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Yellow Lady's Cake
One and a half cups flour, one of sugar, half cup butter, half cup sweet milk, tea-spoon soda, two tea-spoons cream tartar, yolks One and a half cups flour, one of sugar, half cup butter, half of four eggs, tea-spoon vanilla. - Olivia S. Hinman, Battle Creek, Mich.
A plain yellow butter cake leavened with soda and cream of tartar, the standard chemical leavening before commercial baking powder was universal. It is the companion to the white "Lady's Cake" made with whites only, and it uses up the four yolks that recipe leaves behind.
- Soda and cream of tartarOne teaspoon soda with two of cream of tartar is essentially homemade single-acting baking powder. Modern baking powder can stand in for the pair, but work out the equivalent rather than matching teaspoon for teaspoon; the original mixture reacts on contact with the milk, so get the batter into the pan and the oven promptly.
- Sweet milkSimply fresh milk, as distinct from the soured or buttermilk called for elsewhere in the book. Whole milk is the right choice.
- FlourHousehold flour of the period was often softer and lower in protein than today's all-purpose, though it varied. Cake flour is likely to give a closer match to the intended crumb; if using all-purpose, measure by spooning and levelling rather than scooping.
- OvenNo temperature is given. A cake of this size bakes at 350F, roughly 25 to 30 minutes in an 8-inch round or a small loaf tin, until a skewer comes out clean.
- Method, unstatedThe book assumes the cook knows the drill: cream butter and sugar, beat in the yolks, then add flour sifted with the cream of tartar alternately with the milk in which the soda is dissolved, and the vanilla last.
- YieldA single modest layer or one small loaf, about eight servings. Double it if you want two layers to fill.
- The four yolksYolks alone give the colour and richness, but there are no beaten whites here to lighten the batter, so the crumb relies entirely on the chemical leavening. Do not overbeat after the flour goes in or it will turn tough.
Recipes for "Lady Cake" ran through American cookbooks from the mid-nineteenth century on, a delicate white cake made with egg whites only and often almond-flavoured. The yellow version is a thrift measure as much as a recipe: whites and yolks were separated for the white cake, and the orphaned yolks went into this one, sometimes labelled "Gold Cake" against the white "Silver Cake." The Dixie Cook-Book credits each contribution to the woman who sent it in, and Mrs. Hinman of Battle Creek is one such name running through its pages. The soda-and-cream-of-tartar pairing, in a two-to-one ratio by volume, was the home cook's own baking powder and remained common in print well after packaged powders reached the grocery.