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Vintage War Cake

Vintage War Cake

This is a small recipe and makes a hardy delicious loaf, sturdy enough to ship to a loved one. In a 1926 cookbook, a very similar recipe is doubled and credited to a Miss Splint. It is called Economical Spice Cake. There are dozens of such recipes available under various names. Try to find one that your family has passed down. I like this recipe and usually drizzle a little glaze over the top. The summer 2023 issue of Prairies North Magazine features Travelling Pioneer Cake, a much larger recipe with a few delightful differences. Whichever recipe you choose, you will enjoy the tasty explosion of spices with your afternoon pot of tea. 

Ingredients for step one:

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup water

1 cup raisins

2 tablespoons of oil or fat

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

Ingredients for step two:

1 ½ cups flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup walnuts, chopped 

Instructions for Step One:

Place the brown sugar, water, raisins, oil, cinnamon, and cloves into a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and gently cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool until lukewarm. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Instructions for Step Two:

Grease and flour an 8” by 4” loaf pan.

I often use my folding silicon loaf pan. 

With a whisk, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Mix the walnuts into the flour mixture and then add the cooled spice and raisin mixture. Stir until the dry ingredients are well incorporated. 

Spread the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven.  

Test the center with a cake tester to be sure it is done. Quite often another 5 minutes is required. This keeps well in a tin on the counter or for weeks in the freezer.

Carrot Raisin Square

This Carrot Raisin Square was featured in Maureen's Kitchen in the Spring 2023 issue of Saskatoon HOME magazine. The article is titled "Green Can Be a Theme." Of course, the glaze on the square is tinted green for a St. Patrick's Day feeling.

I make this cake with gluten-free flour because the recipe contains enough leavening ingredients to support heavier flour. The original recipe called for a combination of all-purpose and whole wheat flour. This is a forgiving recipe; feel free to experiment. 

Using freshly ground nutmeg, given to me by my eldest daughter, and Mexican vanilla, given to me by my dear friends, took this most recent cake to a new level of deliciousness. 

Carrot Raisin Square

Before You Start:

Butter a 9" by 11" cake pan and set aside. 

Prepare:

1 ½ cups grated carrots

½ cup washed raisins

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Wet Ingredients:

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup room temperature butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 eggs

Dry Ingredients:

¾ cup Only Oats Gluten-Free Oat Flour 

¾ cup Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:

1. Beat together sugar, butter, vanilla, and nutmeg. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each egg.  

2. Stir flour with baking soda and baking powder. 

3. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix well. 

Final Step:

Stir in prepared raisins and carrots and scoop into the prepared pan.  

Bake in a 350°F oven for 35 minutes.  

Cool the cake before glazing. This cake can be cut into 25 squares.

Vanilla Glaze

Melt ¼ cup of butter. Blend in 2 cups of sifted icing sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Gradually add 2 to 4 tablespoons of hot water, one spoonful at a time, until the glaze is the desired consistency. 

Sometimes, I glaze the square right in the pan. Alternatively, the whole cake can be removed from the pan and glazed on a serving plate. It is also delicious when served without icing.

TIP: I often grate an entire bag of carrots on grocery day and enjoy them for a few days as a side dish, in a salad or soup, and baked into cookies and cakes. 

Golden Angel Food Cake

After making the recipe for Vintage Angel Food Cake featured in Saskatoon HOME Magazine's spring issue, you will have 10 or 12 egg yolks remaining. If baking one cake a day is enough for you, you will be glad to learn that egg yolks will keep for about 24 hours covered and refrigerated. 

The next day, take the yolks from the fridge about an hour before you want to make this Golden Angel Food Cake. If you hope to make a truly golden cake, choose eggs with bright yellow yolks. This recipe produces a not-quite angel food cake because it contains egg yolks rather than egg whites. It is like angel food because it is free of shortening, rises well, and is best baked in an ungreased angel food pan with a removable bottom.

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Ingredients:

10 to 12 egg yolks

1 2/3 cups sifted cake flour (sift flour before measuring)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup hot water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Method:

Add baking powder and salt to the sifted, measured flour and sift again.

Beat yolks until slightly thickened, then add hot water gradually, and beat until fluffy. Add flavouring to the yolks, then add sugar gradually while continuing to beat until thickened and smooth.  

Fold flour into the egg mixture ¼ at a time until blended. 

Spoon batter into an ungreased angel food cake pan.

Bake at 350°F for 40 minutes until the top bounces back when touched. Invert pan to cool. 

Sometimes, I fill my 7 ½ inch angel food cake pan to the 2/3 line and bake the rest of the batter as cupcakes (6 to 8). My husband likes this cake served with maple syrup. He also enjoys it topped with Maureen’s Butter Tart Sauce. I prefer it topped with fruit and whipped cream.

