Cake recipes in 1800s cookbooks provided ingredients and amounts, but no real cooking instructions. Stoves were fueled with wood and cooks had to determine which types of wood would provide the heat they needed. They basically had to learn by trial and error – even oven thermometers were not invented yet. Some recipes did offer advice such as cooking in a slow, moderate, or hot oven, but that’s certainly not the detailed advice given in today’s cookbooks.

INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS

CIDER CAKE
Stir together a teacup* of butter and three of sugar. Beat four eggs and put into the cake, together with two teacups of flour, and a grated nutmeg. Dissolve a teaspoon of saleratus* in one-half teacup of milk, strain it, and mix it with the above ingredients. Stir in a teacup of cider and four more cups of flour.

*teacup – same as a jill or gill; four ounces (1/2 cup) in the U.S. and five ounces in the U.K.

*saleratus – sodium bicarbonate (or sometimes potassium bicarbonate) as the main ingredient of baking powder. It’s less effective than today’s stronger baking soda.

MOLASSES DOUGH CAKE
Melt one-half teacup of butter, mix it with a teacup of molasses, the juice and chopped rind of a fresh lemon, and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Work the whole with the hand into three teacups of raised dough, together with a couple of beaten eggs. Work it with the hand for ten or twelve minutes, then put it into buttered pans. Let it remain ten or fifteen minutes before baking it.

SPICE CAKES
Melt one teacup butter, then mix it with one teacup sugar and one-half teacup molasses. Stir in one teaspoon cinnamon, the same quantity of ginger, a grated nutmeg, and a teaspoon each of caraway and coriander seed. Put in a teaspoon of saleratus,* dissolved in one-half teacup of water, stir in flour till stiff enough to roll out thin, cut it into cakes, and bake them in a slow oven.*

*slow oven – about 200-300 degrees Fahrenheit.

SUGAR DOUGH CAKE
Dissolve one teaspoon saleratus in a wine glass* of wine, or milk. Strain it onto three teacups of raised dough. Work into the dough a teacup of lukewarm melted butter, two teacups of rolled sugar, three eggs well beaten, and a couple of teaspoons of cinnamon. Work the whole well together for a quarter of an hour, then put it into cake pans. Let it stand in a warm place fifteen or twenty minutes before baking it.

*wine glass – one-fourth cup.

FRENCH CAKE
Take one pound sugar, three-fourths pound of butter, one and one-half pound of flour, twelve eggs, a gill* each of wine, brandy, and of milk. Mix the sugar and butter together— when white, add the eggs, beaten to a froth, (the whites and yolks should be separated). Then stir in the flour, the milk and wine, and one-fourth of a grated nutmeg. Just before it is baked, add three-fourths pound each of seeded raisins, citron, and almonds, blanched and pounded fine.

*gill or jill – a liquid measurement; four ounces (1/2 cup) in the U.S. and five ounces in the U.K.

WASHINGTON CAKE
Stir together till quite white, a pound of sugarand three-fourths pound of butter, then add four beaten eggs. Stir in gradually one and one-half pound of flour. Dissolve a teaspoon of saleratus in a tea cup of milk. Strain and mix it with a glass of wine, then stir it into the cake, together with a teaspoon of rosewater, and half a nutmeg. Just before it is baked, add a pound of seeded raisins.

PLAIN CREAM CAKE
Dissolve a teaspoon of saleratus in a wine glass of milk, then strain it onto a little sifted flour. Beat three eggs with a teacup of rolled sugar, mix them with the above ingredients, together with half a grated nutmeg. Add a teacup of thick cream and sifted flour, to render it of the consistency of unbaked pound cake. Bake it as soon as the cream and flour are well mixed in, as stirring the cream much decomposes it.

RICH CREAM CAKE
Stir together till very white, one-half pound butter and three-fourths pound sugar. Beat the whites and yolks of seven eggs separately to a froth, and stir them into the cake. Put in a wine glass of brandy, a grated nutmeg, and one and oneh-half pound of sifted flour. Just before it is baked, add one-half pint of thick cream, and a pound of seeded raisins.

LEMON CAKE
Stir together till very white, a pound of sugar, half a pound of butter—then add eight eggs, beaten to a froth, (the whites and yolks should be beaten separately,) the grated rind of two lemons, and the juice of half a lemon. Stir in gradually a pound of sifted flour. Line a couple of cake pans with white buttered paper, turn the cake into them, and bake it in a quick oven.*

*quick or hot oven – about 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit.

SCOTCH CAKE
Stir to a cream a pound of sugar, and three-fourths pound of butter. Put in the juice and grated rind of a lemon and a wine glass of brandy. Separate the whites and yolks of nine eggs, beat them to a froth, and stir them into the cake, then add a pound of sifted flour. Just before it is put in the cake pans, add  pound of seeded raisins.

POUND CAKE
Mix a pound of sugar with three-fourths pound of butter. When worked white, stir in the yolks of eight eggs, beaten to a froth, then the whites. Add a pound of sifted flour, and mace or nutmeg to the taste. If you wish to have your cake particularly nice, stir in, just before you put it into the pans, one-fourth pound of citron or almonds blanched, and powdered fine in rosewater.

DELICATE CAKE
Stir to a cream a pound of powdered white sugar and seven ounces of butter. Then add the whites of sixteen eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, half a nutmeg, or a teaspoon of rosewater. Stir in gradually a pound of sifted flour, and bake the cake immediately. The yolks of the eggs can be used for custards.

JELLY CAKE
Rub together, till white, one-half pound of sugar and six ounces of butter. Beat eight eggs to a froth, and stir into the butter and sugar, together with a pound of sifted flour. Add the juice and grated rind of a fresh lemon, and turn this mixture on to scolloped tin plates, that have been well buttered. The cake should not be more than a quarter of an inch thick on each of the plates. Bake them directly, in a quick oven, till a light brown. Pile them on a plate with a layer of jelly or marmalade between each of the cakes, and a layer on the top.

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