Sauris North Dakota 1920’s – 30’s

June 29^th 1926 A.M.

At this crucial moment Millie is beginning to prepare for the stupendous task of making the Bride’s Cake. – Tomorrow is the great day.  It’s simply bee-you-ti-ful today and sincerely hope it will be likewise tomorrow.  Mill & Joe are going to make four Lady Baltimore cakes with white Lord Baltimore frosting.  The cakes are to be made in two layers each and sliced in sixteen pieces each – each cake.  I mean: “Oh, that’s very excellent!”, I says, when Millie asks, “How do you know?”

Ditty is washing her hair and this afternoon she is going to have a (?) facial.

Oh, we have a 101 duties to do today.

Considering what we have before us, I deem it altogether fitting & proper to postpone the writing in this book until a later date.  Surely these “trivial?” things can be easily remembered three days from now, – at which time, more thought and energy can be wasted on this unimportant matter – as writing in the book. 

Since this cook book does not have any recipes for them, I have looked for others in the same time period.   From 1937 a pamphlet from the Royal Baking Powder Company which has a couple of Lady Baltimore and Lord Baltimore recipes in it. 

Some of the history of the Lady Baltimore Cake;

LADY BALTIMORE CAKE

The first recorded recipe is in 1906 for this named layer cake made of a light white sponge and flavored with fruits and nuts in the frosting.  Also known to be a Queens Cake, no one knows who invented this recipe.  However; Owen Wister created a character in one of his books who lived in Charleston, South Carolina, Lady Baltimore served a cake and it sent people looking for the recipe which had not been created yet.  This is a quote from the book;  

“I should like a slice, if you please, of Lady Baltimore,” I said with extreme formality.  I returned to the table and she brought me the cake, and I had my first felicitous meeting with Lady Baltimore.  Oh, my goodness! Did you ever taste it?  It’s all soft, and it’s in layers, and it has nuts – but I can’t write any more about it; my mouth waters too much.  Delighted surprise caused me once more to speak aloud, and with my mouth full, “But, dear me, this is delicious!”

The two people, “Florence and Nina Ottelengui, who managed Charleston’s Lady Baltimore Tea Room for a quarter of a century, developed the cake toward the end of the nineteenth century from a version of the common “Queen Cake” of that period.”

“According to the research of Janet Clarkson of The Old Foodie blog, the first recipe appeared on December 24th 1906 in the Daily Gazette And Bulletin newspaper of Williamsport, Pennsylvania:

Lady Baltimore Cake

Beat the whites of six eggs.  Take a cup and a half of granulated sugar, a cup of milk, nearly a cup of butter, three cups of flour and two teaspoonfuls of good baking powder.  Sift the flour and baking powder together into the other ingredients, adding the eggs last of all.  Bake in two buttered pans for fifteen or twenty minutes.

For the frosting: Two cups of granulated sugar and a cup and a half of water, boil until stringy, about five minutes usually does it.  Beat the whites of two eggs very light, and pour the boiling sugar slowly into it, mixing well.  Take out of this enough for the top and sides of the cake, and stir into the remainder for the filling between the two layers, one cup of finely chopped raisins and a cup of chopped nuts.  This is delicious when properly baked.”

This has become a popular Southern recipe.  Even now in December 2020 when I am writing this, one of the Christmas magazines published this year has a lady Baltimore Cake as one of its featured desserts, this cake continues to be a favorite treat. 

The following recipe is from a small Handwritten Cookbook from Spokane Valley Washington, late 1800’s through the early 1900’s.  A lot of the recipes in this are copied from a cookbook from 1881.  This Confectionary Cake could also be the inspiration for the Lady Baltimore, it also sounds like a version of the Dolly Varden Cake.  This one is very interesting, made in five layers, with the middle one being flavored with raisins, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  The filling in between has raisins in what sounds like a seven-minute boiled frosting. 

Mahoney Bay Canada 30’s – 40’s

Lady Baltimore Cake       

Lady Baltimore Cake

While this next cake is also not called a Lady Baltimore Cake, it is in the same category and type of ingredients; I can imagine that it could be an inspiration for the Lady Baltimore.  It is also in the same category as the Dolly Varden; layers of different flavors in the same cake. 

From Wallingford CT 1887 & 1888; Three Ply Cake

Royal Baking Powder cook book, 1929. 1937 Royal Baking Powder Cooking Pamphlet 4 cookbooks from Ithaca NY

The difference between a Lady Baltimore and the Lord Baltimore, from what I can see, is the lady is a white cake base (so no egg yolks) and the Lord is a yellow cake base (the yolks are included). 

A Lady Baltimore from 1911 in a book called Scientific Cooking.

These are a few other recipes for Wedding Cakes from several other books; and one of them is from a cookbook that has a wedding cake from the early 1900’s as well. 

Stapleton Family Cookbook 1900’s through the 1950’s

From one of the earliest American cookbooks in Williamsburg Virginia 1700’s

And the Icing for the cake

A yeasted Wedding Cake

1852 cookbook Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt-Book, Developed as a Supplement to her Treatise on Domestic economy. 

