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Molasses Pound Cake
2/3 cup butter 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 2/3 cup milk 2/3 cup molasses 2 1/3 cups flour 3/4 teaspoon soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon allspice 1/4 teaspoon clove 1/4 teaspoon mace 1/2 cup raisins, seeded and cut in pieces 1/3 cup citron, thinly sliced and cut in strips Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, eggs well beaten, and milk and molasses. Mix and sift flour with soda and spices, and add to first mixture, then add fruit. Bake in small buttered tins from twenty-five to thirty minutes in a moderate oven. This recipe makes twenty-four little cakes.
A spiced molasses batter baked as two dozen small cakes rather than a single loaf, despite the "pound cake" name. Nothing here is difficult; the points below cover the oven, the fruit and the one step where the batter looks alarming.
- Oven temperatureA "moderate oven" in this period is usually taken as somewhere around 350F (175C), though the recipe itself gives no temperature. At that heat, 25 to 30 minutes should suit cakes baked in small tins; a tester should come out clean and the tops should spring back.
- Small buttered tinsMuffin or cupcake tins will serve, but the recipe's twenty-four "little cakes" imply tins smaller than a modern standard muffin cup; in standard cups you will get noticeably fewer. Butter the cups well and turn the cakes out while still warm.
- MolassesUse unsulphured dark molasses, not blackstrap, which is bitter and will overwhelm the spices. Sorghum syrup works if you have it.
- The batter will look curdledAdding cold milk and molasses to creamed butter breaks the emulsion and the mixture separates. That is expected; it comes together as soon as the flour goes in, so do not try to fix it by beating harder.
- Soda, not baking powderThree-quarters of a teaspoon of soda is there to react with the acid in the molasses, and it is the only chemical leavening in the cake. Measure it accurately and sift it through the flour so it does not leave soapy patches.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold at Christmas or from baking suppliers. Candied orange or lemon peel substitutes directly; if you skip it, add a little more raisin so the fruit quantity holds.
- Seeded raisins"Seeded" means the seeds have been removed, a chore that vanished once seedless varieties took over. Modern raisins need only be chopped. Toss them and the citron in a spoonful of the measured flour to keep them suspended.
- SpicesGround clove and mace go stale quickly; trust the given quantities, which are restrained rather than timid.