Depression Cake

A few years ago my mother gave me an amazing gift. It seems that when my Grama passed away, one of her sisters or one of my Aunts wrote down and gave to my mom all of the recipes she had in her kitchen. My mom then hand wrote and compiled them all into a book. One for each of my daughters and one for myself.  The other day I received a call from Carlye with the idea of her and I, deciding upon a few of the recipes and cooking, baking them "together". She said " Mom, you could blog about them". So the first recipe I will share is called Depression Cake. 

 

 Depression Cake is a type of cake that was made during The Great Depression Era, 1929 to the late 1930's early 1940's. There are quite a few recipes but for the most part, it contains no sugar, no milk, no eggs, no butter. These items being hard to get or way to expensive at the time. I'm sure that each cook made due with the items she had on hand . My Grama lived on a farm.

 It is called many other names as well. War Cakes and Boiled Raisin Cake. The Boiled Raisin cake dates back to the American Civil War, but I can imagine it going back even further.

Raisins are boiled to make a syrup base, then added to the dry ingredients.

 Which I sifted all together.

 I then made a well in the middle and added the raisins, liquid and melted butter.

 I mixed it by hand like any other quick bread.

 I was really amazed at how it puffed right up and turned out so beautifully brown. It made the entire house smell good.

 And its moist and delicious. It reminded me of a gingerbread and so I added a bit of whipped cream to my piece last night. Which I know.... isn't authentic...... since it calls for a powder sugar and water glaze or to be sprinkled with powdered sugar. But... darn it, it's Christmas and I had a bit of whipped cream left in the can and......... neither is the paper plate I'm sure but who's judging....seriously hahahah

So here it is.... My Grama's Depression Cake Recipe

1 cup raisins
2 cups water
2 Tablespoons shortening or lard....yeck I use butter (melted)
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon each cinnamon and nutmeg.

Cook raisins in water in a small saucepan, simmer  until 1 cup liquid remains. Set aside to cool. Sift all dry ingredients together into a bowl. Make a small well in the middle and add plumped up raisins. Add liquid and melted butter. Stir until smooth. Bake in a 9 inch square pan for 35 to 40 minutes. Or toothpick comes out clean. At 325.

I used a round cake pan and I melted the butter and added it to the dry instead of creaming the butter and the sugar together like the original recipe called for. After boiling the raisins I scooped them out and had only about 1/2 cup of liquid so I added water to make one cup. I'm not sure if this is because I boiled them to long or that I left them to "cool" for a long time while I went to Michaels and they soaked it all up. heehee either way it worked perfectly.

Try it!!! I reallly like it and will make it again. I bet it would be good for people who have allergies as well, and with a big fat layer of cream cheese frosting!!!!

I'll let you know what and when we decide to make the next recipe in our adventure. Until then
BE BLESSED AND BE A BLESSING, Sue