This old, yellowed, newspaper clipping was found in my grandmother's cookbook (Marion Cole Fisher Handbook of Cookery, 1927) and thought I would give it a try since I eat way too much sugar these days, and I love cake. Notice in the article instead of writing 1/2 they typed 1-2; 3/4 as 3-4 and 1/4 as 1-4.
The cakes, Spicy Molasses Cake, Cambridge Gingerbread, and Economy Cake rely on either molasses or corn syrup for their sweetness.
I can remember conversations with my grandmother about how she managed to clothe and feed her family of six children during the Great Depression and the period during WWII. She was proud to say that no matter how bad things got, her children were always clean, well dressed and well fed. She lived frugally, as did most of the population at that time, but she made certain her family was well cared for and comfortable in spite of the dismal economic times.
She is my role model and I refer to stories of long ago when trying to make ends meet and live simply.
Well now, back to the recipes, I baked two of them. The Molasses Spice and the Economy Cake.
The Molasses Spice cake is similar to a gingerbread. Icing it with frosting seems to defeat the purpose of "sugarless", so we will keep it plain, or perhaps add a lemon sauce as I would for a gingerbread. I used a rectangle cake pan since I don't have any round layer pans.
The flavor is okay as long as you enjoy molasses.
The economy cake, which I made into cup cakes, is a bit bland for my personal taste. Although the little cakes came out OK, I did forget to add the baking powder and salt (My husband kept looking over my shoulder and trying to confuse me. It worked.)
I may make another attempt at the economy cake but remember to add the baking powder and salt, and make a few alterations such as adding more eggs and flavoring.
I am not going to try the third recipe, Cambridge Gingerbread, because it seems very similar to the first cake.
I had an unexpected and unsuspecting taste panel arrive after I finished baking the cakes. My four youngest grandsons came for a visit and while they were I gave them each a cupcake and a little slice of cake to taste. They are always ready for cake, and Grandma's cakes are usually very good.
After a brief explanation that these were new recipes I was trying and that I would appreciate their opinions on whether the cakes are good and I should keep the recipes, or should I toss it all into the trash.
The vote was unanimous: Can we go give it to the chickens please?
Have I learned from this test? Yes, I am glad I didn't live during those times, most of the pastry recipes I have tried from these periods are not very tasty.
I don't know who created these "delights", but they certainly didn't help the war effort.
