The Oscar Cook-Along 2026

Apr 20

3 min read

This year we celebrate Hollywood's big night by highlighting Oscar fashion.

Bette Davis

Bette Davis received her first Best Actress Academy Award for the 1935 film Dangerous. She considered it a consolation prize for being snubbed by the Academy the previous year for Of Human Bondage. She won her second Academy Award for the 1938 film Jezebel. Overall Davis received a total of ten Academy Award nominations. She also claimed to have nicknamed the award "Oscar" after her first husband Harmon Oscar Nelson. Her statuette made an appearance as a prop in the 1952 drama where she plays a down and out actress who declares, "Come on Oscar, let's get drunk!"

Recipe

Bette Davis' Cinnamon Toast for Afternoon Tea

This recipe was published in The Mobile Times, November 14, 1937.

Ingredients

4 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

4 tablespoons melted butter

Directions

Mix the ingredients into a thick paste on a thin slice of bread that has been toasted on one side. Place in the oven for a few seconds. Serve with tea and slices of orange instead of lemon.

*I dramatically reduced the portions and placed it all on the bread BEFORE putting it in the oven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn5iTjm3_ao

Dorothy Dandridge

Dorothy Dandridge made history as the first African-American nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her stellar turn in Carmen Jones (1954).

Recipe

Dorothy Dandridge's Quick Cinnamon Rolls

This recipe was attributed to Dorothy Dandridge in Ebony Magazine. Thank you to my friend Christina Rice for the Los Angeles Public Library for locating it.

This is the original recipe.

Coffee Bread or Quick Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

Make a rich biscuit dough using:

4 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ cup shortening

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 cup milk

1 egg slightly beaten

Directions

Knead lightly. Roll one half very thin. Spread soft butter and sprinkle with cinnamon. This recipe is ideal for afternoon teas.

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup raisins and spread over dough liberally

Roll into dough with rolling pin

Roll up carefully like a jelly roll. Cut in ½ inch slices with sharp knife. Bake in greased pan in 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

I did an episode on this recipe a while back and ran into some problems. Click HERE to read the blog post about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6bVpXgK5uw

Joanne Woodward

Joanne Woodward's Zucchini Bread

Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress Academy Award for the 1957 film The Three Faces of Eve. She was nominated three more times throughout her career.

Recipe

This recipe comes from "Newman's Own Cookbook" by Paul Newman and A.E. Hotchner. According to the book "This is good for breakfast, as an accompaniment to a bowl of soup for lunch, or with a cup of coffee or tea as a snack".

Ingredients

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 large)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease well 2 loaf pans, each 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the sugar, oil, vanilla extract, and dry ingredients, a little at a time. The batter will be thick. Add the zucchini; the mixture will be gummy.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 1 hour. Check after 50 minutes. If a toothpick comes out clean, the bread is done.

Great served warm or cold. The loves may be frozen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz9asp-MJjE

Watch the Episode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4q51UUfqxQo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUQjVoixF0E

Guests

Samantha Ellis writes the column "Cooking with the Stars" for the Classic Movie Hub. She blogs at Musings of a Classic Film Addict and co-hosts the podcast "Ticklish Business". Samantha is also writing a book about classic film star recipes.

Dominique Breckinridge is an art/film creative and fashion designer, of Dominique Revue and Dominique Private Collection. Her trademark, professionally and personally, radiates from her adoration of classic cinema, influencing my continuous homage to Old Hollywood, rooted in her home brew adage, "Classic entertainment in a modern world done in a vintage manner."

You can see all of her work from garments to essays (including her ongoing NOTABLE CLASSIC BLACK ENTERTAINERS series)—and her homage to classic Hollywood—at www.dominiquerevue.weebly.com or by viewing my Dominique Revue YouTube Channel and my Dominique Revue Productions YouTube Channel.