Other recipes that include egg yolks are:

The Boy's Favourite Butterscotch Pudding

Raspberry Bundt Cake

This cake is a staple at my house. I have made it often and in several different pans. It is delicious at a brunch buffet, served with coffee for a quiet breakfast, or dressed up for a special occasion. Several years ago, I gave my mother-in-law a take-home Raspberry Bundt Cake and a new coffee pot on her birthday. She was hosting her bridge club the next day, and I knew she would enjoy serving the cake and pouring coffee from her shiny new pot. 

This cake stays fresh for a few days on the counter, and the remaining cake can be frozen. Decorate it to suit any season. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Ingredients for Raspberry Bundt Cake: 

To make this cake, you will need a full cup of raspberry yogurt. The rest of the ingredients are pantry basics and include butter, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, flour, soda, baking powder, and salt. Have fun choosing your Bundt pan. 

Cream the following ingredients in a large mixing bowl:

½ cup softened butter 

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer.  Add egg and beat well. Add vanilla and mix. 

Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl:

1 teaspoon soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups all-purpose flour 

Mixing Method: 

Add dry ingredients to butter/sugar mixture alternating with 

1 cup raspberry yogurt 

Once this thick batter is well mixed, spoon it evenly into a well-greased and floured 9-inch tube pan (8-9 cup) or Bundt pan, and bake at 350°F for 50 minutes. Cool and sprinkle with icing sugar or drizzle with glaze. This cake can successfully be made a day ahead of serving. Enjoy!

NOTE: My mother-in-law was 89 in the introductory photo. She lived past her 98^th birthday. 

My Favourite Vanilla Glaze

Melt ¼ cup of butter. Blend in 2 cups of sifted icing sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Gradually add 2 to 4 tablespoons of hot water, one spoonful at a time, whisking until the glaze is the desired consistency. 

Spiced Autumn Angel Food Dessert

Low in calories and fat, this delicious dessert tastes just like a bite of rich pumpkin pie. My grandson eats the spicy angel food cake all by itself, but the rest of us love the pumpkin sauce. I adapted this recipe from one I found decades ago in Prevention Magazine. Of course, you can use any brand of angel food cake mix or a made-from-scratch recipe. Just add the spices to the dry ingredients and sift twice to mix well. 

Cake Ingredients:

1 package (16 ounces) angel food cake mix; I use gluten-free Kinnikinnick’s angel food mix. 

1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon ginger

½ teaspoon nutmeg

¼ teaspoon cloves

Whisk together cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and cake mix. Follow the package directions to prepare, bake, and cool the cake. 

Pumpkin Sauce Ingredients:

1 cup 2% or skim milk

½ tablespoon cornstarch

1 cup canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed

1 package of Dream Whip, whipped according to directions

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pumpkin Sauce Method:

Combine milk and cornstarch in a saucepan. Stir pumpkin and brown sugar into the mixture. Cook on medium heat, constantly stirring until the mixture boils and thickens. Pour into a bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the pumpkin sauce to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate for approximately 3 hours or until well chilled. Fold in the whipped topping and vanilla. Serve cake slices with a scoop of sauce and, if desired, garnish with a sprinkling of nuts or dried cranberries. 

Lemon Angel Food Slice

During the 1970s, my mother-in-law often served this refreshing, make-ahead dessert. Refrigerator slice desserts develop flavour and texture when made at least 24 hours before serving. Vintage instructions were usually minimal. I found the following version written in my mother-in-law’s handwriting. Scroll further down for my more detailed instructions.   

Cake Layers: Slice one angel food cake, as you would a loaf of bread. Use a mix or buy a cake.

Filling: Lemon Cream

Cook a double Jell-o lemon pie filling, cool

Prepare a double Dream Whip

Fold Dream Whip into cooled lemon pie filling

Method: In a 9” by 13” pan, place half of the cake slices to cover the bottom. Layer half of the lemon-Dream Whip mixture. Repeat with the remaining cake and end with the lemon mixture.

Cover the top with toasted almond slices. 

Refrigerate for 24 hours before serving. 

Angel Food Lemon Slice

This is my version of a delicious vintage slice.

Ingredients:

Base:

1 angel food cake

Filling:

1 recipe of lemon pie filler made from scratch

2 envelopes of Dream Whip or a large container of Cool Whip or 1 cup of real cream whipped

Topping: Toasted almonds to cover

Method:

I make the vintage angel food cake recipe featured in “Maureen’s Kitchen” in Saskatoon HOME Magazine's spring issue. When my gluten-free family members are visiting, I prepare a Kinnikinnick Gluten-Free Angel Food mix, starting with fresh egg whites.  

I make a recipe of microwave lemon pie filling from scratch. My Six Minute Lemon Pie Filling is gluten-free. I have also used Versatile Lemon Pudding which contains flour.     

