a heads up that her "Chocolate Crimes" book will be out very soon...

Claudette Colbert's Caramel Custard

"Govern a family as you would cook a small fish - very gently."

OK so Claudette wore a very nice hat throughout "It Happened One Night" but her Caramel Custard wasn't up to much.

However, I blame the double boiler - I need to practice. And maybe actually the quote above about cooking a fish applies here - maybe gentleness is the key in all things...