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Ribbon Cake
White-One-half cup of white sugar, one-fourth cup of butter, one-half cup of milk, one cup of flour, whites of two eggs, one teaspoon of baking powder.
Pink-Same as white, with a tablespoon of red sugar.
Brown-One-fourth cup of brown sugar, one-fourth cup of molasses, one-eighth of a cup of butter, yolks of two eggs, one cup of flour, one teaspoon of baking powder.
— Mrs. Charles Deer
Three separate batters baked as thin layers and stacked — the recipe assumes you know that the layers are stacked with jelly or frosting between them, since it never says so.
- What you are buildingBake each batter as one thin layer in an 8-inch round or square pan, then stack white, pink and brown with a thin spread of tart jelly (currant or raspberry) or plain boiled frosting between. Each batter with its single cup of flour makes one thin layer; the finished cake serves 8 to 10.
- OvenThe book gives no temperature. Thin layers of this type want 350F for about 18 to 22 minutes, until the center springs back. The brown layer, with molasses in it, colors faster and can be done a couple of minutes earlier.
- Red sugar"Red sugar" was coarse tinted decorating sugar sold for cake tops. A tablespoon of it tints the pink layer barely and unevenly by modern standards; a few drops of red food coloring stirred into the milk does the job predictably. If you want the period effect, the coarse sugar also adds crunch.
- The brown layer is dry as writtenIt has molasses and two yolks but no milk, against a full cup of flour. Expect a stiff, almost paste-like batter. Two to three tablespoons of milk brings it to the consistency of the other two so all three spread and bake evenly.
- Baking powderA teaspoon per cup of flour is right for modern double-acting powder, so no adjustment is needed. Mix each batter and get it into the oven without delay rather than making all three and letting the first sit.
- Butter measuresOne-fourth cup is 4 tablespoons; the one-eighth cup in the brown layer is 2 tablespoons. Cream it with the sugar until pale — these are small quantities and easy to underwork.
Ribbon cake was a standby of American community cookbooks from the 1870s through the early twentieth century — layers varied so that the cut slice showed contrasting stripes. Here the pink layer is the white layer plus tinted sugar, while the brown layer leans on molasses and yolks rather than on chocolate or spice. Cakes were increasingly judged on how they looked sliced on a plate at a church supper or fair. Contributions like this one, signed by a neighbor, are the whole substance of a village receipt collection: the recipe assumes the reader has made a layer cake before and needs only the proportions, not the method.