If you want your lemon pie filling to have a rich yellow colour, use eggs with brightly coloured yolks or a drop of yellow food colouring. 

To Make Lemon Cream:

Fold your chosen whipped topping into the lemon pie filling.  

To Toast Almonds: 

Set the oven to 350°F. Spread almonds onto an aluminum pan and toast for about 8 minutes stirring at 2-minute intervals. 

Assembly:

Choose a container for the dessert. It can be a 9” by 13” cake pan, an antique bowl, or a trifle dish. There are no rules. Cover the bottom of your container with a layer of cake. Spread half of the lemon cream over the first cake layer. Add another layer of cake and end with the rest of the lemon cream.

Top the dessert with a layer of toasted, thinly sliced almonds. 

Place the covered dessert in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving. This dessert also freezes well and tastes great right from the freezer.  

Feel free to improvise with this dessert. Choose to use a combination of mixes and homemade ingredients if that is what you have on hand. 

Chocolate Angel Food Cake with Coffee Whipped Cream

My mother often made chocolate angel food cake from a mix. It was delicious and quick to make. She served a slice of this cake with coffee-flavoured whipped cream. The combination was exquisite. Lately, I have been unable to find a chocolate angel food mix, but I came upon this old recipe in my family files. I incorporated farm fresh eggs, and the results were yummy.    

Ingredients:

¾ cup of sifted cake and pastry flour

¾ cup extra-fine granulated sugar (castor or berry sugar)

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 ½ cups of egg whites (about 12)

1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

Another ¾ cup of extra-fine granulated sugar 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°F

Have a ten-inch tube pan (with removable bottom) ready; do not grease

Have egg whites at room temperature

Method:

Sift flour, ¾ cup of sugar, and cocoa powder together at least 3 times. 

Measure egg whites, salt, cream of tartar, and vanilla into a large mixing bowl. Beat until foamy. Gradually add the last ¾ cup of sugar in three portions, whipping for ten seconds after each addition. Keep whipping until stiff peaks form. 

Once the stiff-peak stage is reached, remove the bowl from the stand mixer, and sift about 3 tablespoons of the cocoa flour mixture over the egg whites. Using a large metal spoon or spatula, gently fold the flour mixture into the egg white mixture until no flour remains. Repeat until all of the flour and cocoa mixture has been incorporated. 

Spread the batter into a large, ungreased tube pan with a removable bottom. Cut through the batter a few times with a thin knife. Be sure the batter is level. 

Bake for 35-45 minutes. If fully cooked, the cake should bounce back when touched. 

Make a Vintage Golden Angel Food cake to put the leftover egg yolks to delicious use. 

Coffee Whipped Cream

My mother used a mix for the whipping cream as well as a mix for the cake. It was the trend in the 1960s. 

Prepare two envelopes of Dream Whip and add 1 rounded teaspoon of Café Vienna – a cinnamon coffee beverage. This is also delicious with plain instant coffee. Serve on chocolate angel food cake.

You can also whip 1 cup of whipping cream, sweetening with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Keep beating until stiff and fold in instant coffee granules to taste. Start with ¾ of a teaspoon.  

Be-Anything Pumpkin Bread

This is a large recipe and makes over 3 dozen muffins, which become cupcakes if you ice them. Alternately, you could make three pumpkin loaves or a very large Bundt cake. Layer Cakes are also an option.  

This recipe is very forgiving, and I have made it with various flours and oils. Vintage recipes calling for salad oil are usually referring to corn oil. For the cake pictured here, I used all-purpose flour and corn oil. The cake rose higher than expected, and it was delicious. I could have made a few muffins and not filled the Bundt pan quite as full if I had wanted a flatter base.

This cake tastes better after a couple of days on the counter, so it is an excellent make-ahead recipe. I freeze the cake, in quarters or slices, on the third day.  

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Combine the following wet ingredients in a stand mixer:

3 cups of granulated sugar

1 cup of salad oil (corn or canola oil)

4 beaten eggs

1 ¾ cups of pumpkin purée (I use canned pumpkin)

Mix the following dry ingredients:

3 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon allspice 

2 teaspoons salt

2/3 cup of water

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the water, mixing well, and ending with dry ingredients. 

Pour into three buttered loaf pans or one large, buttered and floured Bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees, testing for doneness after one hour using a toothpick or cake tester.

When cooked, remove the cake from the oven and leave it to cool for fifteen minutes. A Bundt cake should be inverted at this time. If your cake rises above the pan, invert it onto a bowl-like plate, slice the top off, or let the icing drizzle onto the plate, giving the illusion of a flat bottom. The cover photo shows that the cake looks fine the way it is.

Both cupcakes and layer cakes should be baked at 375°F. Cupcakes take about 20 minutes, while layer cakes take 40 minutes. Check for doneness before time is up because bake times vary with pan-colours and ovens.    

