Spice Cakes

This is a brownie-style bar batter rather than a cake — no butter or other fat at all, the four eggs and the nuts carrying it. Two things in the transcription need sorting out before you start.

• The allspice figure is a typo"12 t allspice" is not a usable quantity; twelve teaspoons of spice against a single cup of flour is far past anything edible. It is most likely ½ teaspoon with the fraction bar lost in transcription, or read it as 1 to 2 teaspoons if you want the spice forward.
• The last line belongs to another recipeThe run of ingredients beginning "1 C brown sugar 1 C white sugar 1 C shortening..." is the opening of the next contributor's recipe, caught in the same block of type. Ignore it entirely; nothing in it goes into the spice cakes.
• Moderate oven350F. In a thin layer these set fast — check at 18 minutes and expect 20 to 25 for a pan-sized sheet.
• Shallow tinsA jelly-roll pan or a quarter-sheet, greased and lined. The batter should go on about ¼ inch thick; a 9x13 will work but gives a thicker, cakier bar.
• No fat, so no substitutionsWith no butter or shortening, the eggs are the entire structure. Beat them well into the brown sugar before the dry goods go in, and do not overwork the batter once the flour is added.
• CocoaThe recipe says only "cocoa"; unsweetened cocoa is the sensible reading. Natural cocoa is the likelier intent, though Dutch-process will work and tastes smoother.
• Sifted with baking powderSift the cup of flour with the teaspoon of baking powder before it meets the wet mixture. One cup of flour to four eggs leaves very little margin for lumps.
• Cutting and yieldCut while barely warm, not hot and not fully cold. A jelly-roll pan gives roughly 30 small squares. If you ice them, do it in the pan and cut through the set icing.