Baked Alaska – The Ultimate Dinner Party Showstopper
Think of 1970s food culture, in all its weirdness and strange extravagance, and you may well think of the baked Alaska. This quintessentially ’70s dessert really is emblematic of the decade, despite the fact that it was created long before the years of bell-bottom jeans and Star Wars. What made it perfect for the decade was its theatrical nature.
The baked Alaska relies on its hair-raising ability to cook on its outside, generating a bronzed, crispy meringue exterior, while keeping the ice cream inside chilled and solid. It’s little wonder that these extremities appealed to a ’70s crowd who were looking for a little wow factor. It was a mainstay on dessert menus across the country and the world during the 1970s, but nowadays you’re more likely to find it on cruise ships or vintage-themed restaurants.
The dessert became so expensive that the cost of the dessert then would equal about $40 today, making it truly a luxury item. Dixon suggests it’s not as popular today because people’s tastes have changed — sugary meringue isn’t something people are interested in. She also thinks maybe some chefs find the dessert “old-school” or a “tourist gimmick.”
Robert Redford Cake – The Dessert That Had It All
In the ’70s, the Robert Redford cake was all the rage. It’s considered to be as iconic as other drinks and meals named after celebs, like the Shirley Temple and Arnold Palmer. In the ’70s, Redford had massive appeal, particularly from his adoring female fans. The cake became known as “the next best thing” to the actor, and the name stuck.
It’s a rich and unctuous dessert made up of layers of chocolate crust, cream cheese and whipped topping, pudding, and pecans. Some versions of the cake include a cake mix crust and a variety of candy bars and sweets. It was so popular that recipes for the dessert were featured in newspapers and magazines across the U.S.
The cake went by several colorful names that reflected the decade’s playful attitude. In fact, it’s said that partygoers who made the cake in its heyday often said they were “bringing Robert Redford to the party.” The origins of the cake itself are hard to pinpoint, but what’s less uncertain is how popular it became. It seems to have been passed among newspaper food editors and magazine editors who eagerly printed the recipe for the sweet dessert. At a time when recipe swaps and clipping recipes from newspapers and magazines were popular activities, the Robert Redford Cake became a hit, finding its way into many a family recipe book.
Mississippi Mud Pie – Dense, Dark, and Decadent
It’s no surprise that the Mississippi mud pie was a hit in the 1970s with its rich, gooey layers of chocolate decadence. Apparently, the name was inspired by the sludge of the Mississippi River mud which closely resembles the dense, chocolate layers of the pie. Some people refer to it as the Chocolate Lasagna because of how it is layered just the way you would do it when making lasagna. It’s also a dessert that was very easy to put together – a common theme with the other desserts from the same era.
Very little to no baking was required for many recipe versions, which made it perfect for hot summer days when turning on the oven was the last thing anyone wanted to do. Over time, the dessert’s popularity spread out of the South and to the rest of the U.S., reaching critical mass in the 1970s. The chain The Chart House putting the pie on its menu in the 1970s is partially responsible, and it’s remained a well-known dessert since.
The simplicity was part of its charm. The ingredients needed for a basic, yet delicious, version of it are cream cheese, chocolate pudding mix, whipped topping, and chocolate pecans. Then you’ll simply need to layer the ingredients correctly.
Watergate Salad – The Sweet “Salad” That Wasn’t
A Watergate salad may be unlike any “salad” you’ve ever seen. While most salads are green and leafy, this is sweet, fluffy, and was a big hit in the 1970s. It features a mix of pistachio pudding, mini marshmallows, canned pineapple, and chopped nuts topped with Cool Whip. The result is a creamy, pastel-green treat that’s both refreshing and nostalgic.
The name’s origin remains a delicious mystery. Others point to the connections between this no-bake dessert and the Watergate cake. Then, there is another that suggests that the real reason why it’s called Watergate salad is because the dressing is “covering up” the inside layers. The most common theory is that it was linked to the Watergate Hotel – but, oddly enough, the dessert was never actually sold there.
Although it’s referred to as a Watergate salad, back in the ’70s, this delicious dessert was called the Pistachio Pineapple Delight. Regardless of where it came from, this 1970s hit is one that many wish would make a comeback.
Harvey Wallbanger Cake – When Cocktails Met Cake Mix
This dessert is proof that a well thought out marketing campaign can literally make a cocktail go from zero to hero. While the Harvey Wallbanger cocktail emerged in the late 1960s, it only gained popularity after a 1969 marketing campaign got people rushing to find recipes for it and make it – resulting in it entering the 1970s decade as the ‘ new kid on the block ‘.
Bars and restaurants were hosting Harvey Wallbanger nights, so naturally people started baking Harvey Wallbanger cakes to use as they hosted other people to make them seem much cooler and in sync with the current trends. The cake itself is a booze-filled, citrus delight that is made with orange juice, vodka, and Galliano (the same liqueur used in the cocktail), mixed into a lovely yellow cake batter to give it a signature flavor. It’s typically baked in a Bundt pan, which was also all the rage at the time, and then it is drizzled with a sweet glaze that soaks into every slice.
By the mid-70s the cake was a real hit, with folks falling in love with its moistness and surprising subtlety. Sadly, it started to wane in its appeal when the cocktail itself started to go out of fashion, but we’d bet that it still hits the spot just as well today.
Jell-O Poke Cake – The Colorful Kitchen Experiment
So in the 1970s, JELL-O popularized the idea of poke cake – poking holes in a cake and filling them with flavored gelatin. The result was colorful, to say the least. The idea caught on like wildfire, and JELL-O poke cakes were a huge fad through the 1980s.
The technique was brilliantly simple and produced dramatic results. Whoever was making the cake would poke it with a toothpick, and then pour over grenadine. This grenadine would seep into the cake, giving its interior a two-tone appearance that somewhat resembled the orange-and-red look of the Tequila Sunrise cocktail. We’ve gotta admit that this kinda made it a visual spectacle, but we can also see how this cake’s vintage vibe meant it was left in the history books.
It’s a shame that these desserts have fallen out of fashion because they’re just as sweet and satisfying as ever. We’d love to see these forgotten desserts reclaim their place on menus and at dining room tables today. But like many fads, the interest in gelatin poke cake faded, replaced by new desserts. Today, you don’t see the classic JELL-O poke cake much, but you will find it with more exotic ingredients like Champagne or bourbon.
