Bella Bakes great-great-grandmother’s recipe from 1920—in a wood cook stove!–(updated with a printable recipe card!)

This is a vintage recipe that you will find only here at Cozy Kitchen Wood Stove!

My grandmother, Bella’s great-great-grandmother, baked this cake every year for my dad on his birthday. It was his favorite cake, because he did not like the super fluffy buttercream frostings. The icing on Nanny’s raisin cake is more of a crystalized glaze. Yummylicious!

You would also find her raisin cake on the table every Christmas. I remember how she would get oranges a couple of weeks before she planned to bake. She would place the peels in the windowsill to dry. According to her, they would zest better when dried.

Who am I to argue? Nanny was one of the best cooks in the south! She would be so proud to see Bella cooking her special cake this Christmas. It is the first time it has been on our table since she passed–over 25 years ago!

Wood cook stove Tip:

When baking on a wood cook stove, always build up the fire in your firebox to desired temperature before you start to bake. You will need to add wood and adjust dampers and air admission levers to keep your oven at the desired temperature.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c. crisco (I know! Not healthy–but delicious)
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 t. pure vanilla extract
• 4 egg whites
• 1 c. milk
• 3 c. all purpose flour
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 c. raisins

Method:

• Sift together 3 c. all purpose flour and 2 t. baking powder (sift it twice)

• chop 1 c. raisins

• coat with flour

• Beat 4 egg whites until stiff peaks form

• cream 3/4 c. crisco, 1 1/2 c. sugar, and 1 t. vanilla extract–until light and fluffy

• Add 1 c. milk to the sugar/crisco mixture alternately with the flour. Beat hard about 3 minutes (Nanny always said beat it 100 strokes.)

• stir in raisins and fold beaten egg whites into batter

• Bake in 3 greased and floured cake pans / We used two–9 inch pans because we only have one oven rack and three would not fit.

She’s done!

We ended up baking for 35 minutes at about 350 degrees.

• Cool in pans 5 minutes and then turn out onto wire rack. Do not ice until completely cool.

Icing:

• 1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. water
• 1/2 c. chopped raisins
• 2 egg whites
• 1 T. grated orange rind (zest)–We found it very difficult to zest the dried orange peel.
• 3/4 t. baking powder

method:

• beat 2 egg whites until stiff

• Boil 1 1/2 c. sugar and 1/2 c. water on high (do not stir!) Boil until it will spin a thread. (explained below)

• add 1/2 c. chopped raisins and cook 15 seconds
• Pour sugar mixture over stiffly beaten egg white and beat until smooth
• add 1 T. orange rind and 3/4 t. baking powder
• whip thoroughly
• spread between layers, on top and on sides

The great reveal! Cutting the cake!

Way to go Bella! Absolutely perfect job! It tastes just like I remember my Nanny’s raisin cake when I was a little girl like you!

Spinning a thread:–(a candy-making term)

Spinning a thread is a candy-making term. Drop a spoonful of hot syrup into a bowl of very cold water. If the syrup dissolves, then it needs to be cooked longer; if the syrup forms thin, spiderweb-like threads in the cold water, you have reached the stage called spinning a thread. If you can form the syrup into a ball in the cold water, you have cooked it too long!

I like to take my fingers with a little syrup on them–put fingers together and pull apart slowly. If it has reached (spin a thread) temperature, it will form a thin thread between your fingers.

While making the icing, I remembered exactly how my grandmother used to check for spinning a thread! I watched her so many times. She would dip a spoon in the boiling sugar–water mixture, and holding the spoon about 12 inches above the pot, she would let it drip back into the pan. When ready, it would spin a thin thread between the spoon and the pan. Check frequently, because it only takes a few seconds for it to cook too long!

If you have a candy thermometer, you can always cheat. LOL. My grandmother had never heard of a candy thermometer! Spin a thread temperature is 106 – 112 C (223 – 234 F.)

I hope you enjoy this recipe and will pass it on to your children and grandchildren! It is such a delicious, simple old recipe that deserves to be on tables for years to come!

Weekly Timeless Treasure

This pink depression glass cake-plate and glass knife belonged to my grandmother. She loved to tell stories, and one of her favorite was about this set. Her son, my dad, got it for her in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. He was Bella’s great-granddaddy, and he would have been about 12 or 13 years old at the time. They were hard working, country people, and I have no idea how he earned the money. I guess that is one of the reasons Nanny treasured it so. Great sacrifice produces great love!

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