Federal Cake
One coffee cup of butter, two and one-half coffee cups of sugar, one coffee cup of milk, five coffee cups of flour, five eggs, beaten separately, very light, one and one-half teaspoons baking powder, one pound of seeded and chopped raisins, one-half pound citron, one wine glass of wine, one wine glass of brandy, half a nutmeg; this recipe makes two loaves; I usually put fruit in one.
A rich, spirit-soaked loaf cake in the old fruitcake mould, written for a cook who already knew how to bake one. The measurements need translating and the oven instruction is missing entirely.
- Coffee cupIn American receipt books of this period a coffee cup is reckoned at about 1 cup (8 fl oz), sometimes a scant cup. Taken at 8 oz, this is 1 cup butter, 2 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup milk and 5 cups flour — a very large batter, consistent with the two loaves promised.
- Wine glassA wine glass in nineteenth-century measure is 2 fl oz, not a modern stemmed pour. So 1/4 cup wine and 1/4 cup brandy in total. Sherry or Madeira suits the fruit better than a dry table wine.
- No oven temperatureThe book assumes you know. A dense fruited loaf of this size wants a slow oven, 300-325F, for roughly 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours; a skewer to the centre is the only reliable test. Higher heat sets the crust long before the middle cooks.
- Eggs beaten separatelyWhites and yolks are whipped apart and the whites folded in last. This is the recipe's leavening as much as the baking powder is, so do not shortcut it — the batter is heavy and needs the air.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold in blocks and chopped fine. It is still available at Christmas or from baking suppliers; candied orange and lemon peel is the usual substitute, though it is sweeter and less resinous.
- Half a nutmegGrated, that is roughly 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of fresh nutmeg — assertive but correct for the style. Pre-ground nutmeg is weaker and staler; use less if that is what you have.
- Flouring the fruitA pound of chopped raisins plus half a pound of citron is a great deal of fruit to suspend. Toss the fruit in a little of the measured flour before folding it in.
- Two loaves, one plainThe final line is the practical part: divide the batter, fruit only one half. Bake in two loaf tins, lined — a 9x5-inch tin will serve — and expect the plain loaf to cook rather faster than the fruited one.
- KeepingThe fruited loaf improves after a few days wrapped closely; the spirits and the sugar do the preserving. The plain half is best eaten fresh.
Cakes with patriotic names — Election Cake, Independence Cake, Federal Cake — proliferated in American household books after the Revolution, and the naming is generally traced to the political vocabulary of the early republic rather than to any single recipe or baker. What sits under the name is the standard rich cake of the English tradition: pounds of butter, sugar, flour and eggs in near-equal measure, weighted with raisins and citron and dosed with wine and brandy. A keeping cake like this one was made to be baked in quantity, sliced thin, and drawn on over several days.