Saucepan Cakes.
SAVING TIME AND MATERIAL
A somewhat
novel, and at the same time quick and economical, method of cakemaking has been
evolved with the use of a saucepan. With this method, the sugar, fat, and water
or milk are boiled together in a saucepan before adding them to the other
ingredients, with the result that no time and energy is wasted in creaming fat
and sugar, or in beating sugar and eggs. By this means the same effect is
obtained as though double the quantity
of fat were used, and so well blended are these important ingredients that for
everyday cakes, eggs and milk can be omitted from the recipe.
Lard is
found to be the best fat to use in this method of cakemaking. Eggs can of
course, be added if desired.
The
following are typical saucepan cake recipes, and can easily be varied by using
different flavourings, &c.
Fruit Cake.
Put 2 oz. of
lard, two-thirds of a cupful of sugar, and a cupful of water into a saucepan,
and bring to boiling point. Boil for one
minute, then allow to cool.
Meanwhile
mix together 1 lb. of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, 2 oz. of
raisins, 4 oz. of currants, and 1 oz. of shredded peel. Pour the liquid on the
dry ingredients and mix well. Put in a cake-tin and bake in a moderate oven.
Coconut Cake.
Boil
together the same quantities of sugar, lard, and water as in the previous
recipe, and pour onto a mixture consisting of 1 lb. of flour, two teaspoonfuls
of baking powder, and one tea-cupful of dessicated coconut. Mix very
thoroughly, pour into a lined tin, and bake in a moderate oven.
Orange Cake.
Boil sugar,
lard, and water as before, but in this case use a cupful of sugar.
Into a basin
put a pound of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and the grated rind of
two oranges. Squeeze the juice and add it to the liquid when cool. Mix and bake
as before.
UPDATE: Pipedreams, at The Kitchen Scientist, tried this method out with her beetroot cake. You can see the results here.
UPDATE: Pipedreams, at The Kitchen Scientist, tried this method out with her beetroot cake. You can see the results here.
Quotation for the Day.
Dieting: A system of starving yourself to death so you can live a little
longer.Jan Murray
6 comments:
I haven't checked recently, but in Australia, packets of mixed dried fruit used to come with a recipe for boiled fruit cake. I used to make it often. Boil fruit, sugar and butter together, cook, mix in eggs and flour, and bake. Very easy and effective.
I just tried your recipe and have a blog post to prove it :) It was great fun, and the purpose (achieving a naturally pink cake) was achieved, but I'm not terribly fond of the texture and will probably add eggs next time. Thanks for the idea!
Sorry, forgot to add the link... http://the-kitchen-scientist.blogspot.com/2011/11/beetroot-saucepan-cake.html
Hi Pipedreams
What fun! I have edited the post and put a link to yours!
HI Marion. I remember those packs of fruit. I used to make them all the time. Funny how one makes something regularly, then stops for no apparent reasot, isnt it?
I had never seen any other cakes boiled though, until I found this info.
I'm honoured! Thanks a lot, Janet. I tasted the cake after I posted about it and I must say it's much better than I feared based on the pre-baking texture. It would still be vastly improved by a handful of raisins and other dried fruit soaked in rum, though, and maybe a handful of nuts too, but even without, I would pronounce it a very reasonable recipe for kids snacks (am I old fashioned or what? giving the kids home-baked snacks to take to school? they would die of shame, no doubt!)
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