Kit's Raisin Spice Cake

A thrifty way to spread some holiday cheer!

Great Depression holiday recipes are a little hard to come by, and without a waffle iron (or Kit's waffle iron...), I'm kind of out of luck making Kit's signature holiday treat. I'd considered making some of the cookies from her cookie set, but it looks like timing wise, that's going to have to wait until next year thanks to a slightly inconvenient work project. At least I already have an idea for next December! 

What I ended up making instead was an interesting version of a frugal, holiday appropriate cake. It actually reminded me of a better version of a recipe we made a few years ago... and doesn't include any salt pork!

Between World War II, the Depression, and World War II, a lot of early 20th century recipes are pretty weird. In this period, there are a lot of examples of people experimenting with cakes to create something that's both thrifty and scrumptious. I've really enjoyed some of our past adventures into this genre. Almost everyone who's ever attended a party I've thrown has tried my World War II era chocolate war cake and my World War I trench cake was a hit here and in Australia. The chocolate war cake is genuinely better than almost any other cake I've ever baked or tasted, so it's really set my standards high for how good something that came from a time of scarcity can really taste. I'm always excited to see how recipes try to make up for not using butter, eggs, or milk, and I was excited to stumble upon this Depression era cake that really just relies on shortening to keep it moist and bound together. 

The recipe I tried out can be found on AllRecipes, and is apparently a recipe passed down to the author from her mother. I was really pleased to see it had a very holiday minded flavor profile going on here. It has cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves in it, and the raisins definitely give it a retro Christmas and/or fruitcake vibe. Most of the ingredients are pretty simple, although it does call for quite a lot of sugar and flour compared to some other Depression or wartime dessert recipes I've seen. This might make it a pretty costly treat for the Kittredges to indulge in, but living on a budget doesn't mean you aren't allowed to splurge sometimes. 

Interestingly, this recipe starts off with combining the wet ingredients together on the stove. Take 1 cup of shortening, 2 cups each of water, white sugar, and raisins, 1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg, and (finally!) 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves, combine them in a large saucepan, and let it simmer for 10 minutes on the stove.

Once it's cooled down, add it to 3 cups of flour and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Mix everything together and add it to a greased cake pan. This bakes in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

The cake smelled amazing while it was baking. The spices made the whole apartment smell like Christmas, which I don't get a lot of now that I'm not living with my parents. My mom loves holiday scented candles and I haven't picked up the habit yet. 

The cake came out of the oven looking reasonably dark and well cooked, but with a lot of cracking. One of the challenges with these essentially vegan cakes is the texture can be a little funky, either very dry, very fragile, or gummy. 

This cake somehow managed to be all three at once, which was kind of a bummer. The fact that you didn't get to toss your raisins in flour separately before you add them to the dry ingredients also means they all sink to the bottom of the pan. This made for a cool, upside down cake look to the cake when I flipped it out of the pan. 

Side note that I was really surprised it held its shape when I did this, because it really seemed like it would crumble into nothing considering how deep the cracks were.

Unfortunately, it didn't quite hold up when I went to slice it, even though the interior of the cake was pretty moist with a decent, cake-y texture. The World War I trench cake usually comes out very dry, while the chocolate war cake is always moist and has the perfect texture. I'd say this one turned out somewhere in the middle of these two, maybe a little similar to the British eggless Christmas cake I featured a few years ago for Emily.

Taste wise, this was pretty yummy. The spices aren't just noticeable while it's baking - they definitely deliver a nice punch of holiday flavor. The raisins all clustered at the top are a little unpleasant textured, and there was a thin, slightly gummy crust that was a little strange texture wise, but this was definitely fine to eat. 

Would I make it again? Maybe. This didn't wow me the way some of my past experiments with historical cakes have, even though the flavors were nice. It also went stale really quickly, even in the fridge. A day or so later, it turned very dry and crumbly, which was pretty unpleasant to eat. This is another problem with these kinds of cakes. They really don't keep very well, and tend to be a good one to eat quickly or share with a group to make sure it's enjoyed when it's fresh. 

Still, it's always fun to have a chance to try a historical cake recipe, especially one that puts a new spin on how to save your more expensive ingredients for a different day. I'd never cooked a cake like this before, and I'm interested to see where my baking travels through time take me next! 

By the way, have you entered my giveaway for your own set of doll sized rum balls? Check out my last post to see how to enter! The giveaway ends on Saturday, December 15!

Do you have any unusual holiday favorites?