Grandma's Brownstone Front Cake

After organizing all the cookbooks in our new place, I decided I should really go through and try to use some recipes from each of the books.  I decided to start with the personal cookbooks that I have.  Back home in Indiana, it is a quite common fundraiser to come up with a cookbook to sell.  My mother had several from schools, churches and even festivals.  And some of them made their way into my bag when I moved out.

My childhood church, Banquo Christian Church, compiled a book for its 100th anniversary celebration back in 2000.  It has so many great comfort food recipes and lots of dessert ideas.  My grandmother has a few in there, and one caught my eye that I'd never seen before.  Apparently, this was a cake that her mother (my great grandmother, Lela) used to make for birthdays, often with colored buttercream icing.

Bingo!  I found a way to combine two of my hobbies- baking with genealogy.  I have dabbled in genealogy for over a decade now, and I love finding any kind of artifacts that are associated with my ancestors.  I have mainly focused on census records, obituaries, biographies, photographs and headstone images.  I have pretty much collected most of what is available, so my new goal is to try to find recipes that have been made by my ancestors.  I know that I have a pretty good start already in the materials I have in my home, and my other grandmother showed me stacks and stacks of recipes she has from her mother.  I'm planning to start adding some of these family recipes (as well as some genealogy tips) to this ever eclectic blog.

But back to this cake.  When I did a little research, I found that this was possibly named (its origins aren't really clear) based upon the brownstone houses in New York City.  With that information, and the fact that we just moved into our own townhouse, I knew I should go ahead and put this on my "to-bake" list.

See how it looks like a townhouse?  For a simple chocolate layer cake (all the ingredients should already be in your cupboard), it was awesome.  And I love that it has some history behind it.

Here is the recipe as in the cookbook:

Mix 1 1/2 cups sugar and 1/2 cup butter.  Add 2 eggs and mix.  Stir 1/2 cup cocoa and 1/2 cup hot water together.  Add to mixture.  Add 2 cups flour alternately with 1/2 cup milk.  Dissolve 1 teaspoon baking soda in small amount of hot water and add to mixture.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat well.  Bake in 2 greased and floured pans at 350 for 30 minutes.

Since the recipe doesn't describe the pans, I decided to use two loaf pans to give it the tall, thin townhouse look.  Brian made a quick butter and powdered sugar icing recipe and finished it up for me.  You could decide to make it into more layers, use a glaze, or even add some caramel into the icing or filling.  That part is up to you.

My great-grandmother Lela was born in 1906.  She was the oldest of the six girls in her family.  She did not marry until she was 35, and then married a widower with 5 children.  She had one daughter, my grandmother.  Her husband died when she was 42  Below is one of my favorite photos, with this family.  My grandma is the youngest girl in the pink hat.  It was for these children's birthdays that this brownstone front cake was made.

Lutheran Baptism

Theodore was finally baptized into the Lutheran faith on Aug. 15, 2010 at our newly renovated church. It was a unique experience for my family, who are non-denominational Christians that normally wait until adolescence to baptize. We do actually have Lutheran ancestors way back on our Poulson side, maybe I'll write up that story on here someday. I am a very big fan of genealogy, though I have very few posts about it on here.

However, on the paternal side, Brian's great-great-grandfather Martin Phillipp came from Germany in 1893 and was a Lutheran minister in Michigan. So it was very meaningful to see this new generation carry on the Lutheran faith.

Grandma had to let out the sleeves a little for Theodore's chubby arms so he was able to wear the baptismal gown that Brian and his siblings all used. We accessorized with the cap Brian wore, and a new bib and socks.

Brian in Dec. 1982.

Theodore in August, 2010

It was a great time, and we were glad for every single person who could make the trip for Theodore's special day.

Miss Me, But Let Me Go

A week ago, my great grandmother passed away. She lived a long life, full with family. Read her obituary below...

Margaret M. (Poulson) Knight 1916-2009
Friday, June 19, 2009 11:46 AM EDT(H-ponline.com)

Margaret M. (Poulson) Knight, 92, of Warren, passed away at 7:10 a.m. Thursday, June 18, 2009 at Heritage Pointe in Warren. She was born on Saturday, Oct. 28, 1916, in North Grove. Mrs. Knight was a charter member of the Idle Hour Club, a member of the Home Extension Club and a member of the Sigma Phi Gamma. She had also been a representative for Avon and Dutchmaid. She was a 1935 graduate of Warren High School in Warren. She worked at Coolman's Drug Store for 15 years. She enjoyed quilting, gardening and playing cards with family and friends. She attended the United Church of Christ in Warren. She married Mark Charles Knight on May 29, 1936 in Warren. She was the daughter of the late Grover Poulson and the late Edna (Rennaker) Poulson. Survivors include daughters, Carol (husband, William) Byrd of Huntington, Cindy (husband, Tim) Fitch of Warren and Janet (husband, Dean) Schmidt of Warren; one son, Waldo (wife, Margaret) Knight of Warren; sisters, Hazel Ruth Brooks of Warren, Freda Finley of Huntington, Mildred Gilbert of Warren; brothers, Daniel Grover Poulson of Warren, Harold Poulson of Warren, Ira "Bob" Poulson of Liberty Center, James Poulson of Poneto and William Poulson of Liberty Center; 14 grandchildren, 35 great grandchildren and 12 great-great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Mark Charles Knight; father, Grover Poulson; mother, Edna (Rennaker) Poulson; sister, Lois Eltzroth; brothers, Howard "Everett" Poulson and Ralph Kenneth Poulson; and also a great-great granddaughter.

Arrangements are being handled by Glancy-H. Brown & Son Funeral Home, 203 N. Matilda St., Warren, where the family will receive friends from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 21, 2009 at the funeral home. Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Monday, June 22, 2009 at Glancy-H. Brown & Son Funeral Home, with Pastor Scott Nedberg officiating.Interment will be in Woodlawn Cemetery in Warren.
Memorials to United Church of Christ in Warren, Parkinson Foundation or Family Hospice of Northeast Indiana.


I was lucky to grow up near my great grandmother, and have special memories of holidays at her home and trick-or-treating there every October.  She passed on several of her interests to me.  She was an avid quilter, making quilts for each of her grandchildren.  She collected family recipes and published a family cookbook for us.  And she also completed family genealogy, completing photo albums for each of her great-grandchildren including photos of both sides of their family histories.  Most of my starts in these hobbies came from her. 

Genealogy Find

Every winter it seems, I go back and work on one of my hobbies: genealogy. Going through old census records, finding marriage certificates and old family photos is very interesting to me. It brings out the side of me that got a minor in anthropology in college.

Now that I am living on the East Coast, it is pretty exciting to be finding records so close to home. Many of my ancestors came through either Pennsylvania or Maryland. We recently went up to Wilmington (originally known as New Sweden) and found the area where my Poulson ancestors first lived in America (not the best area to live now). Pal Jonsson Mullica arrived on a ship called the Eagle in 1654. More information about him can be found in The Swedish Colonial Society, specifically in this article.  

With the great computer crash of 08, I lost a lot of my information (I'm still hoping someone can retrieve some of it from my hard drive). Now, I'm more dedicated about having paper trails for everything I find now. I also invested in Family Tree Maker 2009, and have had a lot of fun entering information on there.

This week I found a yahoo group dedicated to one of my ancestors, and was able to join. I was very excited to find information on the family pictured below. Pictured are some of the children of Jeremiah Roser (front row center), who would be my GGGG Grandfather, including the woman to the right of Jeremiah, Mary Jane, who would be my GGG Grandmother. He was born near Harrisburg, PA in 1826, lived in Ohio, Alabama, and Indiana, and was graced with 91 years on earth.