1920s Spice Cake @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here, jumping up and down with excitement! Next Tuesday is the official release day for A Case for the Ladies, a novel of historical suspense long in the making. Also, today is International Women's Day in Women's History Month.

You heard more about it a couple of weeks ago when the Spotlight was on me, but for now let it suffice to say that the story takes place in summer of 1926.

So I went hunting for recipes from the 1920s.

I found a simple spice cake in The Perry Home Cook Book.

Okay, so "The way to a man's heart is through his stomach" might be a bit dated, but I love that the compilation from the good women of Perry begins with this:

The following recipe is earnestly recommended: Take of Charity, 25 parts; Justice 25 parts; Patience ten parts; Cheerfulness ten parts; to be blended and highly seasoned with plenty of Common Sense, Regard for the Rights of Others, and the saving Sense of Humor. To be taken in large quantities constantly or oftener.

--K. M.

Nobody can argue with that, right?

Spice Cake

Here is the recipe as written in the book - Mary is a tad short on procedure:

¼ cup butter; 1/8 cup lard; 1 cup sugar; ¾ cup brown sugar; 3 eggs. 2½ teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon cloves; ½ cup water; ¼ cup milk; 2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon nutmeg; pinch of salt; vanilla. Mix same as plain cake and bake in a loaf.

--MARY QUANEY

I hope what follows is more usable.

Ingredients

3/4 stick butter, softened, plus more for greasing pan

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of salt

½ cup water mixed with ¼ cup milk

Directions

Grease loaf pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream butter and sugars. Beat in vanilla and eggs.

Add spices and salt to flour. 

Add dry ingredients alternately with liquid in three parts, beating after each.

Pour into loaf pan.

Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack for ten minutes. Run a knife around the edges and turn out onto the rack. 

Slice and enjoy warm or at room temperature with a hot drink or a glass of sherry.

Readers: Share an old-fashioned food you enjoy making or eating. I'll send one of you a recipe postcard!

At the start of this post, I mentioned the official release date. But the book came out early! I hope you love A Case for the Ladies as much as I loved writing it.

Amid Prohibition, Irish gangs, the KKK, and rampant mistreatment of immigrant women, intrepid private investigator Dorothy Henderson and her pal Amelia Earhart seek justice for several murdered young women in 1926 Boston. As tensions mount, the sleuths, along with their reporter friend Jeanette Colby and Dot’s maiden Aunt Etta Rogers, a Wellesley College professor, experience their own mistreatment at the hand of society and wonder who they can really trust.

📖🍷🥗

Deep Fried Death, #12 in the Country Store Mysteries, is out!

Murder Uncorked, Cece Barton Mystery #1, released in late October.

Next to release, after A Case for the Ladies, is Murder at the Rusty Anchor in late June. It's the sixth Cozy Capers Book Group Mystery.

Check out all my writing:

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen.