What started as a favorite dessert of an Attala County family in the 1880s is now being sold by a bakery in New Hampshire.
An heirloom rum cake recipe is the thread connecting Kosciusko to Nashua, New Hampshire.
The recipe had its origin in 1880s Kosciusko, and has been passed down through generations of the Armstrong family. The delicacy has now been made a commercial enterprise by Peter and Paulette Vollheim through their Black Cat Rum Cake Co. in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Paulette, born in New Hampshire, is the daughter to Attala County natives Mary Pauline and Emmett Armstrong. Since Paulette was born in New Hampshire, she and her husband do not know the exact location of the Attala County farmhouse where the cake is believed to have been first baked. They only have a photograph of the location.
Paulette Vollheim said she had baked the cake for a number of years for gifts at Christmas and other occasions. Its popularity with (and encouragement from friends) led the couple to consider turning the heirloom recipe into a business.
“One day we said, ‘Let’s do it,’” she said.
The couple then named the business name after their pets – two black cats, which also gave them a slogan for the cakes: “Rum cake that’s so darn good, the cat just might run away with it.”
The Vollheims said the photo of the old farmhouse represents an era of pride that always showed in the work of the people, whether working in the fields or at the farm house.
“The rum cake that was served at the dinner table then is the same recipe that we offer you today. Time marches on and the farmhouse in gone, but the recipe survives as the Black Cat Rum Cake,” they said.
Currently, the Vollheims are distributing their cakes to restaurants in the Nashua, NH, area near the bakery, but hope to begin shipping them nationally in the not-too-distant future. The couple and one employee do all the baking themselves.
The cakes come in three sizes, a five-ounce single serving, a 1 ¼-pound cake baked in its own wooden tray, and a 2 ½-pound cake baked in a wooden box.
“We are not shipping yet, as we have packing issues that have to be worked out,” said Peter Vollheim.
But the Vollheims are certain that those who have an opportunity to try the cakes will not forget them.
“The cakes are guaranteed not to last, but will be long-remembered,” they said.
