Brooklyn Blackout Company

From 1806 to 1966, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was one of the country’s most important military installations, and during World War II New York City announced mandatory neighborhood-wide blackouts to protect it. In honor of the monumental war effort, a beloved Brooklyn-based bakery chain named Ebinger’s created a dark, rich chocolate cake they called the Brooklyn Blackout Cake. The cake exploded in popularity, but sadly Ebinger’s went out of business in the 1970s and the original recipe was lost to history.

Even though warships are no longer emerging from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, today hundreds of small local businesses are: it’s been transformed into one of the city’s biggest industrial and commercial complexes. Today, the Brooklyn Blackout Company is sailing forth with its own unique spin on this legendary cake.