The Return of Tony La Russa and an Eight-Year-Old Slice of Cake

British people have lots of wild traditions.

One of those traditions is to preserve slices of cakes that were served at royal weddings.  Not as in, "Let's wrap this up to take home and enjoy tomorrow."  More like, "Let's put this in a sealed container so that someday far into the future, people not even born yet will be able to look upon this cake and consider the wonders of our empire."

The article in this link takes a deep dive into the tradition of preserving royal wedding cakes, a tradition that goes back to 1840.  People with gentle constitutions may find some of the cake images upsetting.

Pivot to 2013, the year I launched this website.  It was originally built around the 1983 Chicago White Sox cookbook, and I set out to make every recipe and post the results here.

"La Russa Gastronomique" was the perfect mashup name for this blog, and the perfect recipe to start off with was the one from Tony La Russa.  

The recipe that he submitted for the cookbook was for Tropical Delight Cake, a fruitcake with a decadent cream frosting.  Here's the photo of the finished cake in 2013.

After posting the write-up and photo, I remembered British tradition and on a whim, stowed a slice of this cake in the freezer.  That was in April, 2013.  I never imagined that eight years later, La Russa would return to manage the White Sox once again.  I also never imagined that after eight years, the cake would still be sitting in my freezer, but it was.

To mark the stunning return of this blog's namesake, what more appropriate time to thaw that slice and see what eight years in a cryochamber had done to it.

Would it have held up in stasis?  Would it immediately break down and liquefy like Poe's Valdemar?  Would I dare put some eight-year-old cake in my mouth?  The photographic recap follows.

Commence the thawing!  A skeptical Tony La Russa looks on.

Released from its frozen tomb and plated, the cake maintained its structural integrity.

Tony noted that the golden raisins, once plump and soft, now resembled dried walnut pieces.

The moment of truth.  Even a grizzled veteran like Tony La Russa couldn't bring himself to watch.

The cake tasted old.  Just old.  No life to it, no freshness at all.  It was still light and chewable, and the frosting was sweet, but that first mouthful was punctuated by overwhelming staleness and agedness.

No second mouthful was necessary.  The remainder of the cake went into the trash.

But the memories will last as long as this website does!

Final verdict: don't expect much from an eight-year-old cake that's been sitting in a freezer.  Go out and get yourself something fresh and nice, or better still make your own.

Tropical Delight Cake by Tony La Russa - from "Home Plate: The White Sox Favorite Recipes" (1983)

RECIPE

CAKE
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup honey
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour [I used regular whole wheat flour]
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 cups unsweetened, crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup diced dates
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup dry milk powder
1/4 cup wheat germ

Mix all ingredients together.  Pour batter into an oiled and floured tube pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Cool.  Frost with Banana-Nut Cream Cheese Frosting [see below].

FROSTING
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 small ripe banana, mashed
8 tblsp. butter
2 tsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Beat in honey and banana.  Add vanilla and nuts.  (Keep refrigerated.)  Chill to spreading consistency.  Decorate frosted cake with raisins [I used a dried fruit mix of dark raisins, white raisins, currants, cranberries and blueberries].

If I'm going to cook through the 1983 White Sox cookbook and name this blog after Tony La Russa, it makes sense to kick things off with his recipe.

La Russa became Sox manager midway through the 1979 season, replacing Don Kessinger.  La Russa was the latest in a managerial merry-go-round that saw four different managers come and go in the previous four seasons, but his hire would stick.

By 1983, La Russa had shaped the team into a contender and clinched his first division title.  After a slow start, the Sox went on a 59-26 rampage in the second half and won the AL West by 20 games.  La Russa won multiple Manager of the Year Awards, and went on to become one of the winningest managers in history.  But it all started with the White Sox.

This cake is pretty easy to make, once you have assembled all the ingredients.  Not sure how many of you keep things like dry milk powder or wheat germ in the pantry, but they should be available in your local grocery.  The tube pan was borrowed from my bemused mom.

Once everything was gathered up, it was a matter of mixing the dry and wet ingredients, then combining them and pouring everything into the tube pan.

The frosting is pretty intense.  I mean seriously, what comes out of the oven after 40 minutes is a nice fruitcake that isn't too dense or sickly-sweet.  But then you frost the thing with what is essentially a banana cheesecake.  Mercy!

This would be a good dish to serve up at holiday time, if you want to try something different.  I wouldn't recommend making this cake on a regular basis.  Tony himself kept pretty slim throughout his baseball career so I'm guessing he didn't indulge in Tropical Delight Cake too often.

FINAL SCORE - it's a White Sox Winner, but make it a rarity, like an AL West Division title.