Savor the Flavors: Ken's Cuisine Latest Recipes

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Victory Spice Cake

Method:

1) Bring the sugar, water, raisins, shortening and spices to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

2) Mix the salt, baking soda and 3 tsp. of water together and then add the mixture to the raisin mixture.

3) Mix the flour and the baking powder together in a small bowl and then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix quickly but well.

4) Pour into a prepared 13"x9" cake pan and bake in the oven at 325 for 40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan.

Serving notes:

The best way to serve this cake is cut into rectangular pieces and drizzled with lemon sauce or hard sauce. Of course, you can also frost it with your favorite icing. My choice would be Penuche Icing. Of course, Penuche Icing would be my choice for almost any cake.

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 cups water
2/3 cup shortening (see notes)
1 1/3 cup raisins
3/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp. clove
3/4 tsp. cocoa powder (optional)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp. water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

Notes:

This cake is a product of food rationing during World Wars I and II. I got the recipe from my grandmother who was an army nurse during World War II. The idea of "victory" recipes was to avoid using rationed food that was needed for the war effort. Thus, no eggs, no butter, no white sugar.

Since the recipe was intended to avoid using butter, the original version would have used a commercial shortening like Crisco or oleo (anyone else remember when margarine was called oleomargarine?). Today, you can still use Crisco and the cake will be delicious. Or, you could upgrade to unrationed butter or a plant-based substitute if you like.

Although the use of brown sugar was another rationing ploy, I don't recommend changing to white sugar, mostly because the flavor of the brown sugar works well in this dark, spicy cake. Although using white sugar won't ruin this cake (boiling the sugar with the water compensates for any textural issues that might be caused by using the dryer white sugar instead of the brown sugar), why give up that flavor?

My grandmother always made this cake with McCormick spices, pre-ground and right out of the jar. She didn't use the cocoa powder (that was my idea). Although I've made it the same way my grandmother did, I've also been known to use a few techniques that she didn't. I now prefer to use freshly ground spices (I keep a spice grinder handy, or I use a mortar and pestle). I also melt some of the shortening first and bloom the spices in it before adding the other ingredients in Step 1. It coaxes just a little extra flavor from the spices.