January 27

is

National Chocolate Cake Day

Today’s five food finds about

Chocolate Cake

  1. The history of chocolate cake goes back to 1764, when Dr. James Baker discovered how to make chocolate by grinding cocoa beans between two massive circular millstones.
  2. The first French word for chocolate mousse translates in English “chocolate mayonnaise”
  3. The “blood” that you see in infamous “shower scene” in Psycho is actually chocolate syrup.
  4. In 1828, Conrad Van Houten of the Netherlands developed a mechanical extraction method for extracting the fat from cacao liquor resulting in cacao butter and the partly defatted cacao, a compacted mass of solids that could be sold as it was “rock cacao” or ground into powder.
  5. Until 1890 to 1900, chocolate recipes were mostly for drinks.

On This Day in Food History…

  • 1521 The Diet of Worms begins; an assembly of the Holy Roman Empire where Martin Luther made his famous appearance.
  • 1851 RIP John James Audubon: Ornithologist, naturalist & artist, known for his paintings & prints of North American birds.
  • 1910 RIP Thomas Crapper: Said to have invented the flush toilet. Many believe he simply “improved” the device invented by others.
  • 1984 Michael Jackson’s hair catches fire while filming a Pepsi commercial.