For my April article, I shared a hand-me-down family recipe (Dutch Babies/Puff Pancakes). I’ll continue sharing old family recipes for a few months. This time, the recipe is Poor Man’s Cake.
This recipe is probably older than the 1930s date I put on it. I do know both my maternal and paternal grandmothers made a variation of this recipe. This rendition is my alteration of mom’s version.
Poor Man’s Cake was a common sweet-treat during the Great Depression Era. It doesn’t require a lot of each of the ingredients, and it’s easily altered to accommodate the ingredients on hand.
1
cup raisins
1
cup water
1
cup sugar
½
cup shortening
1
egg, beaten
½
tsp. baking soda
½
tsp. salt
1
tsp. baking powder
½
tsp. ground cinnamon
½
tsp. ground cloves
2
cups flour
Directions:
1.
In a small sauce pan, boil raisins in the water until about ½ cup of water remains & raisins have
plumped.
2.
Add: shortening & sugar. Stir until shortening melts & sugar dissolves.
3.
Set pan aside to cool.
4.
When cool, transfer to a mixing bowl & add egg, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, cinnamon, & cloves. Mix by hand until blended.
5.
Add flour. Mix by hand until batter is smooth.
6.
Spread batter evenly over lightly greased jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.
Batter will be thin.
7.
Cake is done when nicely browned, edges pull away from sides, & center is springy
to touch.
8.
Straight from the oven & while still quite warm, frost cake with a thin
powdered sugar frosting glaze.
*It’s
okay to cool the raisin mixture until the shortening solidifies on top. Simply
stir & continue with recipe.
*Cut
cake into pieces & store lightly covered.
Powdered Sugar Frosting
For every 1 cup of powdered sugar, add a
splash of vanilla, a tablespoon of melted butter, & enough water or milk to
mix until smooth. Add more liquid &/or
powdered sugar to make a thin glaze.
Kaye Spencer
writing through history one romance upon a time
Yum. I may try this with gluten-free or nut flour. Thanks! Doris
ReplyDeleteI love old recipes - keep 'em coming!
ReplyDelete