From the 1950’s, here’s a birthday cake that mom can make even while the family is cowering in the fallout shelter. Bless her heart.
Photo by ME Lorden
Evaporated milk, crisco oil, powdered eggs, and 3 boxed cake mixes are used to make this chocolate and vanilla pudding-filled cake with canned fruit layers. Slather the pudding between the triple golden, vanilla, and chocolate cake layers with maraschino cherries and canned pineapple. Wrap the entire chemical wonder with Dream Whip and then—KABOOM! Atomic cake.
Heat source to bake the cake? Gas stove or electric if generator is running. Candle power won’t do.
Nothing like eating a sculpture of a hydrogen bomb. It was all the rage.
Who knew that this horrific technology which gave the United States an atomic monopoly would also inspire new culinary tastes?
Better living through chemistry, I suppose.
Light-as-a-(radiation)cloud Confection.
New fad of celebratory cake among the military elite.
Enjoying atomic pastry along with their atomic cocktails.
The Soviets were offended by this publicity photo and the idea of an Atomic Cake altogether. US clergymen found it obscene. The newspaper headlines of the day reported on the indignation. The atomic bomb was clearly best kept off the list of fun food themes with the great cake controversy that began in 1946.
Check out the following link:
These creamy sweet layers are pretty luscious.
You can substitute sliced bananas in one of the layers for the pineapple if you aren’t stuck in the bomb shelter.
This clever cake explodes with flavor. Might as well eat up before you kiss your fanny good-bye.
outtathekitchen.com 
where is the recipe?
Pingback: Linkage | Uncouth Reflections
The “recipe” is as follows:
Buy all of the following boxed goodies, and prepare them as directed on the box:
1 box each of Instant vanilla and chocolate pudding
1 box each of cake mix flavors: chocolate, white, and yellow
1 large can of evaporated milk
1 box of Dream Whip (with 3 envelopes inside)
1 jar of maraschino cherries or 1 can of cherry pie mix or pitted cherries
1 can of pineapple or 2 bananas for slicing
Eggs or powdered eggs for cake mix.
Bottle of Crisco oil for cake mix
Make the cakes, slather the chocolate pudding between two layers and vanilla between the other two. Place cherries in one layer on pudding and pineapple or bananas between the other layer. Frost with Dream Whip liberally and refrigerate. KABOOM! Atomic Cake!
Another impromptu recipe idea, it also would work fine in the bomb shelter, is a Ritz Cracker “apple” pie. It actually tastes like real apple pie.
Peter
I love that pie, and the “apple” flavor is very, very convincing. It’s been around since Depression Days. Had some last year. Nice to meet you, Peter. Hope to see you often at OTK.
So interesting! Thanks for sharing. . .
Glad you enjoyed outtathekitchen.com, Ginapoet. See you again. 😀