Chapter 3
Section 3 of Grandma's Recipes for Mother and Daughter. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Betty B. Grandma's Recipes for Mother and Daughter by American Molasses Company.
Cakes. Plantation Cake. Two cups sifted enriched flour. One teaspoon salt. One teaspoon double acting.
or 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cream of tartar baking powder, 1 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1⁄2 cup shortening, 1⁄2 cup sugar, 1⁄2 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind, 1⁄2 cup grandma's molasses, 2 eggs, 2⁄3 cup milk. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate. Sift together first four ingredients. Cream together shortening, sugar, soda, and lemon rind. Add molasses. Stir in one half cup flour mixture. Beat in eggs. Add milk alternately with remaining flour mixture, about
one third of each at a time. Beat one half minute. Bake 25 minutes or until done in two well-greased, lightly floured, round, eight-inch layer cake pans. Cool, frost as desired. Yield 12 servings. Marble cake. Two cups sifted cake flour, one teaspoon salt, two teaspoons double acting, or three teaspoons cream of tartar baking powder. One half cup shortening, one cup sugar, one teaspoon vanilla, two eggs, two thirds cup milk, one quarter cup grandma's molasses,
one teaspoon cinnamon, one quarter teaspoon cloves. Sift together first three ingredients. Cream together shortening sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add milk alternately with flour mixture. Beat one half minute.
Place one third of batter in a small bowl. Stir in molasses and spices. Pour light and dark batters alternately into a well-greased, lightly floured 8-inch tube cake pan or into a 9-by-9-by-2-inch pan. Bake tube cake one hour in moderately slow oven, 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
The 9x9x2 cake, 45 minutes in moderate oven, 350 degrees Fahrenheit, frost as desired. Yield 12 servings. Applesauce cake, one bowl method, have all ingredients at room temperature. 2 cups sifted cake flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon double acting, or 1 1⁄2 teaspoons cream of tartar baking powder.
3 quarter teaspoon soda, 1 quarter teaspoon cinnamon, 1 quarter teaspoon nutmeg, 1 half cup shortening, 1 third cup grandma's molasses, 1 cup unsweetened applesauce, 2 eggs. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Moderate. Sift first 7 ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add shortening, molasses, and applesauce. Mix until all flour is dampened. Be two minutes by hand or electric beater. Low speed. Add eggs. Be two more minutes. Bake 25 minutes or until done in two well-greased, lightly floured, round, eight-inch layer cake pans. Cool. Frost with molasses mocha frosting. Yield 12 servings. milk. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate. Sift first five ingredients into mixing bowl.
Add shortening, molasses, eggs, and flavoring. Mix until all flour is dampened. Be two minutes by hand or electric beater. Low speed. Add milk. Be two more minutes. Bake 25 minutes or until done in two well-greased, lightly floured, round, eight-inch layer cake pans. Cool, frost as desired. Yield 12 servings. Spiced feather cake. Omid flavoring. Add one teaspoon cinnamon, one-half teaspoon nutmeg, and one-quarter teaspoon cloves. Molasses sponge cake. One cup sifted cake flour, one-half
teaspoon salt, five eggs separated, one half cup sugar, one half cup grandma's molasses, one tablespoon grated orange rind, one and one half teaspoons grated lemon rind, two teaspoons lemon juice. Heat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit, moderately slow. Sift together flour and salt. Beat egg yolks with rotary or electric beater until thick and lemon colored. Gradually beat in sugar and molasses.
Then, by the clock, beat with rotary or electric beater, low speed, an additional three minutes. Stir in orange rind, lemon rind, and juice. Add flour mixture one-third at a time, mixing each addition until smooth. When all flour has been added, beat until light and fluffy, about one half minute. Beat egg whites until stiff enough to stand in peaks, but not dry.
Fold by hand into batter. Bake 45 minutes in an ungreased 9-inch tube cake pan. Turn cake pan upside down on wire cooler. If cake is not dropped out of pan when cold, loosen from sides with spatula. Yield 12 servings.
Devil's Food Cake. 2 3rds cup shortening, 2 3rds cup sugar, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 2 3rds cup grandma's molasses. three squares bitter chocolate, two eggs, three-quarter cup sour milk, one and one-half cup sifted and rich flour. Heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, moderate. Cream together first five
ingredients. Stir in molasses. Melt chocolate over hot water. Add to shortening, sugar, etc. mixture. Beat in eggs. Add sour milk alternately with flour, about one-third of each at a time. Bake 25 minutes or until done in two well-greased, lightly floured, round, 8-inch layer cake pans. Cool, frost as desired. Yield 12 servings. Old-fashioned fruitcake, heavy with fruit. 2 1⁄2 pounds, 6 1⁄4 cups raisins cut in half. 1⁄2 pound, 1 1⁄4 cups candied cherries
sliced. One half pound, one and one quarter cups candied pineapple sliced. One half pound, two cups pecans coarsely chopped. One half pound, two cups blanched almonds sliced. Three quarter pound, two cups citron thinly sliced. One quarter cup sifted enriched flour used to tenderize fruit. One cup grandma's molasses. One half cup water. Cake batter. Two cups sifted enriched flour. 1 quarter teaspoon soda, 1 and 1 half teaspoon cinnamon, 1 and 1 quarter teaspoon nutmeg,
1 teaspoon allspice, 1 half teaspoon cloves, 1 half square bitter chocolate melted, 1 cup butter or margarine, 6 eggs unbeaten, 1 and 1 quarter cup sugar, 1 half cup milk. To freshen and tenderize fruit, heat molasses and water to boiling point. Gradually stir in fruit and nuts to coat each piece with syrup. Slowly cook until all liquid is absorbed by fruit, about five minutes.
Stir constantly. Place fruit on large platters to completely cool. Stir occasionally. Just before adding fruit to cake batter, mix fruit with one quarter cup flour. To mix cake, sift together flour, soda, and spices.
Cream together butter or margarine, sugar, and chocolate. Beat in three eggs. Stir in one half cup flour mixture. beat in remaining three eggs. Add remaining dry ingredients alternately with milk. Stir in freshened fruit. Line bottoms and sides of two greased tube cake pans, measuring eight inches
across bottom. Grease paper well. Pour batter into pans. Bake three hours in very slow oven, 275 degrees Fahrenheit, keeping a large flat pan of hot water on rack underneath cakes to prevent them from baking too dry. Turn cakes out on wire cooler. Remove brown paper.
Store in tightly closed tin box when cold. Yield 8 pounds. End of section 3.
