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Orange Cake (Two-thirds cup butter two)
Two-thirds cup butter, two small cups sugar, one cup milk, three tea-spoons baking-powder, the yolks of five eggs, three small cups flour; bake in jelly-tins. Whites of three eggs beaten to a stiff froth, juice and grated peel of one orange, sugar to consistency; put this between the layers with white frosting on the top. -Mrs. Gov. Pillsbury, Minnesota.
A yolk-rich butter cake baked in thin layers, with an uncooked orange-and-egg-white filling. The proportions are sound; the vagueness is all in the vessels and the filling.
- "Small cups"The book's cup is close to a modern 8 oz measure, and "small" presumably signals somewhat less, though the book never defines by how much. Scaling straight across gives 2 cups sugar and 3 cups flour, which runs a little slack; reducing each by a couple of tablespoons helps the batter.
- Jelly-tinsThese are shallow round layer pans, 8 or 9 inches across with sides about an inch high. The quantity here fills three 9-inch pans thinly or two more generously. Grease and line the bottoms; a yolk-heavy batter sticks.
- OvenNo temperature is given because the stove had none. Bake at 350F. Thin layers are done in 18 to 25 minutes, when the centre springs back and the edges pull from the tin.
- Five yolks, no whitesThe batter takes five yolks; only three whites go into the filling, leaving two unaccounted for (the "white frosting" on top presumably absorbs them). The yolk-heavy batter is what makes the cake so yellow and tender. Bring the yolks, butter and milk to room temperature or the batter may break when you add the milk.
- Baking-powderThree teaspoons to about three cups flour is close to modern practice. Period recipes often called for generous amounts of the single-acting powders then sold, which lose much of their lift in the bowl; modern double-acting powder at 2 1/2 teaspoons will give an even crumb.
- "Sugar to consistency"The filling is an uncooked meringue: three whites whipped stiff, then orange juice and zest, then confectioners' sugar beaten in until it is thick enough to hold between the layers. Expect 2 1/2 to 3 cups of sugar, and add the juice sparingly — one orange's worth will slacken the whites considerably.
- Raw whitesNeither the filling nor the "white frosting" on top is cooked. Use pasteurized egg whites, or make a boiled (Italian meringue) icing instead, if the cake is for children, the elderly or anyone pregnant.
- Assembly and yieldFill only when the layers are fully cold, or the meringue weeps. The filling sets soft and does not keep; serve the same day. Three 9-inch layers give 12 to 14 slices.
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) gathered its recipes by contribution, and the attributions read like a directory of Midwestern civic wives — here Mrs. Gov. Pillsbury of Minnesota, that is Mahala Fisk Pillsbury, wife of John S. Pillsbury, who was governor of the state from 1876 to 1882 and whose family name was already attached to milling in Minneapolis. The recipe is a good marker of its decade: chemical baking powder had become reliable and cheap enough to be taken for granted, and shallow "jelly-tins" were in common use — though it is only a guess that these were what allowed a cook to split five eggs between batter and filling, or what brought stacked layer cakes out of the confectioner's shop and into the household. The orange is the luxury note. Fresh citrus reached inland tables by rail in winter and was still special enough that a single fruit, juice and grated peel both, was made to flavour an entire cake.