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Orange Cake (Two cups sugar four eggs)
Two cups sugar, four eggs, leaving out the whites of two, half cup butter, one of water, two tea-spoons baking-powder, three cups flour, juice, grated rind, and pulp of one orange; use the remaining whites for frosting the top. - Mrs. D. Buxton.
A contributor's shorthand, typical of Buckeye Cookery: ingredients only, with the method assumed to be common knowledge. It is a standard creamed butter cake, and it behaves like one.
- The missing methodCream the half cup butter with the two cups sugar, beat in the two whole eggs and the two extra yolks, then add the flour and baking powder alternately with the cup of water and the orange juice, rind and pulp. Overworking after the flour goes in gives a tough, tunnelled crumb.
- Cup measuresCup sizes were not yet standardised in 1877, though the modern 8 fluid ounce cup gives workable results here. Half a cup of butter is one stick (4 oz); three cups of flour is roughly 13-15 oz depending on how it is scooped, so weigh it at 14 oz if you want consistency.
- "Four eggs, leaving out the whites of two"That means two whole eggs plus two yolks in the batter, with the two spare whites reserved. Eggs of the period were not graded as ours are and may well have run smaller; the batter is forgiving either way.
- Baking powderTwo teaspoons for three cups of flour is on the low side by modern standards but workable, since the eggs carry part of the lift. Early powders varied in strength and quality, and complaints about alum-containing brands were common; a modern double-acting powder is more reliable.
- The orangeJuice, grated zest and pulp of one orange all go in. Grate only the coloured layer of the peel and remove the white pith and any membrane from the pulp, or the cake turns bitter. If your orange is very large and sweet, hold back some juice so the batter is not slack.
- Pan and ovenNo pan or oven instruction is given. Bake as two 8- or 9-inch layers or one loaf; at 350F allow about 25-30 minutes for layers, 45-55 for a loaf, until a skewer comes out clean.
- The frostingNo instruction is given beyond "use the remaining whites." A common period treatment was uncooked whites beaten stiff with sifted powdered sugar and a little orange juice, roughly a cup of sugar per white. Because it is never heated, use pasteurized whites, or make a cooked meringue-type icing instead.
- YieldEnough for one two-layer 8-inch cake, about 10 to 12 slices.
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) was assembled from recipes contributed by named women, and "Mrs. D. Buxton" is one of hundreds credited in this way; the book's authority comes from that collective household experience rather than from a single author. Orange cakes appear with increasing frequency in American cookbooks from the 1870s onward, as Florida and California citrus reached inland markets where an orange had until then been a Christmas-stocking rarity. The recipe spends two whites on frosting instead of on the crumb, a small economy that also gives the cake its slightly denser, yolk-rich texture.