Poor Man's Cakes
By Modestah
@Modestah (11179)
United States
April 22, 2007 10:15pm CST
What cake recipe can you share that has very few ingredients and steps?
I have this one from an 1881 cookbook
1-2-3-4- cake
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 teas soda (baking)
2 teas cream of tartar.
It does not give any instructions, I guess back then it was expected everyone understood what to do!
This one is simply named Cheap Cake
1 heaping cup sugar, 1 cup sweet milk, 1 or 2 eggs, 2 cups flour, 2 teas baking powder, butter size of an egg. Flavor.
Poor Man's cake
1 large spoon butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 cups apple sauce sweetened as for the table, 1 cup raisins, 2 cups flour, 2 level teas soda, in a little hot water, 2 large spoons cocoa. vanilla.
Eggless, Milkless, Butterless cake
Put in a pan and boil for 3 min. the following:1 cup brown sugar, 1 cup water, 2 cups seeded raisins, 1/3 cup lard, 1/2 teas salt, a grated nutmeg, 1 teas cloves when cool add 2 cups flour, into which 1.5 teas baking powder has been added and sifted, 1/3 cup nuts, bake in slow oven.
2 people like this
2 responses
@nageswari75 (675)
•
23 Apr 07
I often use this one,it is called a Victoria Sponge cake:150 gms of butter or margarine
150 gms of sugar
150 gms of all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
Method:Cream the butter and sugar together until soft,and creamy and fluffy.Add in the eggs one by one,beating thoroughly after each addition.Then add in the vanilla extract and mix.Now add the flour in 3 parts,mixing until well blended.Add in milk to thin the batter a little.Bake in a 7 or 8 inch pan at 350F for about 20 mins.You can even mix all the ingredients together,beat well to make sure the ingredients mix well and then bake as said.This makes a light fluffy sponge which is great as a base for other elaborately iced cakes too.I learned this recipe from an instore magazine here in UK.
Variation:Add in 2 tbsp cocoa powder to the flour to make a chocolate cake.
@nageswari75 (675)
•
23 Apr 07
just a small clarification,the flour is not all purpose,but selfrising flour.Sorry friends,just a slip of the tongue(in this case,the typepad:))
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
23 Apr 07
I make the 1-2-3-4 cake all the time. I found the recipe on the hibiily housewife's web site. My family loves it. I top it with a lemon flavored glaze. It is best after it sit for a day or so. I have tried the others but I'm going too. Thanks for the great post.
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
23 Apr 07
oh glad to hear it is a good recipe! I have not actually made these cakes myself. I would like to try the scripture cake listed in the same ancient cookbook (also posted in my discussions recently) but the ingredients are too expensive to try without having someone else's first hand testimony of it.
I haven't been to "hillbilly housewife" in a long while, I like her basic bread dough recipe for bread machines, it is what I use for making pizza. ( I substitute a portion of whole wheat flour mixed in with the white)
