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Gold and Silver Cake (A. D. 1871)
Whites of four eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1¼ cups flour, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup milk, 1 tsp. Royal baking powder.
GOLD CAKE Yolks of four eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, 1/4 cup milk, 1 tsp. Royal baking powder, 1 tsp. lemon. Put all the gold cake at bottom of pan and all silver on top.
Two batters, one pan — the recipe gives quantities and a stacking order and nothing else. What follows fills in the method the 1871 cook would have taken for granted.
- Mixing methodBoth batters are creaming-method cakes: beat the butter with the sugar, add the yolks (or, for the silver, beat the whites separately to soft peaks and fold them in last), then alternate flour and milk. Sifting the baking powder with the flour keeps it evenly distributed.
- Butter and milk quantitiesA quarter cup of butter is 4 tablespoons, 2 oz, 57 g. The quarter cup of milk per batter is scant by modern standards; expect a stiff batter that must be spread rather than poured.
- "1 tsp. lemon"Most likely lemon extract rather than juice or zest; period receipts often abbreviated flavouring extracts this way. A teaspoon of modern extract is assertive but not wrong.
- Royal baking powderRoyal was a well-known brand of the period and cooks often bought and wrote by name. Any modern double-acting baking powder substitutes teaspoon for teaspoon.
- OvenThe receipt gives no oven direction. Around 350F suits it in a modern oven: roughly 25-35 minutes in a shallow pan, longer in a loaf. Test with a skewer at the centre, where the two batters meet and set last.
- The stackingGold on the bottom, silver on top, as written. Spread the gold level and dollop the silver over it gently so the layers stay distinct instead of marbling.
- Pan and yieldThe two batters together want a roomy pan: an 8x8 square or a deep 9-inch round, giving eight to ten slices. Line the base with paper.
- Using up the eggsThe pairing exists so nothing is wasted — four eggs, separated, produce both halves. Separate them cold and beat the whites at room temperature.
Gold and silver cake belongs to a family of nineteenth-century American cakes built around the problem of leftover egg whites and yolks: silver cake (whites only), gold cake (yolks only), and the many marbled, checkered and layered combinations that used both in one pan. Angel food is often connected to the same economy, though sunshine cake, which generally uses both yolks and whites, fits it less neatly. The brand-name baking powder is the mark of a later hand: chemical leavening sold by the tin was gaining ground in this period, and cooks began writing "Royal" into recipes the way they wrote "flour."