A year of savings - recipes from the 50's

I planned to make a cake from a Martha Stewart recipe for supper last night. I had picked out a Lemon Cake that sounded good and has good reviews. It just makes one layer and I prefer to make smaller desserts when cooking for just Jeff and I. But as I read the recipe closer, I noticed it called for 3 whole eggs and 3 egg whites.

It seems to me that most "new" recipes use more expensive ingredients. Whenever Paula Deen or the Barefoot Contessa make a dessert, they seem to always start with several sticks of butter.

So I pulled out my 1950's Betty Crocker cookbook. I found a recipe for Light Golden Cake and baked it. It only called for 1 egg and 1/3 cup shortening. It tasted great too.

1950 style Light Golden Cake

grease and flour a 9 inch square pan

sift together

1 1/2 Cups flour

1 Cup Sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

add

1/3 cup shortening

pour in a little over half

2/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

beat 2 minutes.

add remaining milk and

1 egg
Beat 2 minutes

Pour into prepared pan and bake until cake tests done. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes. Cool and finish with frosting.

I topped ours with a homemade glaze,

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp milk

Heat together in a glass measuring cup until melted

add 1 tsp vanilla and enough powdered sugar to make a glaze. I used about 1 cup of pow. sugar.

This yellow cake may be a bit smaller than the Lemon Cake I first planned. But it costs considerably less and probably has fewer calories too.

I left this cook book on the counter and will be planning more menus with recipes from it soon.