For Cakes
1 cupful sugar 1/2 cupful Crisco 1 cupful milk or water 1/2 teaspoonful salt 2 cupfuls flour 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder 1 whole egg and 2 yolks of eggs 1 cupful chopped walnut meats 1 teaspoonful vanilla extract
This is a proportions list rather than a set of instructions — the book assumes a cook who already knows the standard creaming method. The quantities are sound and translate directly to a modern walnut layer or loaf cake.
- The missing methodCream the Crisco with the sugar, beat in the whole egg and the two yolks, then add the sifted flour, baking powder and salt alternately with the liquid, in three additions. Fold in the walnuts and vanilla last, so the nuts do not sink or bruise the batter.
- Cup measuresAmerican cups of the period are essentially the 8 fl oz cup used now. How flour was measured varied, and books of this date often assumed flour sifted before measuring, so two cups may be anywhere from about 230 g to 280 g; if your batter seems thin, that is normal for this style of cake.
- CriscoThe book was published as a promotional volume for Crisco, then a new all-vegetable hydrogenated shortening. Modern Crisco is reformulated but behaves the same way in creaming; an equal weight of unsalted butter gives more flavour and a slightly firmer crumb.
- Milk or waterThe choice is not indifferent. Milk gives a softer, browner cake; water gives a lighter, plainer one. The recipe leaves the choice open.
- The extra yolksOne whole egg plus two yolks yields a richer, more tender crumb than two whole eggs, because the added fat and lecithin come without extra water and protein. Do not substitute a second whole egg without expecting a drier result.
- OvenThe list gives no oven direction. For a modern oven, 350F / 175C suits this batter. Loaf tins take 45-55 minutes; two 8-inch layers take 25-30. Test with a skewer in the centre.
- YieldEnough for one 9x5-inch loaf or two thin 8-inch layers, serving eight to ten. If layering, a plain boiled or butter icing with a few reserved walnut halves would suit it.
A Calendar of Dinners belongs to a genre that flourished in the first decades of the twentieth century: the cookbook published by a manufacturer to teach cooks how to use a new product. Crisco appeared in 1911, and the books issued alongside it had to persuade households accustomed to butter and lard that a shortening made from vegetable oil could cream, fry and shorten just as well — hence the steady presence of cake recipes, where creaming performance is most visible. The recipe here is a terse ingredient list with no method at all; what the book wanted to communicate was the proportion of Crisco, not how to bake. Walnut cake itself was a standing favourite of American home baking, the nuts being cheap and widely available from domestic orchards.