Gettin’ Kitschy in the Kitchen with Cheerwine Cake

If you’ve ever wondered what your trusted staff is up to when they aren’t on the reference desk, it looks a little like this:

Jason drinks a can of Cheerwine to supplement his “piece” of Cheerwine cake.

Andy Griffith looks on with jealousy as Harry samples the cake.

Not too long ago I had my first can of Cheerwine, and I was curious to find out more about this North Carolina soft drink.  It turns out that the Cheerwine website lists several recipes using their soda, including punch, cherry pie, barbecue sauce, and my personal favorite, the CheerDevil Cake, which Harry and Jason can be seen eating above.  I think I’ll have to make a batch of Cheerwine ice cream next.  To get to the recipes section of their website, first click on product, then recipes.

I won’t post the recipe here, but I will leave you with a great tip, suggested to me by none other than our very own Jason Tomberlin:  after the cake cools, poke holes in it using a spatula so that the icing can drip down into the cake.  Delicious!

When I’m not baking, I’m at the NCC working on the North Carolina Postcards project.  Below is a postcard from ca. 1916, showing the interior of the bottling facility at the Chero-Cola Company in Winston-Salem, NC.  Click on the image to view its record in the NCPC digital collection, where you can zoom-in.

6 thoughts on “Gettin’ Kitschy in the Kitchen with Cheerwine Cake”

  1. I believe that the NCC Gallery also has a few Cheerwine and Chero-cola bottles . . . And I want to tell you that you have certainly “flung a craving” on me for some Cheerwine cake this morning. (But, I have to tell you, that think homemade Cheerwine ice cream might even be better . . . )

  2. From our “You’re not from around here, are you?” files:
    “BATF, a branch of the Treasury Department, may… make an inquiry into Cheerwine, a soda pop from Salisbury, N.C.-based Carolina Beverage…. Critics who recently discovered the 75-year-old brand believe the ‘wine’ in its name and a jingle that alludes to ‘a new state of mind’ will help encourage underage drinking.” — Beverage World, May 31, 1992

  3. Amazing! I sure could use a cheerwine up here in the northland… especially if it ever gets above 75 degrees….

  4. The Efland estate! If only it could stay available until I’ve racked in my fortune as an archivist….

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