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Tin-Wedding Cake
Rub one cup butter and three of sugar to a cream; add one cup milk, four of flour, five eggs, one tea-spoon cream tartar, half teaspoon soda, one-fourth pound citron. This makes two loaves.- Mrs. J. H. Ferris, South Norwalk, Conn.
A plain pound-cake-style loaf leavened with cream of tartar and soda rather than baking powder. The original gives no pan, temperature or time, so those are the gaps to fill.
- Oven and timeBake at 325-350F. Two loaves in 9x5-inch pans take roughly 55-70 minutes; test with a skewer at the centre. The high proportion of sugar and butter means the crust browns well before the middle sets, so tent with foil if it colours early.
- The leaveningOne teaspoon cream of tartar with half a teaspoon soda is the period equivalent of about one and a half teaspoons of baking powder. Sift both with the flour and get the batter into the oven promptly, since the acid and soda begin reacting as soon as the milk goes in.
- Flour measureFour cups is by volume, not weight, and period flour varied a good deal from modern all-purpose, so the cup is only an approximation. Spoon it into the cup and level it rather than scooping, or weigh about 17-18 oz; a packed cup will give a dry, heavy loaf.
- CitronThis means candied citron peel (Citrus medica), sold in blocks and now hard to find outside holiday baking aisles. A quarter pound is about 3/4 cup chopped; candied lemon peel is the closest substitute. Toss the pieces in a spoonful of the measured flour so they do not sink.
- Mixing order"Rub to a cream" is creaming butter and sugar until pale and light, which takes several minutes with a mixer. Beat the eggs in one at a time, then add the milk and flour alternately so the batter does not curdle or break.
- EggsEggs of the period were unstandardised and probably ran smaller than today's large. Five large eggs work; five medium may be closer if you have them.
- YieldTwo loaves, about 10-12 slices each. The crumb is firm and keeps well wrapped for several days.
The name comes from the tin wedding, the tenth anniversary, for which tinware was the customary gift in the nineteenth-century American gift calendar; recipes for such anniversary cakes do appear in period cookbooks alongside bride's cakes. This is the modest end of that tradition: no brandy, no almonds, no fruit but a quarter pound of citron, which is why it reads as a rich loaf rather than a tiered wedding cake. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (published at Minneapolis in 1877 and widely reprinted) was assembled from contributions by named housewives, and the credit to Mrs. J. H. Ferris of South Norwalk, Connecticut, is typical of how the book gathered its material. Cream of tartar and soda bought separately and combined by the cook were still common at this date, though commercial baking powders were already on the market.