Professor Walter's Recipes of Yesteryear

Loaf Cake ~ 1850

Four Cups of Flour
Four Cups of Sugar
Two Cups of Butter
Six Eggs
Three Tablespoons of Brandy
Two Tablespoons of Rose-Water
One Grated Nutmeg
One Teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon
One Cup of Milk
One Tablespoon of Dissolved Salaeratus

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, whisk the eggs very thick, and stir them into the butter and sugar, add the flour, and beat the whole very hard. Add the milk, spice and liquor. Butter and earthen cake-mould or iron pan, pour in the mixture, and bake two hours in a moderate over.

Pound Cake ~ 1850

One Pound of Flour
One Pound of Sugar
One Pound and a Quarter of Butter
Ten Eggs
One Nutmeg Grated
One Wine-Glass of Rose-Water

Beat the butter and sugar together; when it is perfectly light stir in the eggs, which must have been whisked to a thick froth; add the flour, then the nutmeg and rose-water. Beat the whole for a quarter of an hour. Butter your pan, line it with paper, which should be well buttered, and pour in the mixture. Bake it for three hours in a moderate oven. When the edges of the cake appear to shrink from the sides of the pan the cake will be done.

White Cake ~ 1912

Cream three cupfuls of sugar and a cupful of butter. Add a cupful of cornstarch, one cupful of milk, the whites of twelve eggs, and three cupfuls of flour. Flavor with vanilla. Bake in four layers. Make an icing for the filling using the whites of four eggs beaten to a very stiff froth, two cupfuls of icing sugar, and the juice of half a lemon. Spread thick between each layer, and ice all over the top and sides.

Velvet Cake ~ 1912

Cream a half a cupful of butter, add a cupful and a half of sugar gradually, the well-beaten yolks of four eggs, and a half a cupful of cold water. Mix together a cupful and a half of flour, half a cupful of cornstarch, and four teaspoonfuls of baking powder. 

Pound Cake ~ 1912

Cream four cupfuls of butter and four cupfuls of sugar. Mix well with the beaten yolks of twelve eggs, add a grated nutmeg, a small glass of brandy, and a half a teaspoonful of mace. Stir in four cupfuls of well-sifted flour, and beat vigorously for five minutes. Lastly add the beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in  deep pan for an hour and a quarter in a slow oven. Ornament if desired.

Mock Angel Cake ~ 1912

Set a cupful of milk in a saucepan of boiling water, and heat to a boiling point. Into a sifter put a cupful of flour, a cupful of sugar, three tablespoonfuls of baking powder, and a pinch of salt, all sifted together four times. Pour the cupful of hot milk onto the flour and stir until smooth. Fold in the well-beaten whites of two eggs,--do not stir or beat them in. Do not grease the tins or flavor the cake. Bake in a moderate oven. Ice with water icing made by sifting one cupful of powdered sugar, and adding water and flavoring until it will spread.

Snickerdoodles ~ 1912

Mix in the usual manner, three cups flour, two cups sugar, one cup milk, three quarters of a cupful of butter, two eggs, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, and one of soda. Drop in a pan and sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon over each. Bake in a quick oven.

Lemon Drop Cakes ~ 1912

Cream a cupful of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of butter, add three well-beaten eggs, three cupfuls of sifted flour, a pound of currants, half a teaspoonful of salt, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder and a cupful of milk. Flavor with lemon extract. Stir slowly until thoroughly mixed. Drop a teaspoonful at a time on a well-greased dripping pan, and bake five to ten minutes in a quick oven until brown.

Chocolate Sponge Cake ~ 1912

Cake

2 cupfuls of sugar
3 cupfuls of flour
1/2 cupful of water
3 egg whites
5 egg yolks
2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder
Pinch of salt

Beat the whites to a froth, add the sugar, then the beaten yolks, and the rest of the ingredients. Bake in thin loaves. Cut in fancy shapes after being baked.

Frosting

12 Tablespoons of sugar
2 egg whites beaten stiff
2 squares of chocolate

Dissolve the chocolate in a double boiler, and mix with a white frosting. Frost each cake separately. This quantity will make twenty cakes.

Devils Food Cake ~ 1927

1/2 Cup Butter
1 1/4 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 Teaspoon Cloves
1/2 Teaspoon Ginger
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
3/4 Cup Milk
2 Squares Bitter Chocolate
1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Cream the butter, add the sugar gradually, and beat the eggs and add them. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg together, add the milk alternately with these dry ingredients. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler and stir into the cake mixture. Add the vanilla. Bake in a flat pan in a thick layer. Ice with chocolate icing and cut into 2-inch squares.