Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit Part 47

AN INEXPENSIVE COCOA CAKE

This is a decidedly good cake and no eggs are required. Cream together 1 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup b.u.t.ter. Add 1 cup of sour milk, 1-3/4 cups flour, then sift over 1-1/2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa. Add 1 level teaspoonful saleratus, dissolved in a little of the sour milk, and 1 teaspoonful vanilla. Bake in a small loaf. Use the following icing:

1/4 cup of grated chocolate, 3/4 cup milk, 1/2 cup sugar, boiled together until thick, and spread on cake.

AUNT SARAH'S WALNUT GINGERBREAD

1/2 cup of New Orleans mola.s.ses.

1 cup of light brown sugar.

1/2 cup of shortening (composed of b.u.t.ter, lard and sweet drippings).

1/2 teaspoonful of ginger, cinnamon and cloves each.

2 teaspoonfuls of baking soda (saleratus), sifted with 3-1/2 cups flour.

1 cup boiling water.

2 eggs.

Beat to a cream the sugar and shortening in a bowl; add mola.s.ses, then pour over all one cup of boiling water. Beat well. Add flour, soda and spices, all sifted together. Beat into this the two unbeaten eggs (one at a time), then add about 3/4 of a cup of coa.r.s.ely chopped _black walnut_ meats or the same quant.i.ty of well-floured raisins may be subst.i.tuted for the walnut meats.

The cakes may be baked in m.u.f.fin pans. In that case fill pans about two-thirds full. The above quant.i.ty makes eighteen. They can also be baked in a pan as a loaf cake. This cake is excellent, and will keep fresh several days. These cakes taste similar to those sold in an Atlantic City bake-shop which have gained a reputation for their excellence.

AUNT SARAH'S "GERMAN CRUMB CAKES" BAKED IN CRUSTS

3 cups flour.

2-1/2 heaping teaspoonfuls baking powder.

2 cups sugar (soft A or light brown).

1/2 cup lard and b.u.t.ter mixed.

2 eggs.

1 cup sweet milk.

Pinch of salt.

Flavoring--vanilla or grated orange rind.

Line three small pie tins with pie crust. Sift together into a bowl the flour and baking powder and add light brown or A sugar, and the b.u.t.ter, lard and salt. Rub this all together with the hands until well mixed and crumbly. Take out 1 cupful of these crumbs and stand aside.

Add to the rest of the mixture the yolks of eggs, whites being beaten separately and added last. Add slowly 1 cup of sweet milk. Mix it in gradually until the mixture is creamed, then add a small quant.i.ty of grated orange peel, lemon or vanilla flavoring. Lastly, stir in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Pour the mixture into each one of the three unbaked crusts, then sprinkle the cup of crumbs thickly over the tops. Bake in a moderate oven. These are very good, cheap cakes for breakfast or lunch.

"SOUR CREAM" MOLa.s.sES CAKE

1/2 cup mola.s.ses.

1 cup sugar.

1/2 cup thick sour cream.

1/2 cup sour milk.

1/2 cup finely chopped peanuts.

1 egg.

1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in little hot water.

2-3/4 cups flour.

1 cup seeded raisins.

Mix together like ordinary cake. Bake in a fruit cake pan in a slow oven about forty minutes. This excellent cake requires no shortening, as cream is used.

ECONOMY CAKE

1 egg.

1 cup sweet milk.

1 cup granulated sugar.

2 cups flour.

1/4 cup b.u.t.ter.

2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Cream together sugar and yolk of egg, then beat into this mixture the b.u.t.ter and add the milk. Then stir the flour, a small quant.i.ty at a time, into the mixture, keeping it smooth and free from lumps. Add the stiffly beaten white of egg. Use any flavoring or spice preferred.

Bake in a quick oven.

This is not simply a very cheap cake, but a decidedly good one, and made from inexpensive materials. Follow the recipe exactly or the cake may be too light and too crumbly if too much baking powder is used, or heavy if too much b.u.t.ter is used. By varying the flavor and baking in different forms it is as good as a number of more expensive recipes.

It makes three layers of any kind of layer cake, or bake in Gem pans.

GINGER CAKE

1/2 cup brown sugar.

1 egg.

1/2 cup lard.

2 large cups flour.

1/2 cup New Orleans mola.s.ses.

1 tablespoonfnl of ginger.

1 teaspoonful soda dissolved in half cup lukewarm water.

Beat sugar and lard to a cream, then beat in the yolk of egg, mola.s.ses and flour and soda dissolved in water. Lastly, add the stiffly-beaten white of egg. Bake 45 minutes in hot oven.

A VERY ECONOMICAL GERMAN CLOVE CAKE

Place in a stew-pan the following ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar.

1 cup cold water.

2 cups seeded raisins.

1/3 cup sweet lard, or a mixture of lard and b.u.t.ter.

1/4 grated nutmeg.

2 teaspoonfuls cinnamon.

1/2 teaspoonful ground cloves.

Pinch of salt.

Boil all together three minutes. When cold add I teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water. Add about 1-3/4 cups flour sifted with 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder. Bake in a loaf in a moderately hot oven about thirty minutes. This cake is both good and economical, as no b.u.t.ter, eggs or milk are used in its composition. The recipe for making this excellent, cheap cake was bought by Aunt Sarah at a "Cake and Pie" sale. She was given permission to pa.s.s it on.

ICING.

1 small cup pulverized sugar.

2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa.