One of the things that occupies my time when I’m not writing is being in the kitchen — and, NO, NOT only for the cleaning AND “counter creep”! I love to cook (and bake), especially trying out new recipes. Consequently, I also love collecting cookbooks and finding new-to-me recipes. So… Last year, I asked my family if they had any recipes that they’d like to share with me. At first, I didn’t get much of a response to this request, but that changed when I picked up a package from the post office recently. Not expecting anything (except bills, of course), I checked my P.O. Box and spotted one of the keys that indicated I had a package waiting for me in one of the post office’s larger boxes. When I retrieved it, I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a package from Auntie Pat (the eldest of Mom’s two younger sisters). I was even more surprised to discover that she had responded to my call for recipes — in a BIG way! She sent me not one, but TWO wooden recipe boxes! (Don’t see those boxes anymore! I’m old-fashioned, so I absolutely love ’em! Thanks, Auntie Pat!) Anyway… These boxes were chock full of recipes, and there were also a bunch of recipes that wouldn’t fit into the boxes. I’m telling you… It felt like Christmas that day!
Enthralled by the sheer number of recipes in that package, I started going through the recipes one by one. Some of them were handwritten on scraps of paper now yellowed and creased with age while others were typed (not printed) onto index cards — complete with mistakes, too. A veritable treasure trove of recipes! I don’t know how long I spent sifting through many of those recipes, but I suspect that doing so was what solidified my desire to resurrect the “Tasty Tuesdays” feature from back in my LiveJournal days. Because of Auntie Pat’s very generous gift, I’ve decided to share one of Auntie Pat’s recipes with y’all each month. The first one I’m going to share with you is one called “Eggless Spice Cake”, and eventually you’ll be able to see a photograph of the original recipe below.
It was the first word of this recipe’s name that immediately caught my eye, especially after having paid a veritable fortune for eggs during my last trip to the grocery story. (Talk about “sticker shock”!) Given the fact that the price of eggs continues to skyrocket these days, I thought I’d share the recipe for a dessert that does NOT require eggs.
As I’m sure you’ll be able to tell by the photo of the original recipe, I’ve had to modify it slightly — mostly by adding directions for baking. I’ve actually read somewhere that this kind of information was often omitted from recipes since it was just assumed that everybody already knew how to “bake”. Sadly, I don’t think that’s as true today as it was in “the good ol’ days” when this recipe was written. Because of this, I many need to “tweak” more of the recipes from Auntie Pat a bit in order to clarify the directions.
Here’s the first recipe from Auntie Pat’s VERY generous gift:
Eggless Spice Cake
- 1/2 cup butter or “short’n”
- 1 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup milk
- 2 cups flour
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 teaspoon cloves
- 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease and flour two baking pans. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Pour into the prepared baking pans. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean — for about 45 minutes; cool. Frost, if desired.
NOTES:
Since I don’t have a 1/3 teaspoon measuring spoon or any cloves, I used 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon.
Because I don’t like raisins, I omitted them from “my” Eggless Spice Cake”.
I hope you give this no-eggs-required recipe a try, and if you do, I hope you’ll take a moment to let me know how your “Eggless Spice Cake” turned out for you.