This is a recipe for a cake made without eggs or butter, and potentially without milk or using only sour milk. The recipe calls for lard (clarified pork fat), but Jettie would substitute shortening. This was a recipe told to Jettie by her mother-in-law (my great grandmother), Mary (Huff) Adams, who had made this cake during the first World War (and possibly at other difficult times) when refrigerated dairy products might have been hard to come by. You will notice the directions are relatively spare as well – I guess Grandma Adams knew what she was doing and figured you did too.
Grandma Adams’ War cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp lard
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp cloves
- 1 cup water (or 1 ½ cups sour milk
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp allspice
- nuts to suit
Instructions
- Mix all ingredients together. Mixture will be thin.
- Bake in a glass pan at 325 degrees (F) for 50 minutes or
