Election Cake

Well, all the hoopla of the election is now over. I'll admit, it took me a day to "get over" the results. Naturally, having voted for Romney, I was disappointed and a bit depressed, but today is, as Scarlett would remind us, "another day!"

I happened upon an interesting find regarding election celebrations during the 18th Century. The ELECTION CAKE! It sounded interesting so I spent some time looking into this delicacy. Also known as the "muster cake", it was used for large gatherings, as you can see from the list of ingredients below!

The recipe below is taken from Amelia Simmons' American Cookery, published in 1796:

Thirty quarts [38 lbs] flour, 10 pound butter, 14 pound sugar, 12 pound raisins, 3 doz eggs, one pint wine, one quart brandy, 4 ounces cinnamon, 4 ounces fine colander seed, 3 ounces ground allspice; wet the flour with milk to the consistence of bread over night, adding one quart yeast; the next morning work the butter and sugar together for half an hour, which will render the cake much lighter and whiter; when it has rise light work in every other ingredient except the plumbs [raisins], which work in when going into the oven.

You can see the original cookbook at left, but it has also been re-published and updated (below) if you are interested in recipes from back in the day!

Needless to say, I will not be making the cake any time soon, but I will keep it in mind for another day!