Holocaust Survivor’s Orange Cake Recipe Turned into Cupcakes at BC Bakery

A prized family recipe for orange cake that survived the Holocaust was recreated by Chilliwack Bakery this week to honor Holocaust survivors.

Survivor Alex Buckman is the keynote speaker for A Conversation with a Holocaust Survivor, a sold-out event on Wednesday (November 23) at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) Abbotsford campus.

Sebastian Huebel, who teaches the Holocaust History Course at UFV, organized the event.

Huebel invited Buckman to share his story with the class, making arrangements through the Vancouver Holocaust Education Center.

“I wanted my students to be able to hear and speak to survivors,” Huebel recalls.

But instead of having speakers speak to just 30 students, he decided to open up the event to the wider community, thinking it might attract wider interest. And it sold out.

The event was described as an opportunity to “witness personal and powerful stories of survival and courage while learning and contemplating how they can be involved in meaningful ways of building a better world.”

As a child, Bachmann survived the Holocaust by hiding in Belgium, but his mother and aunt died in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

“But one of the things that survived was a cookbook containing some family recipes.

The cookbook was delivered to him by another survivor and somehow ended up in Buckman’s hands.

Huebel decided to contact Travis Neels of BeNanna Bakery in Chilliwack to see if he could recreate the decades-old cake recipe in time for the event.

“Sure enough they did!”

According to Neels, the recipe they turned into cupcakes included both orange juice and a little orange peel. It was a fun challenge to try a European style bakery.

“It turned out great,” says Neels. “It was an easy recipe.”

BeNanna staff baked about 150 cupcakes from the orange cake recipe and packed them into pastry boxes that were distributed to attendees at the end of the Holocaust memorial event.

In his closing remarks, the history instructor said he would explain that one of the “enduring legacies” of the Holocaust is the memory that needs to be preserved.

“In the end the Nazis didn’t succeed,” Huebel said. “They tried to get rid of all the Jews, but they didn’t. There are family stories. There are survivors and there are memories that need to be kept alive. So it’s more than just a cupcake! ”

So once the event is over, attendees can relive those lingering moments as a meaningful way to close out the event.

“So maybe we can cherish his memory and that of his family by taking that cupcake and recipe home and living it.”

Anything to add to this story, or news tips? Email:
jennifer.feinberg@theprogress.com

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@CHWKjourno
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