Nut Cake
1/2 cup butter or shortening 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking-powder 3/4 cup milk 1 cup chopped nut-meats 4 egg-whites Cream butter or shortening and add the sugar. Mix and sift the dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk. Add nutmeats, well floured, and fold in the egg-whites. Bake in a square loaf pan at 380 degrees F., and frost the top when cool, using any desired icing.
A plain white butter cake lifted only by beaten egg whites and baking powder. The instructions assume some knowledge on the cook's part, notably that the whites are whipped before folding.
- Beat the whites firstThe recipe says only "fold in the egg-whites," but they must be beaten to soft, glossy peaks — they are the cake's lift alongside the baking powder. Fold in thirds with a spatula and stop while a few streaks remain rather than stirring them smooth.
- The 380F ovenSet a modern oven to 375F; a butter cake of this size takes 30 to 40 minutes, until a tester comes out clean and the edges pull from the pan.
- Pan size"A square loaf pan" is most likely an 8-inch square, greased and floured or lined with parchment. The batter will fill it as a shallow layer.
- Flouring the nutsTossing the chopped nuts in a spoonful of the measured flour keeps them suspended instead of sinking to the bottom. Take that flour from the 2 cups rather than adding extra.
- Nut-meatsAn unspecified "nut-meat" in an American book of this period was often walnut, black or English, and sometimes hickory or pecan. Toasting and cooling them first is worth doing; the raw nut flavour in an otherwise bland white cake is thin.
- CreamingButter gives far better flavour than the shortening alternative, and it should be soft enough to cream pale and fluffy with the sugar before anything else goes in. Cold butter will leave the crumb heavy.
- Yield and the leftover yolksOne 8-inch square, about nine servings. The four yolks keep two days covered in the refrigerator and are best used for custard, lemon curd or a cooked frosting.
- Frosting"Any desired icing" leaves the choice open; a boiled white icing or a simple confectioners'-sugar glaze both suit the cake. Wait until the cake is fully cool or the icing will slide.