1650 to 1799 Cake #7

Harriott Horry's Water Cake

This cake was named after a woman who managed a large rice plantation in South Carolina, named Harriott Pinckney Horry. Harriott kept a detailed diary for over 26 years, which included recipes and stories of her travels. She started the journal in 1770. It was translated into a cookbook in 1984. During the Revolutionary War, Harriott housed refugees when the British occupied Charleston.

This cake is an early American sponge cake called a "water cake." The sugar that they used would be sold to the plantations in loaves from the West Indies and the cooks would have to break off chunks and grind them into granules, or let the sugar loaf dissolve in water first before using it for cooking and baking.

I am going to share the picture from the book so you all can see what it was supposed to look like. My cake was a complete fail. My sponge was a bit under-baked, which made it less fluffy, and it is missing the yummy looking curd that the picture in the book has. I could not find any notes or recipes for that curd on this cake in the book. Unless I was really missing something, I think this was a mistake by either the author or the publishers. I think they just forgot to include any mention of that topping. In my picture, you will see a lack-luster cake with random berries that have nothing to stick to. This is definitely the biggest miss by me so far. I will not be offended whatsoever if you get a chuckle as you scroll down to see first what it should look like and then compare it to my sad little guy:)