SNOW CAKE, 1910

Well, it’s the winter. We’re still staying close to home. Nothing much is happening. I pursue quiet indoor activities.

I think a lot can be learned from an old recipe box. As we cleared out the family home in 1991, I was surprised when my sisters weren’t at all interested in the many old recipe boxes we found. They let me have them without dispute. Today, I would say, “Score!!!!”

I guess my aunt, Myrtle Dobson (Aunt Lynn, as she liked to be called) must have agreed with me because while she was living at the farmhouse to care for Grandma Ina, she organized Ina’s recipe box. Occasionally I see her handwriting as well as Ina’s.

And this brings me to the recipe for “Snow Cake,” dated 1910, which I found in Grandma Ina’s recipe box. The card is soiled and obviously used. Perhaps it was even a favorite because at the bottom of the card, Aunt Lynn has written, “Excellent.” Intrigued, I decided to try that recipe.

Snow Cake, 1910

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup butter

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

1 cup sweet milk

2 ½ cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp each lemon & vanilla [lemon extract?]

Cream butter and sugar. Add milk and flavoring; beat well. Next add flour with baking powder; beat well. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Put in pan and let stand 10 minutes. Bake. Excellent

I confess that I added ¼ teaspoon salt. I baked the cake at 350 in a prepared 8x8 glass pan for 30 minutes. It wasn’t done, and that’s when I began to hear my mother instructing me. “When it isn’t done, you must add time in small increments because you can easily overbake it.”

“Yes-yes-yes,” I say impatiently, knowing she isn’t really there – or is she? I knew she would have stood at the oven door watching that cake to be sure it didn’t over-bake. Patience was her virtue, not necessarily mine. 

Initially, I tried adding three minutes, then five, then another three, etc., realizing that I was behaving rather recklessly. In the end, the cake was over-baked – dry around the edges. Sigh.

But Mike said it was good, so I will try again. I’ll tweak the recipe and let you know how it goes. KW