I have a wonderful new recipe book about American cakes. It’s a collection of traditional recipes from the 1700s up to today. I have been dying to make some and finally found time to try it out today. Sam helped me choose the Cowboy Cake as our first endeavor.
First you simmer raisins in water to soften them and flavor the water. Then you use half that water in the batter and half to make a syrup. Prepare both, pour the syrup on the batter, cover the Dutch oven and bake it. No, this was not cooked over an open flame under a starry sky as Ben suggested. Sam only slightly hindered the process, spilling sugar and nutmeg on the floor and sprinkling water all over.
No eggs or butter are used in the cake. Shortening provides a little fat, and it season with cinnamon and nutmeg. The book notes that they would’ve whipped up very cold evaporated milk for topping, when fresh dairy was hard to come by. I used Reddi-Whip.
It took longer to bake than they said. It’s supposed to be 25 to 30 minutes. At 25 minutes it was still obviously wrong. At 35 minutes it was almost there, but I give it another five for a total of 40 minutes to be sure it was thoroughly cooked. It collapsed and absorbed the excess syrup within minutes. I had trouble scooping out the cake. The raisins and syrup formed a thick toffee-like layer on the bottom. I don’t know if that’s from over-baking or from letting it cool for hours before serving after school was out.
I liked the cake. Very easy, uses only pantry items, and my kitchen smells amazing now. The kids were cautious but enjoyed it. Not as much as the whipped cream, but who can blame them?
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