This little wooden cookbook belonged to my Aunt Anna and then to my mother, Edith, when my aunt passed away. My mother gave it to me a few years before she, herself, passed away. It was published in 1944 and the pages are very worn and tattered causing some to even loosen from the rawhide binding. I cherish it because it belonged to these two fine ladies who I loved dearly and who also happened to be great cooks.
A have chosen a recipe today from this cookbook for Blueberry Cake and though the measurements are not what I am used to reading, such as a "scant" of an ingredient, I will prepare this and see how it turns out. This recipe also does not even mention an oven setting or suggest a pan size so it will be very interesting to see just how it turns out! Be back after it's completed and my family and I have a taste. I have never tried any of the recipes from this book but wanted to start this recipe blog with one from it in honor of my wonderful mother. One of her greatest joys in life was taking care of her large family of ten and that included cooking for all of us. My mother was always in her kitchen and that's just where she enjoyed being most.
So, here is the recipe:
Blueberry Cake
1/2 cup butter (scant)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp. lemon juice
2 cups blueberries
1 1/2 cups flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. extra flour
Cream the butter and sugar until light, add well beaten yolks, salt, and beat in alternately the flour mixed with baking powder and the milk. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, flavor with lemon juice, and mix in very carefully, to avoid crushing, the blueberries which have been dredged in 1 tablespoon extra flour. Bake in a fairly good oven first half hour then lower the temperature and finish baking in moderate oven. Serve warm and slice like any cake.
OK, we thought the cake was good and it was really easy to make. I felt it was more like a bread instead of a cake though. Still, it was tasty, especially with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. The directions called for baking the cake in "a fairly good oven" for the first half hour then to lower the temperature and finish baking in "a moderate oven". I baked it in a 400 degree oven for twenty minutes and then lowered the temperature to 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. I used a 9x9 pan but you could probably use an 8x8 as well. Hope you'll give it a try and enjoy it as much as my husband and sons and I did. If you bake it at a different temperature or time and it turns out more moist please let me know. I think this recipe is sort of a do it yourself one since no firm directions were given. I guess things were just done differently back then!
