You can file this one under “urban legend,” but it’s delicious just the same: The idea that makers of instant cake mix couldn’t get their products selling until they devolved them so that home cooks need to add the egg themselves. That is legend, very satisfying but not what actually happened.
The truth is that cake mix was popular from the start, though it does seem that cooks always preferred adding a fresh egg – maybe because the cake just tasted better that way. Over time, the makers of cake mix sold Americans on the idea that they could turn box cakes into kitchen miracles, with elaborate shapes and decorative frosting.
Food historian Laura Shapiro put it this to Bon Appetit:
“This decorating obsession sold the idea that, this way, you’re making this cake yours.”
Enter Rick Santorum, the second-place finisher for the Republican nomination in 2012. Since then, Santorum has been operating out of Patriot Voices, his own conservative “grassroots and online community,” complete with a store. This week, he is sending around a pitch for his new book, Blue Collar Conservatives. The idea is for you – yes, you – “to play a key role in winning BIG in 2014.” Here’s what Santorum wants you to do:
Step One: Get a copy of “Blue Collar Conservatives”
Step Two: Print out a copy of this Memo from Senator Santorum
Step Three: Place the memo in the book and hand-deliver or mail it to your favorite candidates
It’s not enough for him to send a copy of the book to candidates. It’s not enough for him to put the memo in the book already so it’s there for you when you buy it and send it to candidates. What Santorum wants is for you to add the egg. You buy the book, preferably two copies, and you add the memo from Santorum. That’s how he wins big in 2014.
After the jump, an original pitch for the joys of adding the egg yourself.
H/t Bon Appetit:
“Just add water and two of your own fresh eggs,” actress Adelaide Hawley Cumming cooed in character as the fictional Betty Crocker in an early ’50s commercial. “Those eggs keep it moist and tender to the last crumb—not that you’ll ever have any crumbs!”
Laura Conaway