Tag Archives: cake

Vintage Vegan: Eggless, butterless, milkless cake

Vintage Vegan: eggless butterless milkless cake | Food Through the Pages

Thoughts:

With a hand-typed recipe and a name like that, how could I resist? This is the latest recipe from the very cool family cookbook, The Way to a Man’s Heart (link), and like the others, is a quirky look back in time. In my book, the recipe is typed onto a small piece of paper, and pasted onto the back cover. However, my Google-fu skills led me to a very similar recipe in Dr. Price’s New Cookbook, from 1921. That recipe calls for a good deal more baking powder, which I think would not go amiss.

On its own, this cake is not going to win any beauty contests. However, a good layer of icing serves to really spruce it up. The cake itself is also helped by the icing, because as you might expect, it’s a little on the dense side. The raisins and nuts are evenly distributed throughout the cake, giving each bite a little bit of interest and moistness. 

Although it’s not going to be a a new staple in my kitchen, it’s a fun historical experiment that’s delicious with tea!


Recipe for Eggless, Butterless, Milkless Cake

Put into a sauce pan the following and boil together three minutes, then cool:

Original Recipe for -less Cake

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 cups seeded raisins
  • 1/3 cup lard or shortening
  • 1/4 grated nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon

When cool, stir in

  • 1 cup English walnuts
  • 1 tsp. soda, dissolved in 1 Tbs. water
  • 2 cups flour 
  • 1/2 tsp. full of baking powder 

Grease a round pan and gently spread the elastic batter in it. 

Bake at 300F for 45 minutes to an hour. 

If you like, ice the cake with:

  • 1/2 cup confectioners sugar
  • enough water to bring it together

DSC00926  DSC00941

Cider Cake

Thoughts:

Cider, for me, is the epitome of Autumn.

Dense, moist, and characterized by that distinctive spiced cider flavor, this cake is an easy new favorite. I initially wondered if the cake would need icing, since it calls for so few ingredients, but after tasting it, I love it as is. It’s delightfully simple, and while frosting would only add, I enjoy a simpler baked good next to my afternoon tea. If frosted, it would be pigeonholed into the dessert category, while unfrosted, it can be enjoyed equally well as breakfast, snack, dessert, or with tea. I’ve tweaked the recipe just a bit, but it is every bit as delicious as the original.

Also, one of the best parts of the recipe is the note afterward, which states that despite the recipe coming from a Young Lady, it “will make a nice cake, better than some old ladies make.” 

I’m inclined to agree. 

cider cake
Cider Cake Recipe

Prep: 10 minutes       Baking: 35-40 minutes

Makes one 9″x9″ cake

Cook’s Note: The batter is much, much thicker than what we are used to with cake recipes. Also, you may wish to trim off the edges of the cake if they are a tad too crispy.

from Dr. Chase’s Receipt Book, 1887

Ingredients:

  • 1 cups sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/3 cup sweet (unfermented) apple cider, room temperature
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. each cinnamon and ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
  • 4 cups flour

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour an 8″ square pan, or a 9″ round one.

Cream together the sugar, butter, and egg. Add the cider, and beat until it’s all the same consistency. Add the soda and spices, followed by the flour, which should give you an unusually thick batter. Smooth this evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out mostly clean. Allow to cool in the pan for around 10 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

Delicious served with a little whipped cream, or vanilla or ginger ice cream.

Seed Cake with Emptins – 1798

Thoughts:

This recipe results in a somewhat quirky loaf that falls somewhere between a heavy cake and a very serious shortbread. One slice will go a long way, and is best spread with a bit of salted butter. 

Ingredients:Full Batch                                       Half Batch                             Quarter Batch

  • 1 lb. sugar                                       1/2 lb. sugar (1 cup)        1/2 cup sugar
  • half ounce allspice                      1/4 ounce allspice            1/2 Tbs. allspice
  • 4 quarts flour (16 cups)            8 cups flour                          4 cups flour
  • 1 lb. butter                                     1/2 lb. butter                      1 stick butter, melted into
  • 1 pint milk                                      1 cup milk                             1/2 cup milk
  • 9 eggs                                               4 eggs                                     2 eggs
  • 1 gill emptins                                2 oz. emptins                      1 oz. emptins
  • seed                                                  seeds                                      2 Tbs. seeds
  • currants                                          currants                                1/2 cup currants or chopped raisins

These instructions are for the quarter batch,  Bake at 350 F for 1-1 1/2 hours, or until it’s slightly brown on top.