Wednesday, April 16, 2008

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.

4 comments:

  1. That cookbook is definitely on my wish list as I love older recipes. I am new to your blog but wanted to say I really love your frugality posts. Take care!

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  2. Oh, thanks for the recipe. I love Jiffy cake mixes because they only make a small cake. Now I have a scratch version to fall back on. I might even trade the vanilla extract for lemon and make it a lemon cake.
    Thanks1

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  3. Looks good to me too. I like to serve a plain cake with fresh berries.

    I enjoy your blog, Rhonda.

    Andrea (CHL friend)

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  4. Jenny, I think cake would be great made in a lemon flavor. I would substitute lemon juice for the milk in the glaze too.

    Andrea, my old friend, - its so nice to know you stop by.

    Lyn, welcome to you!

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