Layer Cake
One cup of sugar Three tablespoons of butter Yolks of two eggs. Three tablespoons of butter Yolks of two eggs One cup of milk Two cups of flour Two teaspoons of Larkin Baking Powder One-half teaspoon of Larkin Vanilla Flavoring Extract SPONGE CAKE No. I Four eggs One cup of sugar
This is a formula rather than a set of instructions, and it has been cut short — the next recipe's title and first lines have run into it. Read it as a plain butter-cake batter and supply the method yourself.
- The sugar is missingNo sugar appears in the list, and no cake of this type works without it. A batter built on 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of milk wants about 1 cup of granulated sugar, creamed with the butter.
- Where the recipe endsEverything from "SPONGE CAKE No. I" onward belongs to the following recipe in the book, not to this one. The layer cake's own baking directions are missing from the text as transcribed.
- Larkin Baking Powder and Larkin VanillaHouse-brand goods from the Larkin Company's grocery list, long discontinued. Use 2 teaspoons of any modern double-acting baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon of commercial vanilla extract; the proportion of leavening to 2 cups of flour is still standard.
- Cups and spoonsA period cup is a half-pint, so 8 fluid ounces, the same as now. Many books of the period directed flour to be sifted before measuring, which would put 2 cups nearer 8 ounces than the 10 you get by scooping — weigh it if you want a light crumb.
- Yolks onlyThe two whites are not wasted; the sponge cake that follows lists four eggs, and leftover whites could be turned into a boiled frosting for the layers.
- Method impliedCream the butter with the sugar, beat in the yolks, then add the sifted flour and baking powder alternately with the milk, and stir in the vanilla last. Three tablespoons of butter is a lean cake, closer to a hot-milk sponge in texture than a modern butter layer.
- Pans and ovenThis quantity should fill two 8-inch layer tins. Bake at 350–375F for 20 to 25 minutes, until the centre springs back.
- YieldOne two-layer cake, eight to ten servings once filled and frosted.
The branded ingredients date and place this recipe as clearly as any headnote would: the Larkin Company of Buffalo, New York, built an enormous mail-order business selling soap and then a full line of groceries, flavouring extracts and baking powder directly to households, with furniture and housewares given as premiums for club orders. Cookbooks like this one circulated as part of that trade, and every recipe that names a Larkin extract or Larkin baking powder is quietly doing sales work. The cake itself is the plain American layer cake of the turn of the century — a modest amount of butter, chemical leavening, milk, and a split into two thin rounds to be stacked with jam, boiled frosting or a cooked custard filling. The layer cake in this form depended entirely on cheap reliable baking powder, which is why baking-powder makers had such an interest in putting recipe books into kitchens.