Old Mondamin Cake Tin

Posted on by Ilze

I recently found an old tin baking dish, and instead of simply putting it back in the box, I started wondering:

What cake was this actually made for?

The answer was hiding right on the tin.

It says “Mondamin” and “Wiener Nuß-Kuchen.” I don’t understand German, but I could work out one important word — Nuß-Kuchen means nut cake. So naturally, I had to go searching for the recipe. And not just any nut cake recipe — I wanted to find the recipe that was actually meant for this exact little tin.

And then there was the question of the tin itself.

I spent a rather ridiculous amount of time searching the internet, trying to find out when these Mondamin baking tins were made. From what I could find, tins like this are thought to date from around the 1920s–1930s, which means mine could be close to 100 years old.

I love the idea that this little tin may have already baked cakes almost a century ago — and now it has somehow ended up on my mind…

But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I didn’t just want to bake a walnut cake in it. I wanted to find the cake.

So now my little project is to go back in time and see if I can find the original Mondamin recipe from the 1920s or 1930s. I have already found references to a Wiener Nusskuchen made with Mondamin, so I think I’m getting closer.

I think I absolutely have to try. What do you think?

Ilze

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30 thoughts on “Old Mondamin Cake Tin”

  1. Of course you have to try it! Mondamin is an old traditinal brand of cornstarch – can you get it in Latvia? If not, I don’t think it will make much difference to the final product if you use your usual brand.

    Reply

    1. Yes, cornstarch! I forgot to mention that 🙂 I would use one I can get. Thank you for the comment! How are you, I haven’t been on your (or other blogs) because of my health issues…. I hope I will all be sorted soon 🙂 Have a lovely weekend.

      Reply

    1. Oh, this is good! Somehow I trusted AI and it’s saying “German walnut cake”! Now it makes sense – hazelnuts are common in German (and Latvian – influenced by Germans… and Russians) cuisine. Thank you!

      Reply

        1. Nice!!! I guess our search results really do depend on location! 😄 I even Googled in German, but still couldn’t find this one!

          Anyway, thank you so much for sharing the recipe! This one has cocoa, though, and I think the recipe I’m looking for is without cocoa. There was actually a whole discussion about whether to add cocoa or not — and it was 6:1 in favor of no cocoa! 😂

          Reply

  3. Go for it, your readers want to know too. 🤔 I saw an article recently that mentioned that Latvia has a man shortage, is this true? Are there more women than men?

    Reply

            1. 🙂 You’re welcome! I think I’ll post this recipe in English on my blog as well, because I recently realised I’ve lost my recipe box (with all the moving), and I want to make sure I have this recipe safely backed up.

              Reply

  9. What a fun ‘historical ‘exercise’ – good luck with it! Until recently when it got lost in my latest move, I had an Estonian cookbook dating back to 1938 – I spent quite some time reading how food was meant to be cooked way back then – mostly would not have copied now but got some interesting ideas.

    Reply
  12. Pingback: I Finally Baked the Mondamin Cake! – a day in the life of a latvian mom

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