Place in a bowl 1 cup of New Orleans molasses and 3/4 of a cup of sweet milk.  Add 1 teaspoonful of baking soda. (For this cake Aunt Sarah was always particular to use the Cow-brand soda), dissolved in a very little hot water.  Aunt Sarah always used B.T.  Babbitt’s saleratus for other purposes.

Stir all ingredients together well, then add gradually three even cups of flour, no more, and beat hard.  The cake mixture should not be very thick.  Pour into three medium-sized pie-tins lined with pastry and bake in a moderately hot oven.  These are good, cheap breakfast cakes, neither eggs nor shortening being used.

BROD TORTE (BREAD TART)

Six yolks of eggs and 1 cup sugar, creamed together.  Beat about 15 minutes.  Add 1 teaspoonful allspice, 1 teaspoonful cloves, 1 cup Baker’s chocolate, which had been grated, melted and cooled; 1 cup stale rye bread crumbs, crushed fine with rolling-pin.  Lastly, add the stiffly beaten whites of 6 eggs, a pinch of salt and 1/2 teaspoonful of baking powder sifted over the batter.  Put into a small cake pan and bake half an hour in a moderate oven.  When eggs are cheap and plentiful this is an economical cake, as no flour is used.  It is a delicious cake and resembles an ordinary chocolate cake.

A DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE CAKE

1/2 cake of Baker’s unsweetened chocolate (grated). 1 cup granulated sugar. 1/2 cup milk. 1 teaspoonful vanilla. 1/2 cup butter. 1-1/2 to 2 cups flour. 2 eggs. 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder.

Boil together chocolate, sugar and milk.  Add butter and when cool add yolk of eggs; then the flour, flavoring and stiffly beaten whites of 2 eggs.  Beat all thoroughly and bake in a loaf or layers.

CHOCOLATE ICING

Boil together 5 tablespoonfuls grated chocolate, 3/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoonfuls milk, 1 egg.

When the mixture begins to thicken and look creamy, spread on cake.  If baked in layers, ice on top and between the two layers.

A WHITE COCOANUT CAKE

Cream together 3/4 cup butter and 2 cups sugar.  Add whites of 5 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, 1/2 teaspoonful soda sifted with 3 cups flour and 1 grated cocoanut.  Bake in a loaf.  This is an excellent old recipe of Aunt Sarah’s.

A POTATO CAKE (NO YEAST REQUIRED)

Cream together: 

1 cup of sugar. 1/2 cup lard and butter, mixed.  Yolk of 2 eggs. 1/2 cup pulverized cocoa. 1/2 cup of creamed mashed potatoes, cold.  A little ground cinnamon and grated nutmeg.  A few drops of essence of vanilla. 1/4 cup of sweet milk. 1/2 cup finely chopped nut meats.

One teaspoonful of baking powder sifted with one cup of flour added to the batter alternately with the stiffly beaten whites of eggs.  Bake in two layers, in a moderately hot oven.  Ice top and put layers together with white icing.  This is a delicious, if rather unusual cake.