Harper & Brothers Publishers, New York.

Bride’s Cake

Milford CT 1915

Bride’s Cake and Brides Cake or Fruit Cake

Saleratus – From the Latin sal aerates, meaning “aerated salt”.  A precursor to baking soda, it hit the market in 1840 and was a chalky powder used for the chemical leavening needed to produce carbon dioxide gas that gives the rise in your baked goods.  It was made by adding carbonic acid to pearlash, changing the potassium carbonate into potassium bicarbonate.  

It had replaced pearlash as the choice of leavening by 1850 but was soon replaced by baking soda in 1860; although baking soda was also called saleratus for a while; I have found recipes into the early 1900’s using the word saleratus instead of baking soda.   

To substitute; per 1 teaspoon of saleratus, 1 ¼ teaspoons of baking soda. 

Marion Arkansas 1858

Wedding Cake      

Rose Water – Is a flavoring that can be traced back in history, used by the ancient Greeks and Romans for medicines, food and perfumes.  In Medieval and Renaissance cooking you can find recipes of all kinds using it as a flavoring; and today is often used in Middle Eastern sweets and desserts.  It is made by steeping and then distilling rose petals in water.  It can be found in most specialty markets, especially those catering to Middle Eastern foods.  

Marcellus New York 1880 Baking Powder Book

Bride Cakes    

INGREDIENT REFERENCES and MEASUREMENTS

I have found several references that explains the equivalents to our modern measurements.  Just a few examples are;

Gill – Pronounced Jill; equal to a quarter of a pint; or four fluid ounces which equals ½ cup.  

Lump of (something) the size of a Turkey’s egg – equals 4 ounces

Lump of (something) the size of a chicken’s egg – equals 2 ounces.

Lump of Butter the size of a walnut – equals 1 ounce. (can also be 1 rounded tablespoon)

A Victorian measurement of a wine glassful, will not be the wine glass we think of today.  They were much smaller, about ¼ cup to ½ cup.  So, when using a recipe that askes for a wine glass full be sure to use a lot less than you would think about using from today’s size of glass.

Quite a few of these recipes call for; a coffee cupful. A teacup full, and a wineglass full. 

A coffee cupful = 1 cup.

A tea cupful = 1/3 cup, I have also found it to be ¾ cup.

A wine glassful = ¼ cup, ½ gill or 4 T.

A Tumbler = ½ pint or 1 cup

Basic measurements

The measurements may sometimes call for a “pinch” or a “dash” of something, they have never really been defined other than a pinch or a dash are both less than 1/8 of a teaspoon.  I have actually seen a measuring spoon set that has them measured out; I am sure you could find them if you really want a set.   I usually define them as; a pinch, equals what you can “pinch” between your thumb and forefinger.  A dash equals one “shake” of a container with holes in the lid, such as a salt shaker. 

Teaspoons are often listed with just a small letter “t”; also tsp. And many other versions all starting with a small t.

Tablespoons are often listed with just a capitol “T”; also Tbsp. And many other versions starting with a capitol T.

A cup is often listed as a “C” or a “c”.

An ounce is often listed as “oz.”

A pound is often listed as “lb.”, lbs. and sometimes as “#”.

3 teaspoons equal 1 Tablespoon.

4 Tablespoons equal ¼ of a cup.

5 Tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon equals 1/3 cup.

8 Tablespoons equal ½ cup, and 16 Tablespoons equal 1 cup.

2 Tablespoons make one fluid ounce.

1 half pint equals 1 cup.

2 cups make a pint

4 cups, or 2 pints, equal a quart.

4 quarts make a gallon.

It takes 8 quarts to make a peck and 4 pecks to make a bushel. 

4 Tablespoons or ½ a gill equal one wine glass

2 wine glasses or ½ cup equals 1 gill

2 gills equal a coffee cup full

2 coffee cups full equal 1 pint

2 pints equal 1 quart

2 Tablespoonsful liquid equals 1 ounce

1 Tablespoon of salt equals 1 ounce

16 ounces equal 1 pound, or a pint of liquid

1 rounded Tablespoon of flour equals ½ ounce

3 cupful’s of corn meal equals 1 pound

4 coffee cupful’s sifted flour equals 1 pound

1 quart unsifted flour equals 1 pound

1 pint granulated sugar equals 1 pound

2 coffee cupful powdered sugar equals 1 pound

1 pint brown sugar equals 13 ounces

2 ½ cupful’s of powdered sugar equals 1 pound

Oven temperatures are seldom given in the old books and recipes; most times the only say something like a slow oven or quick oven.  These are the equlivent to today’s oven temperatures;

A very slow oven equals 250 to 275 degrees.

A slow oven equals 300 to 325 degrees.

A moderate oven equals 350 to 375 degrees.

A hot or quick oven equals 375 to 400 degrees.

A very hot oven equals 400 to 450 degrees. 

Visit my ebay store to find some great kitchen utensils and collectables to go along with these vintage and antique recipes.

https://www.ebay.com/str/ozziesattic720?_trksid=p2047675.l2563