In the 1950s and 60s Australia was not considered the cuisine capital of the world. This was the world of packet mix with ready made lemon meringue, trifle, rock cakes and jam tarts. A chocolate cake or sponge was an extra bonus. There was one deli in Bondi Junction that had some continental food and bread and Alice remembers always going there. It was run by Polish Jews of course and Mum was glad she could speak Polish to get what she needed.
My mother was a wonderful cook, a skill no doubt acquired from her mother and her fame for making of the most delicious cakes soon spread throughout the Jewish community in Sydney. The scarcity of quality cakes and tortes in those times enabled her to supplement the family income by making cakes and tortes from basic ingredients for restaurants and private functions. She accomplished that by making best use of a small kitchen, first in an apartment we moved in shortly after arriving in Sydney and then in our semi detached house in Bondi. She frequently made several cakes or tortes each week. My father helped whenever he could, chopping fruit, taking skin off almonds and beating eggs. The cakes were put into cardboard boxes which my mother sourced from various client's shops or restaurants - I remember on many occasions collecting these, bringing them home and folding them like a pizza box so that clients could carry the cakes. The kitchen always smelt of baking and when the clients came to collect their orders, the smell permeated though the house. Across the road from our semi detached house in Bondi lived a rather nasty woman, who suspected that something was going on in our house. She notified the local council that we were carrying on a commercial kitchen business in residential premises and one day an inspector knocked on the from door. He explained that the council received a complaint and asked to see the premises. My father proudly took him to the tiny kitchen, showed him the small oven and seriously asked "Do you really think that this small oven and kitchen is used for commercial purposes ?". The inspector shook his head in disbelief and left. The business carried on until my mother's untimely death in 1968. My father took on the family tradition and baked cakes for special family occasions but never as a business. See the recipe page for her most famous cake, the Almond and Fruit chocolate torte.
Another story which is of interest is also related to cooking - I remember that when we were staying in a boarding house immediately after arrival in Australia, my mother would take the milk bottle (which was delivered daily - oh those were the days) to the communal kitchen, empty it into a saucepan and wait for it to boil. The other women watched and wondered why. How was she to know that the milk was already pasteurised and did not need boiling ?
