I found a wonderful extract made by Amoretti. That started me on a search for natural guava extract. That did it! The guava flavor came through but something told me that Herbert, a professional baker, might have used something to amp up the guava flavor. I decided to make the original recipe without the spices. Other than guava chiffon cake, which was definitely not the same genre as the cake that Jim had at the Moana Surfrider, I could not find a recipe for plain guava cake that did not start with a box of cake mix. Certainly it was not worth hours of searching for guava concentrate only to have the flavor masked by spices. The cake was good but everyone who tasted it failed to taste any guava. Frozen Guava Puree, a much easier to find substitute for frozen concentrated guava nectar It had no sweeteners so I thought I might need to add sugar to the batter in a subsequent trial but for the first round I used the guava puree as a direct substitute for concentrated guava nectar. I ultimately was able to source pure guava puree at a market catering to Hispanic shoppers. I followed the recipe closely the first time except that I needed to find a substitute for frozen concentrated guava nectar which I was unable to find after scouring 10 grocery stores in Palm Springs and nearby desert towns. The recipe from the Moana Surfrider was a Guava Spice Cake. The popularity of the cake no doubt led to multiple copycat recipes, including those using a box of cake mix and Cool Whip aimed at the home cook. Recipes for the last often start with a box of cake mix and use Cool Whip in the cream cheese frosting.įrom what my research has revealed, the original was a Guava Chiffon Cake invented by Herbert Matsuba, owner of the Dee Lite Bakery, in the early 1960s. It appears that there are basically three variations of guava cake in Hawaii: Guava Chiffon Cake, Guava Spice Cake, and (plain old) Guava Cake. I did internet searches and combed through my Hawaiian cookbooks (of which I have a goodly number). Almost any recipe with the degree of cultural significance that guava cake seemed to garner grabs my attention. I became fascinated by guava cake without having even made one. Receiving the recipe from Jim was merely the beginning. The back of the Oscar Mayer house in Palm Springs, California Inside the Oscar Mayer House The front of the Oscar Mayer House We had a delightful luncheon at tables set up around their pool with guava cake for dessert. Every winter they rent the Oscar Mayer House. Since Jim and Bill rent a home in Palm Springs just steps from our house, and since baking cakes at nearly 8000 feet where I live in New Mexico is an iffy proposition, at best, I said I’d bake the cake in Palm Springs. Not wanting to keep his original, I scanned it into my recipe database and returned the hardcopy. Shortly thereafter, the original recipe arrived in the mail still affixed to the index card. I was, and I said that I’d make it for him. Jim offered to share the recipe with me if I was interested. Late in 2016, the subject of the guava cake came up somehow at a dinner party at Jim and Bill’s house. Jim printed out the email and affixed it to an index card and put it in his recipe box. Van Sant, Jim to the rest of us, had complimented the resort on its guava cake and Mr. So began a 2003 email from Simon Rusconi, the Hotel Manager of the Sheraton Moana Surfrider Resort on Oahu.
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