This is a Be Anything Pumpkin Bread. I love it slathered in cream cheese icing. 

It is delicious covered in cheese slices.

I often cut the cake into quarters and wrap each piece in plastic wrap and foil and store it in the freezer. I love a crescent of Bundt cake on a platter of treats. 

TIP: To prepare a fresh pumpkin, just half it, remove seeds, cut in wedges and peel the skin off the outside while scooping the stringy inner lining away. Next, boil the pumpkin as you would turnips or carrots. Mash the cooked pumpkin and strain any strings out. Use the pumpkin in any recipe calling for pumpkin purée. Purée freezes well. I usually use canned pumpkin for this recipe.

Grasmere Gingerbread

Sarah Nelson, born Sarah Kemp, invented Grasmere Gingerbread in the mid-1800s. Sarah was born before Queen Victoria and died after her, living 88 years, an accomplishment for the era. Although Sarah faced the inevitable challenges of her time, she was blessed with true love. 

Sarah and her husband moved their family to Church Cottage, a former village school in Grasmere, after losing their son to cholera. They hoped the move might help them protect their daughters from a similar fate. Sarah loved cooking in her Church Cottage kitchen, and she took a job cooking for a lodge to supplement the salary her husband made digging graves at the nearby church. 

In the winter of 1854, Sarah perfected her recipe for a spicy-sweet treat, something between a cookie and a cake, and named it Grasmere Gingerbread®. Soon, she began wrapping pieces of her new treat in parchment paper and selling them from her front door. Tourism was on the rise because rail transportation brought more people to the area.

Sarah was a true businesswoman. She placed her handwritten recipe in a safety deposit box, registered the Grasmere Gingerbread name, and kept working as the lodge cook while growing her gingerbread business. 

A century and a half later, people can still visit her little cottage, now known as The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, where her secret recipe is baked fresh daily. The delicious treat is also shipped around the world, which works because Grasmere Gingerbread isn’t fragile. 

You can read more about Sarah Nelson's amazing life by visiting HERE. 

I found this recipe in an old cookbook, and although it isn’t Sarah’s recipe, the squares are delicious and look quite a bit like true Grasmere Gingerbread. I had no idea what to expect when I made my first batch. At first, I was disappointed because the treat got harder as the days went on. One day, I dipped a piece in my tea, and I understood. This treat is like British biscotti. I ate the entire batch during a two week period. Yes, it keeps that long in a tin on the counter! It is the perfect ending for a quick lunch. 

My latest batch was lovely. I used a heavy, red enamelled pan and reduced the baking time. You will find a variety of recipes for Grasmere Gingerbread on the Internet, but I will remain loyal to this one until someone releases the secret notes of Sarah Nelson, which isn’t going to happen. 

Grasmere Gingerbread

Type of Bakeware: I use a red enamelled heavy pan that measures 9” by 9” at the top and narrows toward the bottom. This pan is a dark colour and quite heavy, so my baking time is less. 

Prepare pan: I oil the pan and line it with parchment paper. This allows me to pick up the entire square while it's still warm, move it to a cutting board, and slice it into 16 pieces.

Preheat the oven: 350°F.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

½ cup of butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons ginger powder

1 tablespoon golden syrup

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup chopped candied peel

Method:

Sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and ginger. In a separate bowl, cream butter with brown sugar, then beat in the syrup. Mix the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, forming a crumbly texture. If you can squeeze the crumbs and they hold together, you have the consistency correct. Add the peel. Press lightly into a prepared 9” by 9” pan.

Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cut into squares while the gingerbread is still warm. In this pan, my gingerbread was golden brown in 20 minutes. 

Check out the other shops in the area. 

Mincemeat Oat Squares

I adapted this Mincemeat Oat Square recipe from one initially shared by Monique Benoit, daughter of Madame Benoit. See Canada's First T.V. Celebrity Chef to read about my connection to Madame. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F

Ingredients:

¾ cup of butter

1 cup of dark brown sugar (or less)

1½ cups of all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup rolled oats (not quick oats; I use large flake)

2 cups of mincemeat (homemade or canned)

Method:

Cream butter and brown sugar. Fold in flour, soda, and salt. Add oatmeal. Once the dough is well mixed, divide it in half, then press half into a well-greased 9 by 13-inch baking pan. 

Spread mincemeat evenly over the base crust. Crumble the other half of the dough, evenly, over the top. Press in place.  

Place pan in a preheated 400°F oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until slightly golden.

Cut into desired size pieces while still warm. This recipe freezes well and is delicious at any time of year. 

Tip:

If you want to dazzle guests with this treat, make the vintage, mincemeat filling I featured in “Eats and Treats” in Prairies North Magazine, Winter Issue, 2019.