SNOW CAKE 1910 -- SECOND (AND THIRD) TRIES

An almost full moon

I remember my mother saying that the first cake mixes weren’t very good. She continued to make her cakes from scratch even after mixes were available. Then one day she went to a meeting where the hostess served a delicious cake made from a mix. “I will never bake a cake from scratch again,” Mother vowed. 

Having overbaked my first “Snow Cake” from Grandma Ina’s recipe, I decided to try again. Here’s the recipe again, this time with my revisions:

 

 

Kathy’s Snow Cake (based on Ina’s 1910 recipe)

1 ½ cups sugar, divided

½ cup shortening (Crisco)

5 egg whites [I used ½ cup of purchased egg whites.]

1 cup cream (half and half)

2 ½ cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

Cream shortening with 1 ¼ cups sugar until light a fluffy. Add half and half and vanilla; mix well. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt; then add to shortening mixture. Beat egg whites with ¼ cup sugar. Fold into batter. Pour into prepared 9x13 pan. Let stand for 10 minutes. Bake at 350 for 28 minutes.

You will note that I substituted Crisco shortening for the butter. I thought butter was out of place in a white cake, but farm wives probably had butter on hand rather than shortening.

I thought the combination of lemon and vanilla in the original recipe was strange. Does it mean lemon extract or lemon juice? One method of souring a cup of milk is to put a teaspoon of lemon juice in it, but the recipe specifically calls for sweet milk. I have no way of knowing what was meant, so I just left out the lemon juice.

We keep skim milk (0% milkfat) on hand, and I reasoned that Ina would have used rich cow’s milk, so I substituted half and half for the milk. I creamed the shortening with 1 1/4 cups of sugar, and added the additional ¼ cup as I beat the egg whites.

With Trial #2, I used a 7x11 baking dish and baked 40 minutes at 350, beginning with 30 minutes. Again, the cake was overbaked around the edges while underbaked in the middle. I reasoned that the pan was still too small for the batter.

With Trial #3, I used a 9x13 Pyrex baking dish and baked the cake for 28 minutes at 350. Perfect! Delicious! Or to use Aunt Lynn’s word – “Excellent.”

But -- would I say it’s better than a white cake from a mix? To be honest, no. I did it for the fun of baking a cake from scratch using my grandmother’s recipe, but it was not as moist and flavorful as from a mix -- and a lot more work. And speaking of work, just think of Ina and Aunt Lynn making that cake without electric appliances. I mixed the cake with a heart full of gratitude for my kitchen appliances. KW