I'm
not really obsessed with the past, but it seems to follow me around. I was
innocently doing some online genealogy research when what did I stumble upon
but an entire file of recipes from a small group of Connecticut newspapers, all
dating to the early 1880s. (See? I can't
escape!) So of course I printed them all
out. There's a nice trove of apple recipes
in there that I'm sure I'll find a use for.
Just had to throw this in--my new old sifter |
Whether
or not I ever cook most of these, they make fascinating reading. For one thing, the quantities are often huge,
like nine eggs and a pound of butter and a loaf of sugar. Units for dry ingredients are often given by
weight. Temperatures for baking are
given as moderate or quick (if given at all).
Now and then an odd implements is thrown in, like a hair sieve (to the
best of my knowledge, that's a fine sieve made of stiff horse-hair—no, I don't
have one). Some puddings (and some
non-sweet items as well) are boiled for hours.
And everything is beaten, and beaten, and beaten…before the benefit of
electric appliances. I keep imagining
the wrists on women back then—I wouldn't want to wrestle with any of them.
Of
course I had to try a recipe, and one that appealed to me was called Feather
Cake. I don't know why—the end result is
not exactly as light as a feather.
I
endeavored to follow the directions, but I'll admit that I could use some
serious wrist training, so I used my trusty stand mixer (which has been around
for a while—my mother remembered seeing her father get his fingers stuck in the
beater part of one, when she was a child).
I'm not sure what's going on here, but it scares me |
You will note that while this recipe uses both
baking soda and cream of tartar, which we today would recognize as baking
powder, back in 1880 you often had to deal with them separately. I had to check my trusty Joy of Cooking for an explanation:
--If you're making your own, mix 1/2 tsp cream of
tartar, 1/3 tsp bicarbonate of soda, and 1/8 tsp salt. Then use it fast—it
doesn't keep.
--there are apparently four kinds of baking
powders/sodas:
·
Sodium
bicarbonate (baking soda). To use to
make things rise, must be used with an acid ingredient such as sour milk,
buttermilk or molasses
·
Tartrate
baking powder: baking soda combined with
tartaric acid (huh?). Fastest reaction
time, so bake quickly once the dough is mixed.
·
Phosphate
baking powers (forget it—you'll probably never see this)
·
Double-acting
baking powder: baking soda combined with
sodium aluminum sulfate and calcium acid phosphate. This is the baking powder
of choice in Joy of Cooking, because
it doesn't start working until the dough heats up, so you aren't racing around
like a crazy person trying to get everything mixed fast.
Okay, that's more than you ever wanted to
know. But note that in this recipe, the
baking soda is mixed with the milk first, and the cream of tartar (twice the
amount of soda) is mixed with the flour.
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
3 eggs, separated
2
cups flour
[I cheated and added some vanilla extract.]
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees [this was not mentioned at all in the
original recipe]
Cream together one‑half cup of butter [the recipe didn't call for softened—but
remember, there were no refrigerators in general use in 1880, so it would have been at room temperature]
and two cups of sugar.
Dissolve the soda in the milk and beat into the
sugar-butter mixture
Sift together the flour and the cream of tartar
and add to mixture, beating well.
Beat the yolks of three eggs and add them to the
batter. Beat the whites separately until stiff and fold them to the mixture.
Add the rest of the flour in four parts, beating well between each successive
addition.
Butter two middle‑sized tins [I'm beginning to wonder what the Victorian's
considered medium or large—most portions seem huge by modern standards].
Pour in the batter and bake for 20-30 minutes in
a moderate oven. [Nope, nowhere near
cooked through after 30 minutes in my modern oven—took more like 40.]
Cool. [The
original recipe didn't say a word about cooling the cake, or how/when to remove
it from the pan.]
Most
of the old recipes do not tell you to frost the cakes. In some cases you may add cream, whipped or
not.
As
a cake, it was nice enough—a little dense, but flavorful, and it keeps well.
And
there are so many more to try… PLAIN CAKE, PLAIN
RICH CAKE, IMPERIAL CAKE, YEAST CAKE, SUPERIOR SPONGE CAKE, SPONGE CAKE, CHEAP
SPONGE CAKE, JELLY CAKE, CIDER CAKE, COFFEE CAKE, COFFEE CAKE (2), NUT CAKE, POUND CAKE, APPLE
FRUIT CAKE, APPLE SHORTCAKE, SCOTCH CAKE, LEMON CHEESE CAKES, GINGERBREAD,
GINGERBREAD (2), HARD SUGAR GINGERBREAD, SHORT CAKE, JOHNNY
CAKE, and CALIFORNIA CAKE.
You may be
seeing more of these in days to come—don't you really want to know the
difference between Superior Sponge Cake and Cheap Sponge Cake in 1880?
Coming October 1st
Yes, there are recipes--including one called Apple Toad.
Another fascinating recipe, Sheila. Feather cake sounds very good. What's not to like about those ingredients? Hmm, makes a person wonder when frosting came into vogue.
ReplyDelete~Krista
I'm intrigued with the egg whites being beaten and added and THEN more additions of flour which are to be well beaten. Usually the whole point of separating the eggs and adding beaten egg whites is for the leavening (lightness) they add. They are gently folded in as the last ingredient before putting the batter into the pans. Seems to me that mixing in flour after the whites defeats their purpose.
ReplyDeleteAs to the lack of some instructions, my guess is that any homemaker worth her salt would have known the basics and not wanted/needed it written out.
Hm, "worth her salt" I'd never thought of it before, but considering how valuable salt was in the past, that is a telling description.
Sheila, this is exactly the type of cake I've always loved. I'm wondering if it might make a good base for strawberry shortcake. I've read (and loved!) all the orchard mysteries, and can't wait for the next one to be released.
ReplyDeleteSheila, very interesting. I did some genealogy study of my family when I was in Connecticut. It turned out that my ancestors landed there and their signatures were in a 1700s book of all those immigrants that landed during that time. I'd have to go to Europe to study further.
ReplyDeleteFeather cake - that makes me think of something my grandmother used to make. Called it feather cake but it was dense, like this. Must have been the same thing.
Hope you're having a great time at Bouchercon conference!
Daryl / Avery
"The hand that does the cooking has a finger in the pie..." (Sheila, that illustration scares me, too!)
ReplyDeleteOn the recipe-I had the same thought as Libby: beating egg whites separately and folding them into the batter is a common step for chiffon cake, but it's done at the very last stage before cooking. Maybe this recipe is meant to be light but not so light as chiffon and that's the reason more flour is beaten in after folding in the egg whites. Either way, you can't argue with those delicious photos. The cake layers look wonderful--and despite the historical perspective on toppings, perfectly ready for chocolate frosting (she said from her perch in the 21st Century). Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.
~ Cleo
As usual, I learned something new from your post. Terrific looking may I add. Now why am I hungry? Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
MJ
Sheila, please post the link to: "an entire file of recipes from a small group of Connecticut newspapers, all dating to the early 1880s." Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMaybe they are these?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cowindham/records/other/recipes1800s.htm