Old Fashioned Loaf Cakes from 1968

I was looking through my recipes for more breakfast breads, and found a cookbook from 1968 simply called Cake Cookbook. It has a section on Loaf Cakes, which are basically sweet quick breads or pound cake type recipes. I thought I would share a few that I plan on trying. But first I wanted to share my lemon bread recipe because some of you asked for it. It's not from scratch; but instead uses a cake mix. What I do is wait until cake mixes are on sale for a dollar, and stock up. I never pay more than $1.00 each, to keep the expense down.

Lemon Bread

Ingredients:
1 box lemon cake mix, any brand
1 small box instant lemon pudding
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs

Beat together all the ingredients in a large bowl on slow to start, then on medium speed for 2-3 minutes. Pour into 2 regular size bread pans that have been sprayed with pan spray, or you can coat in a very light coating of margarine or butter. Bake for 50 minutes in a 350 degree F. oven. Cool before slicing.

Buttermilk Loaf Cake

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

1/2 pound butter or margarine

6 eggs, separated

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. soda

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream sugar and butter; add egg yolks, 1 at a time. Add buttermilk; add flour, salt, soda and baking powder. Add vanilla and beaten eggs whites; pour into loaf pan. Bake at 325 degrees F. for 1 hour or until it tests done with a toothpick. Cool on a rack.

Blackberry Jam Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups sifted flour

1 tsp. allspice

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 eggs

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cup blackberry jam

Cream butter. Add sugar and eggs; beat well. Combine flour and spices. Alternate with the sour cream to mix into wet ingredients. Add jam last. Pour into loaf pan that has been sprayed or greased. Bake in a 350 degree F. oven for 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Sunny Citrus Cake

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. grated orange rind

1 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

1 cup orange marmalade

3 cups sifted flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 cup buttermilk

Cream butter, sugar, orange rind and vanilla together until fluffy; add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in marmalade. Sift flour, soda and salt together; add to first mixture alternating with buttermilk. Turn batter into greased and lined 9 inch tube pan (or Bundt or 9 inch loaf pan) Bake at 350 degree for 1 hour. Cool ten minutes.

Chocolate Marble Cake

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter or margarine

2 cups sugar

4 eggs, well beaten

3 cups flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 cup milk

1 square chocolate, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream butter and sugar together. Add well-beaten eggs; mix well. Sift flour and baking powder; add alternately with the milk to mixture. Put 1/3 of batter into a bowl and add melted chocolate. To the white batter; add vanilla. Drop the white batter, then the chocolate by spoonfuls into a well greased tube, Bundt pan or a 9 inch loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees F. Cool for an hour.

We also have a great article with recipes for crazy

cakes like the Tomato Soup Cake:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/crazycakes.html

~Brenda

More Economy Recipes from 1938

Back in November I had shared a few recipes from the 1938 Watkins Cook Book. I thought I'd share a few more today from the Economy section of the book. This was a few years after The Depression but before World War II, to give you an idea of the time period. People were still being very careful with their money, and I would imagine many were still recovering.

Beef and Bean Stew

Ingredients:

1 cup red kidney beans or lima beans

1 cup canned tomatoes

1 pound round steak on boneless chuck stewing meat

1 finely cut onion

Pepper

Celery Salt

Onion powder

1 ounce salt pork

Wash beans, soak overnight. Cook the pork until the fat is fried out, then remove. Cut the steak into small pieces, brown well in the pork fat. Add the beans, tomatoes and seasoning. Place in a buttered casserole, cover, cook slowly 3 hours.

My Notes: I would use a little seasoned salt instead of the celery salt and onion powder, or a seasoned pepper. If you don't want to buy salt pork, you can use bacon. If you do, I'd chop it and keep it in the beans instead of discarding like the salt pork. I also like to brown my onion in the fat after or before the meat, then add them to the pot.

You can make this in the crock pot easily. Do the same thing but put it on high for 5 or more hours and that should do it.

Potato Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds potatoes

4 eggs, well beaten

1 scant tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. dry bread crumbs

1/2 cup flour (more if needed)

2 quarts boiling water

1/4 cup minced parsley

Pare and boil the potatoes and put through a ricer. Stir in the beaten eggs, salt and butter. Add bread crumbs, flour. Blend and form into good sized balls. Roll in flour and toss into salted, boiling water. Cover and boil 12 minutes. Serve around meat platter and sprinkle with minced parsley.

Boiled Ham with Vegetables

Shank end of ham

4-5 small potatoes

1 head cabbage, cut into 4 pieces

3 turnips

3-4 whole carrots, sliced

salt

pepper

celery seed or salt

Place the ham in cold water to start, simmer 1 hour, add seasoning. Add the turnips, cook 15 minutes; add potatoes, cabbage, carrots and cook 30 minutes.

My Notes: I personally would use a leftover ham with the bone-in. I do this when I cook a bone-in ham for Sunday dinner. We eat the one meal, and there is still a lot of ham on the bone. I put it in the crock pot with the vegetables, cover with water, and cook it all day on high. 4-5 hours on high will work too. I serve it in bowls with a little bit of the vegetables with some of the ham in each serving.

Mexican Luncheon Dish

Ingredients:

1 pound lean lamb or other meat

2 tbsp. fat

2 onions

3/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups canned tomatoes

3/4 tsp. chili powder

pepper

hot cooked rice

Brown the meat in hot fat/oil with the onions that have been chopped. Add the tomatoes, seasoning, a little water, and cover. Cook slowly until the meat is tender. Serve with the hot rice.

My notes: I haven't made this but my first thought is to replace part of the tomatoes with salsa. I think it would be good with cubed steak or ground chuck too.

Swiss Steak

Ingredients:

2 inch thick round steak

2 tbsp. bacon fat

2 medium onions, sliced thinly

4 medium carrots diced

1 can tomato soup

3 or 4 potatoes

salt

pepper

Season the steak with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with flour and pound into the steaks. Sear the meat in hot fat, place in roaster, pour over the can of soup and simmer for one hour. Cover the meat with the vegetables. Cover. Cook another hour. Remove the meat and vegetables to a platter. Add a little flour to make a gravy with juices. Serve with gravy.

My Notes: I think I would make this in a large skillet with a lid, rather than a roaster. I also would saute the onions in the skillet with the meat before adding the soup.

Rice is a great pantry staple; we have tips and recipes on OFL:

http://oldfashionedliving.com/rice.html