When Washington Baked the World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake

It’s strawberry season! Our favorite strawberry grower, Klicker’s, in Walla Walla, Washington, announced last summer that it was going out of business after 107 years of growing berries. Much to our happy surprise, they had one last encore harvest this year. We’re sad to say goodbye to this Walla Walla institution. In the meantime, we’ve been enjoying strawberry shortcake, and I have a freezer full of berries for future enjoyment.

Washington’s Strawberries

Northwest farmers have grown berries commercially since the late 1800s. Most commercial berry production happens west of the Cascade Mountains. Skagit and Whatcom counties in northwestern Washington are today’s top producers, but other counties in western Washington had their own historic strawberry booms.

Dueling Shortcakes

In 1928, two different groups in Washington claimed title to the World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake. In the early twentieth century, industries used a variety of publicity stunts to advertise their products. They sponsored contests, aviation shows, local baseball teams, and special dinners, among other events. Anything to create a splash.

Washington strawberry growers were not the first to use oversized desserts as a promotional stunt. As I write about in my book, Yakima, Washington, constructed a 10-foot diameter apple pie to celebrate National Apple Week in 1926. Event planners originally planned a cake, but decided on an apple pie, since that was more iconically American than an apple cake. All the major news agencies filmed the event and generated favorable publicity for Yakima’s apple industry.

Kalama Makes Its Move

Strawberry growers in Kalama, Washington, had similar ideas when in May 1928, the Kalama Men’s Business Club served a large strawberry shortcake at the annual Lower Columbia Associated Chambers of Commerce dinner. The club wanted to highlight the region’s strawberry production. Signs on the highway leading into town advertised “The World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake.” Newspaper accounts do not provide the dimensions of the cake, but it reportedly used 12 gallons of whipped cream. Five hundred businessmen attended the dinner, and Washington Governor Roland H. Hartley cut the first piece.

Chehalis Goes Big

The Kalama cake was a modest affair compared to the cake baked in Chehalis, Washington, later that summer. The Chamber of Commerce decided to make a “monster strawberry shortcake” the centerpiece of their annual Farmers and Merchants picnic. (Chehalis Bee-Nugget, June 15, 1928). Chehalis seems to have taken their inspiration from Yakima, although the purpose of the event was “social visitation” rather than promoting the strawberry industry.  (Chehalis Bee-Nugget June 29, 1928).

An estimated 4500 people showed up for the July 20 event which featured tug-of-war, three-legged races, a nail driving contest, a rolling pin throwing contest, and other sporting events. The town voted on a picnic queen, who was crowned at the event.

The cake weighed close to a ton and contained 4,000 servings. It measured 16 feet high, and 16 by 30 feet at the base. According to the Chehalis Bee-Nugget, the cake took 700 pounds of sugar, 1800 eggs, 90 pounds of shortening, 5 pounds of salt, 10 ½ pounds of baking powder, 300 pounds of flour, 16 gallons of milk, and 900 quarts of strawberries. It took four bakers four days to make the cake. The picnic queen cut the cake as the movie cameras rolled.

Seattle Steals the Cake (Again)

The event was a success. Pictures of the cake appeared in newspapers as far away as New York, and townspeople were invited to come see themselves on the newsreels after the event. There was just one problem: Seattle was credited rather than Chehalis. The same thing happened to Yakima in 1926 when Seattle got credit for the big apple pie. Washington is much more than Seattle, and even today, non-Seattleites can be frustrated when Seattle pulls focus. A hundred years ago when towns across the state were trying to attract new residents and build their industries, this was an even bigger insult. As the Chehalis Bee Nugget noted in an August 10, 1928, editorial “We think our big cousin, Seattle, was real mean trying to steal our cake. . .. Seattle couldn’t possibly build as big and luscious a strawberry shortcake as Chehalis built.  . . . We want our shortcake back.” The same day, the Bee Nugget reprinted an editorial from the Mason County Journal that summed up the problem: “The Chehalis grievance is over the copping of its big strawberry shortcake, while Yakima lost the glory of its big apple pie, Bellingham its tulip festival, Tacoma its Fort Lewis, and, we were going to say, its mountain.” The paper proposed a cheeky solution: just name the state Seattle. Then at least all the erroneous news stories would be correct.

Fortunately, all’s well that ends well. Everyone enjoyed the shortcake. Chehalis got their name in the papers for the shortcake and for the Seattle mix-up.

Make Your Own Shortcake

If you’re looking for a good short cake recipe, I recommend Starlight Cake. This is an old Betty Crocker recipe from the 1940s that I’ve modified. It comes together quickly in one bowl, and it’s a great base for strawberries and whipped cream.