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Part I
1/2 cup shortening creamed with 1 cup brown sugar Add 2 tablespoons dark molasses, then beat in the unbeaten yolks 3 eggs To 2 cups flour add: 1 teaspoon cloves, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, 1 cup chopped raisins (or mixed currants and raisins) and add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternately with: 1/2 cup sour milk, in which has been dissolved 1 teaspoon baking soda Bake in deep pan, well greased and floured, with wax paper in the bottom of it. Slow oven (325 degrees), bake for 45 minutes.
While above batter is baking prepare the following, which is to be baked on top of it: Cream 1/2 cup shortening with 1 cup sugar. Mix together 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup cornstarch, 1 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda. Add to the creamed mixture, alternately with 1/2 cup milk, then beat in stiffly beaten whites of 3 eggs. When Part I of the cake has baked 3/4 hour, pour Part II over it, and continue with the baking until done. If desired, water frosting may be used.
Two batters, one pan: a dark raisin spice cake goes in first, and a white cornstarch cake is poured over it partway through baking. The hinge is that first 45 minutes — the bottom layer must be set enough to carry the second batter without the two merging.
- Test before you pourAfter 45 minutes at 325F the spice layer should be firm to a light touch at the center and just pulling from the sides. If it is still loose, give it another five to ten minutes; a wet surface lets the white batter sink and you get one muddy cake instead of two layers.
- Pan size"Deep pan" means something with real sides, since you are adding a second batter on top. Given the combined volume of the two batters, use a 9x13 pan or a deep tube pan rather than anything smaller. Grease, flour, and line the bottom as directed — parchment now stands in for wax paper and behaves better under long baking.
- Total timeExpect roughly 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes altogether. Once the white batter is on, judge doneness by a skewer into the pale top layer and by the cake shrinking slightly from the pan.
- Sour milkThis means naturally soured whole milk, which the soda needs for lift. Use buttermilk, or stir 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar into 1/2 cup milk and let it stand five minutes.
- Cream of tartar and sodaThe 1 teaspoon cream of tartar plus 1/2 teaspoon soda in the white layer is a period stand-in for baking powder. Leave it as written — the acid also keeps the crumb tender and white.
- Shortening"Shortening" here may mean vegetable shortening, lard, or butter; a plain vegetable shortening keeps the pale layer whitest. Butter can be substituted in the spice layer with little loss; in the white layer it will tint the crumb.
- Fold, do not beat"Beat in stiffly beaten whites" is loose usage. Fold the whites into the white batter in two or three additions so the aeration survives; that lightness is what keeps the top layer distinct from the heavy fruited base.
- Water frostingA plain glaze of sifted confectioners' sugar moistened with water — roughly 1 cup sugar to 1 to 2 tablespoons liquid, added a little at a time until it will pour, then poured over the cooled cake. A little lemon juice in place of the water suits the cloves and cinnamon.
- YieldTwelve to sixteen servings. Spice cakes with raisins are often said to keep and improve for a day or two; wrap once fully cool.
Cakes built from two batters in one pan gave a dark and a light stratum revealed on cutting, with no filling to spread and no layers to level. The dark half here is a sour-milk spice cake, a long-lived formula in which soured milk and soda served as a cheaper leavening than bought baking powder; the pale half, lightened with cornstarch and stiff whites, belongs with the very white "silver" cakes that were paired with yolk-rich "gold" cakes.