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Combination Cake
Following is the foundation from which seven different cakes may be made: 1½ cups sugar 1/2 cup butter 2 eggs 1 cup milk FOUNDATION 2 tsp. Royal bak. pow. 3 cups flour flavor to suit To make ribbon cake, separate this foundation into thirds, leave one portion white, color a second, and spice the third.
To make marble cake, divide foundation into halves, keep one portion white and spice the other.
To make chocolate cake, add to foundation 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 tsp. soda. To make berry cake, to foundation add 1/2 cups berries. To make cocoanut cake, add to foundation 1 cup of cocoanut.
To make currant cake, add to foundation 1 cup currants with 2 tbsp. flour, sprinkle top with sugar. To make nut cake, add to foundation 1 cup chopped nut meats.
Frost as desired.
— Mrs. Walter H. Cole
A single creamed butter cake batter with seven variations, written for cooks who already knew the method and needed only the proportions. A few gaps need filling before you bake.
- Method the recipe assumesCream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs, then add the flour sifted with the baking powder alternately with the milk. The original omits this, as such books generally assumed the reader knew the standard butter-cake method.
- Oven and pansThe original gives no oven direction, time or pan size. For a batter of this type, 350F is a reasonable modern default: two 8-inch or 9-inch round layers, 25-30 minutes; a 9x13 pan, 35-40 minutes. Test with a skewer in the centre.
- "Royal bak. pow."A brand name given as a matter of course; whether its appearance reflects any advertising arrangement is not something the page tells us. Any modern double-acting baking powder works, and 2 teaspoons for 3 cups of flour is on the low side; 3 teaspoons gives a better rise with today's flour.
- FlourPeriod flour varied considerably from modern all-purpose, so treat the three cups as approximate. Measure by spooning into the cup and levelling rather than scooping, or the batter will be stiff.
- The chocolate versionThe added teaspoon of soda is there to react with the acidic natural cocoa of the era. If you use Dutch-process cocoa, leave the soda out; it has nothing to work on and will give a soapy taste. Add a few tablespoons more milk, as cocoa absorbs liquid.
- "1/2 cups berries"Almost certainly a typesetting error; the plural "cups" suggests a dropped digit, so 1 1/2 cups is the likely reading, matching the cup measure of the other additions. Toss berries in a spoonful of flour, as directed for the currants, so they do not sink.
- Currants and cocoanutCurrants here are the small dried Zante grapes, not fresh redcurrants. "Cocoanut" means dried shredded coconut, which may be sweetened or not; unsweetened will give a noticeably plainer cake.
- Ribbon and marble cakeFor ribbon cake, bake the three tinted and spiced thirds as separate thin layers and stack them with frosting. For marble, spoon the two batters into one pan alternately and draw a knife through once or twice only.
- YieldAbout 12 to 16 servings, or one two-layer cake.
Foundation or "combination" cakes were a staple of American church and club cookbooks in the first decades of the twentieth century, when the standard 1-2-3-4 style butter cake had been reduced to a reliable formula and the interest lay in what you did with it. Printing one batter and seven outcomes saved page space in a volume assembled from members' contributions, and it flattered the household cook who was expected to produce variety from a single set of staples.