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Crumb Cake
2 cups brown sugar 3 cups flour 1 cup shortening 1 teaspoon soda 2 teaspoons each cinnamon, nutmeg 2 eggs 1 cup sour milk Mix sugar with flour, cut in the shortening. Reserve 1 cup of this mixture. To remainder, add other ingredients as for cake. Pour into shallow greased pan. Sprinkle top with the 1 cup of reserved mixture. Bake in moderate 350 degrees oven about 35 minutes.
A one-bowl crumb cake built on the old trick of rubbing fat into sugar and flour, then holding back a cup of the mixture as streusel. The method is sound; only a few details need translating.
- Sour milkIn these books this usually meant milk left to clabber rather than be discarded; modern pasteurized milk sours less predictably. Use 1 cup buttermilk, or stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 cup whole milk and let it stand 10 minutes.
- Why the soda mattersThe single teaspoon of soda is the only chemical leavening, and it needs the acid in the sour milk to work. Substituting sweet milk risks a poorly risen cake with a soda taste.
- ShorteningIn this period that means lard or a hydrogenated vegetable shortening. Butter works and tastes better; keep it cold so it cuts into the flour and sugar as distinct crumbs rather than melting into a paste.
- Cutting inRub or cut the fat into the sugar and flour until the mixture looks like coarse meal. The reserved cup is the topping, so stop while it is still crumbly, not smooth.
- "As for cake"Add the beaten eggs and sour milk to the remaining crumb mixture and stir only until the flour disappears. Overbeating at this stage toughens the crumb; a few lumps are fine.
- Pan and yield"Shallow greased pan" is unspecified; a 9 by 13 inch pan suits this quantity and gives about 12 squares. A smaller or deeper pan will need longer than 35 minutes.
- Spice levelTwo teaspoons each of cinnamon and nutmeg is assertive by current taste, and freshly grated nutmeg is stronger than pre-ground. Halve the nutmeg if you want the brown sugar to come through.
- Doneness350F for 35 minutes is right for a 9 by 13; test with a skewer in the center rather than by the clock, since brown sugar batters brown early on top.