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Sun Gold Cake
1 cup shortening 2 cups sugar 4 eggs, unbeaten 1 cup water 1 teaspoon orange extract 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract 3 cups pastry flour 3 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt Cream the shortening, add sugar gradually and cream well. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the water and flavorings, then add the sifted dry ingredients. Bake in three layers, in a moderate oven (375 degrees F.) for 25 minutes.
A plain three-layer butter-style cake built on shortening and water rather than butter and milk, flavored with orange and lemon extract. It comes together quickly, but a few of the proportions reflect 1930s baking habits rather than current ones.
- Pastry flourPastry flour is softer and lower in protein than all-purpose, and sits between all-purpose and cake flour. If you substitute, all-purpose lightened with a little cornstarch, or cake flour with a spoonful or two of all-purpose added back, comes closer than straight all-purpose, which gives a tougher, tighter crumb.
- The oven number is the one givenThe recipe calls its 375F a "moderate" oven; today moderate usually means 350F. Trust the number, not the word. At 375F, 25 minutes is right for thin layers; check at 22.
- Pan sizeThe recipe does not give one. This quantity suits three 8-inch rounds; in 9-inch pans the layers will be shallower and will bake faster, so start checking well before 25 minutes. Grease and flour, or line the bottoms with parchment.
- Shortening means shorteningThis is hydrogenated vegetable shortening, not butter. Butter can be swapped in one for one and will taste better, but it carries water and will give a slightly denser, less cottony crumb. Modern shortening is reformulated without trans fat and creams a little differently; cream it a full three minutes.
- Eggs one at a time, unbeatenThe instruction to add whole unbeaten eggs singly matters more than it sounds. Adding them all at once can break the emulsion and leave the batter looking curdled, which tends to show up as a coarser crumb.
- A cup of water is correctOne cup of water against 3 cups of flour is within the normal range for a layer cake. Water rather than milk gives a plainer background that carries the citrus cleanly. Add it alternately with the dry ingredients if the batter looks like it is separating.
- Extract strengthOrange and lemon extracts vary considerably between brands and lose potency in an open bottle. A teaspoon of finely grated orange zest alongside the extract keeps the flavor from tasting flat once the cake is frosted.
- Yield and finishingThree 8-inch layers serve roughly 12-14. The recipe gives no frosting; an orange butter frosting or a lemon-flavored seven-minute icing would be a period-appropriate match.
"Gold cake" is the old counterpart to white or silver cake: silver cake used only the whites, gold cake the whole egg or the yolks left over, and the pair were sometimes baked together to use up a set of eggs. The "sun" in the title is presumably the citrus. Recipes of this kind, built on vegetable shortening and water rather than butter and milk, are common in cookbooks issued or sponsored by shortening and baking powder manufacturers, though nothing on the page identifies this one as such. The pairing of a printed number with the older descriptive term -- "moderate oven (375 degrees F.)" -- belongs to the period when oven thermostats were coming into general use and the descriptive terms had not settled where they sit now.