The young boy’s voice rose above the adult chatter: “I want cake, not pie,” he told the lady responsible for the food prepared for the banquet.
His determined voice and the look on his face proclaimed only cake would make him happy. Another adult went to the kitchen and returned with a large slice of cake that had been set aside for the hostess.
The youngster walked off with the cake, a huge smile on his face.
That boy was likely no different from boys who might have asked their mothers in 1923 for a slice of cake. The recipes in the Purity Flour Cookbook of that year include an impressive array of cake recipes.
Certainly even our modern-day boy would have been satisfied.
• • •
Eggless Cake
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 large cup sweet milk
- 2 tsps. baking soda
- 11/2 cups white seedless raisins
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. cloves
- 1/2 tsp. allspice
- pinch of mace
- pinch of salt
Cream butter and sugar then add other ingredients and mix well. Pour into a prepared, buttered and floured pan and bake in a slow oven for 40 minutes.
• • •
Soft Ginger Bread Cake
- 3/4 cup molasses
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 cup sour milk
- 3 eggs
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tbsp. ground ginger
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. soda
Cream the butter and sugar then add the molasses. Add the eggs, one a time, and beat thoroughly.
Dissolve the soda in the sour milk, mixing well.
Sift the flour and spices and add to the other mixture, alternately with the milk.
Bake in a ginger cake tin or in 24 cup cake pans.
• • •
Walnut and Cherry Cake
- 4 eggs
- 1 1/2 level cups of white sugar
- 2 level tsps. baking powder
- 2 level cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup rice flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup butter
- grated rind from one orange
- grated rind from two lemons
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 cup chopped cherries
Break eggs in a large basin. Add sugar and beat for five minutes. Place the basin in a large pan of boiling water and beat mixture for 15 minutes.
Remove the basin from water to a flat table surface and beat another 15 minutes or until the mixture is cold.\
Sift together the two flours, baking powder and salt. Gradually add warm butter, fruit rinds, extracts, nuts and cherries. Add to original mixture and stir.
Turn into a large, well-greased and floured cake tin and bake in a moderate oven for one hour. Allow cake to stand for five minutes before being turned out of the tin.
Set cake aside until cold. Cover with a white frosting and decorate with small cherry pieces and walnuts.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
