Thanksgiving Cranberry Pound Cake

by Sheila Connolly

Recently I wrote here about searching for a recipe to use with my vintage Swans Down hexagonal cake pans. I tracked down the corporate headquarters and asked if they could find a vintage recipe to match. They couldn’t, but they were quick to answer and kindly sent me a big batch of their recipes. I applaud their customer service!

Among their Thanksgiving recipes was one for Cranberry Pound Cake. Since I live in the home of Ocean Spray, I have a moral obligation to use our native cranberries, so I thought I’d share this recipe, in case you want something that isn’t apple or pumpkin pie with your holiday meal.

Swans Down Cranberry Pound Cake

3 cups sifts Swans Down cake flour

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1-3/4 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 large egg yolk, room temperature

3/4 cup whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped fresh cranberries (chop first, then measure)

Optional: 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and lightly flour a 10-inch tube pan.

Sift the flour and measure. Then add the baking powder and salt, and sift again to mix.

In a large bowl, cream the butter, then gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs and the extra yolk one at a time, beating after each addition until smooth.

Mix the vanilla and the milk. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in three batches, alternative with the milk, and beating on low after each addition.

Fold in the cranberries (and nuts if you’re using them).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then remove from the pan and finish cooling on the rack.

Glaze (if you want it)

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

2 Tblsp heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla

In a medium bowl combine the sugar and butter, then stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, add more cream, one tablespoon at a time. Drizzle over the cooled cake.

I'm giving away a copy of Picked to Die to someone who leaves a comment here (random drawing!) about the first Thanksgiving dish you ever cooked yourself. (I roasted my first Turkey when I was 16 because I really wanted to go with my family to my high school's Thanksgiving Day football game.) The drawing will be held on Thanksgiving Day.

Meg, Seth, Bree, Max and Lolly, and all the citizens of Granford, wish you a bountiful harvest and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Swans Down Chocolate Cake

by Sheila Connolly

A couple of months ago I drove to Pennsylvania and Maryland for a couple of bookstore signings, including a nice one at the Chester County Book Store in West Chester, Pennsylvania. I chose that because it’s literally right down the road from where my most recent book, Razing the Dead, is set. Is that serendipity or what?

I love that area of Pennsylvania—my family lived there for decades, and I lived there for a while myself, years ago. It includes Kennett Square, mushroom capital of the country, so of course I stopped at a café for a bowl of mushroom soup. And then I went antiquing, and I ended up with four hexagonal Swans Down baking pans (among other things!).

A brief history of the company, founded in Evansville, Indiana, can be found here. They’ve been around for a while!

Of course I wanted to try out my new old pans. A quick scan online suggested that they date from the 1920s, so I set out to find a Swans Down recipe from the same era. This one comes from an ad from that time (note: the original recipe was made by hand—I’ll let you use a mixer!). What sold me was the attached recipe for mocha frosting, which was one my mother made often. (BTW, the hexagonal pans hold 3 cups of batter. This is the same as a standard 8” baking pan, BUT it is not as wide and it is deeper, so I had to adjust your cooking time.)

Once again let me note that this is a half-recipe (I like cake, but not enough to eat a whole one!), or one pan’s worth. If you want a more typical two-layer cake, just double it (use only five eggs total).

Swans Down Chocolate Cake

1-1/4 cups Swans Down cake flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, well beaten

1-1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted (originally this called for 1-1/2 squares of Baker’s Chocolate, when 1 square = 1 oz. There are a lot more options these days, and the measurements have changed.)

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease your baking pans well.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter, then add sugar gradually with the mixer running, and continue until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add the eggs and beat well. Then add the chocolate, and mix to blend.

Add the flour alternating with the buttermilk, beating after each addition. Add the vanilla last.

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until done (when a toothpick comes out clean). Remove from the oven and let cool before frosting. When you are ready to frost the cake, remove it from the pan and cut it in half crosswise.

Chocolate Mocha Frosting

2 Tblsp butter

5 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted

1/2 cup strong coffee

2 tsp vanilla

Cream the butter and add 1 cup of the sugar, blending thoroughly. Add the salt and the melted chocolate, and mix well.

Add the remaining 4 cups of sugar, alternating with the coffee, beating after each addition. (You may not need all the coffee—you want a smooth spreading consistency, not soup). Add the vanilla and blend.

And frost your cake! I have to say, the cake was lovely—light in texture, with a nice chocolate flavor. There’s something to be said for the old ways!

Swans Down wanted you to know that their flour is 27 times finer than ordinary flour! in the 1920s—and the same line is still on their box today.

Oh, right--there's a book coming out in October. In Picked to Die, Meg Corey is too busy harvesting apples and solving a murder to even think about baking a cake. But vintage cooking equipment will play a part in the next book!