“Butterfly Cake” from A New Book of Cookery, published in 1912 by Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915), an American culinary expert. Farmer became principal of the Boston Cooking School in 1891 and five years later published The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, which has remained in print continuously since that time. In 1902, she left the school to found Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery.
The recipe for the butterfly cake starts with her basic “prize cake” recipe, which she notes “may be cut into small squares, oblongs, triangles, or any desire shape.” After baking in two seven-inch square cake tins for 25 minutes in a moderate oven, the recipe continues:
“Remove from pans, cool and cut each in the shape of a butterfly. Put layers together with coffee butter frosting. Spread sides with frosting and sprinkle with shredded cocoanut, which has been slightly browned in the oven. Pipe chocolate butter frosting around edge of upper surface. Arrange two halves of glacéd apricots, two halves of glacéd cherries, two crescent-shaped pieces of angelica and two strips of angelica as shown in illustration. Force coffee butter frosting through pastry bag and rose tube around glacéd fruits. Make body of coffee butter frosting, using lady finger tube, and over body arrange a parallel row of chocolate butter frosting. Insert pointed strips of angelica.”
In the event you don’t wish to try making the cake, just click below to try your hand at the puzzle!