Here’s a spread of interesting Valentine’s day desserts, from The Complete Holiday Cookbook, 1960′s. Scooped out angel food cakes were big then, though I think it would be easier to cut it across and use the filling as a layer in between cake layers. I think this would be pretty delicious!
1 13 1/2 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained and syrup reserved
2 3/4 cups water
1 6-oz. package strawberry gelatin
1 9-inch angel food cake
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar (oh boy)
Combine pineapple syrup with 1/2 cup water; heat to boiling. Add gelatin; stir to dissolve. Add remaining cold water; chill until thickened. Turn angel food cake upside down. Hollow out cake, leaving 2 inches of cake bottom and 1 inch rim around outer edge. Fill center with pieces of cake. Beat thickened gelatin with rotary beater until fluffy; chill until gelatin mounds. Carefully fold in drained pineapple; spoon into cake shell. Cover; chill 3 to 4 hours or overnight. Beat cream with sugar until stiff; spread around sides and over top of cake. Yield; 12 servings.
In another cookbook I have there are photos of how to use an electric knife to do this. wow. This is a lot of work for a purchased angel food cake. Of course I’d still eat it!
Is the other cookbook the Betty Crocker first edition? I remember the illustrations for a cake like this, and one filled with whipped cream and the cubed remainders of the cake insides. It would be a fussy and huge amount of work, I think. Maybe for a baby shower for a vintage minded couple or something.
I think it is from that one, though it shows up a lot! Wilton and other companies have cake molds supposedly so the cakes bake with cutouts, but I can’t get the one we have to work well. Someone at one of my shows did this with ice cream. You’re right that it would be a huge amount of work. Of course that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t eat it!