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One day, about ten years ago, while rummaging in a used bookstore,
I found a nearly pristine first edition of Your Share, a Betty Crocker cook
booklet published in 1943. How could I leave it there? I could so easily
picture my mother using it as she cooked for her young daughters (my older
sisters) while our father was fighting on the other side of the world. Little
did I know, when I bought that delightful cooking pamphlet, that ten years later
I’d give it to the characters in a book. That book, Till Then, is book 4
in the multi-author Whistle Stop Café Mysteries coming out in 2023.
War-time Cake is a spicy raisin cake with no eggs, milk, or butter (if you make it with another shortening). It smells wonderful while it’s baking, and the taste
lives up to that lovely aroma! In true World War II fashion, though, I made a
substitution. The recipe calls for lard, something we don’t have in our
vegetarian kitchen. In Your Share, Betty Crocker encourages cooks to use
the ingredients on hand. So, although it would have been a luxury during rationing,
I used butter. I hope Betty approves.
Preheat oven to 325 ℉
Ingredients
I cup brown sugar
1 ¼ cups water
⅓ cup lard or other shortening
2 cups seeded raisins
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
½ teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 2 teaspoons water
2 all-purpose cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Directions
1.
Mix first 7 ingredients
in saucepan, bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes
2.
Cool mixture (I checked it at 30 minutes and
let it cool another 30 minutes)
3.
Add salt and the baking
soda dissolved in water
4.
Mix flour and baking
powder, and blend into cooled mixture
5.
Pour into greased,
floured 8-inch square pan
6.
Bake about 45 minutes - until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
Delicious un-iced!
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The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter or Instagram.
That sounds so good, Molly! I'd go with butter, too.
ReplyDeleteButter is the way to go!
DeleteI'd definitely use butter. That 1 cup of brown sugar was a lot during the war. With rationing, households were allowed 1/2 cup per person per week. Two people used their rations that week for one cake! Of course there was the black market...
ReplyDeleteThose were hard times, Joyce. Although, in our family, 1/2 cup per person would have been more than adequate. We must be a bunch of sourpusses!
DeleteSounds delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this. Just goes to prove that necessity is the mother of invention and you can make do without running to the store - especially when that is impossible.
ReplyDelete2clowns at arkansas dot net
I love stories of people rising to the occasion like this, Kay.
DeleteThat looks yummy. You can't go wrong with butter.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Valerie. MMmm, butter.
DeleteThat's a great recipe. Instead of shortening, this works very well using unsweetened applesauce. Then it's vegan and very low fat.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea!
DeleteI'd use butter too for now though dairy products are getting harder to get.
ReplyDeleteI hope the dairy situation improves, Kim.
DeleteI love using raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves in cookies and cakes . . . also butter. Thanks for the recipe and the story behind it, Molly.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! It really is a great combination of ingredients.
DeleteMy Mom & Dad were married in May, 1942 so Mom experienced rationing. She & I talked about how it affected what she, as a bride, adjusted her mother's recipes to fit the rationing. It was interesting! Her mother taught her to cook and she taught me so the recipes reflect the hard times of WWI (my grandparents' experience) and WWII and also the end of rationing and the booming economy of the 1950's. The book you found is priceless! Thank you for sharing the recipe for the cake.
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful cooking lineage, Linda! Thanks for stopping by Mystery Lovers' Kitchen today.
DeleteWe need to be reminded of some of the amazing hacks that went on with rationing and how good they were.
ReplyDeleteI cannot wait to try it, it sounds so good deborahortega229@yahoo.com
ReplyDelete