Subject: Meltaway large pastry flat cake
From: Mike
Date: 7/28/2020, 8:30 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
On 7/27/2020 3:55 PM, Mike wrote:
I am wondering if you can help me locate a recipe from my childhood.
My parents and grandparents would purchase this pastry from
The Larchmont bakery on Chatsworth Avenue in Larchmont, New York.
I remember them until we moved to Florida in 1978.
The was a large round flat pastry around 10-14” inches was almond
flavored. It was very rich and I remember I could see flat cut almonds.
The texture was not dry. Moist on the top and the crust was not stiff
but not as moist as the top. I am told by my relatives that other
bakeries in Westchester county also offer this.
Would you be able locate this recipe? I want to share with my children
and grandchildren.
Sincerely,
Mike from Helotes Texas
Hi Mike,
Well, I find your request to be problematic. You seem unsure of the actual name by which
the bakery sold the cake, and your description is mostly things that are unhelpful in
searching for a particular recipe.
There are a couple of bakeries on Chatsworth Avenue in Larchmont, NY even today, but I
cannot find any mention at all of "The Larchmont Bakery" in Larchmont, NY.
"Meltaway" is apparently just a descriptive term that means that it "seems to melt in
your mouth." In confectionery lingo, it relates to the fat content of some kinds of candy.
See: Sinful Sweet
A "meltaway" refers to the various types of cakes, cookies, and confections that to seem
to melt in the mouth. Meltaways, in a confectionary term, are a eutectic candy. A eutectic
refers to a combination of fats that melt at a lower temperature than a singular fat by itself.
There are recipes online for various things called "meltaway" - cakes, cookies, and
pastries - but none seems to fit your description. There is a lot of variety in
"meltaway cake" recipes.
As to other bakeries in Westchester County, if you can obtain some of the names and
locations of bakeries that sold this pastry, then maybe I could find more about it.
The nearest I have heard of such a pastry was a few years ago when I received a request
for a "meltaway cake" from "The Cake Nook" bakery in Mount Vernon, New York, which is
indeed in Westchester County. I had no success finding that recipe. There is a description
of that pastry here: 3-14-2014
It was described a coming in both chocolate and cinnamon flavors. Did your pastry come
in flavors other than the almond that you describe?
There is a recipe here for a "chocolate meltaway cake" that is described as being
"like the one from the NY bakeries." -
Chocolate Meltaway Cake
I will post this for reader input. Maybe one of my readers can provide more information
about the pastry.
Phaed
