Vintage Pecan Cake Recipes

Continuing our series of vintage pecan recipes, here are two recipes for pecan cake and icing from the early twentieth century.

Pecan Recipe for Maple Pecan Cake

Maple Pecan Cake

from The New Royal Cookbook (1922)

Cake Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup shortening
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs, separated
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup shelled pecans, chopped

Icing Ingredients:

  • 1/2 teaspoon butter
  • 2 tablespoons hot milk
  • 1½ cups confectioner’s sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring

Instructions:

Cream shortening, add sugar, egg yolks, vanilla and milk, and beat well; add flour, salt and baking powder which have been sifted together, and add pecan pieces; mix in beaten egg whites. Bake in greased loaf pan in moderate oven 35 to 45 minutes. Cover top with maple icing: Add butter to hot milk; add sugar slowly to make paste of the right consistency to spread; add flavoring and spread on cake. While still soft sprinkle with additional pecan pieces.

Baltimore Cake

From Good Things to Eat as Suggested by Rufus (1911)

Cake Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups fine granulated sugar
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 ½ cups pastry flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 6 egg whites, beaten stiff and dry

Icing Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 3 cups sugar
  • 3 egg whites, well beaten
  • 1 cup raisins, chopped
  • 1 cup pecan pieces, chopped
  • 5 figs, cut in strips

Beat butter to a cream using a wood cake spoon. Add 2 cups of sugar gradually while beating constantly. When creamy add milk, alternating with pastry flour that has been mixed and sifted with the baking powder. Add vanilla and the six egg whites. Bake in three buttered and floured shallow cake tins, and spread between the layers and on top the following icing:

Put in a saucepan three cups sugar, one cup water. Heat gradually to the boiling point, and cook without stirring until the syrup will thread. Pour the hot syrup gradually over the well beaten whites of three eggs and continue beating until of the right consistency for spreading. Then add raisins, pecan pieces and figs.

Certified Bulk Pecans for Specialty Foods

Stahmanns Pecans supplies fancy extra-large pecan pieces, mammoth pecan halves, and bulk pecans for gourmet goods. For more information, call us at 844-739-6887 or contact us online.

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