1870 to 1899 Cake #3

Scripture Cake

In the 1880's and 90's this spiced fruitcake was baked for church suppers. It was also known as Scriptural Cake or Bible Cake. This cake was actually used to teach Bible verses and baking skills at the same time. The bakers had to pretty much do a scavenger hunt through the bible to find out which ingredients they needed. For example, if one were to turn to "1 Kings 10:2" they would discover that they need cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. These cakes were not denominational; Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and German Lutherans were all known to bake this type of cake. It is believed that the recipe in this book originated in England in the late 1700's.

Having been a teacher briefly in a past life I really enjoyed the premise of having to search for ingredients in a book using clues. This method would for sure take a lot longer but would be fun and could even be competitive. The cake is made very much like a quick bread. I felt like I was mixing everything together like you would for Banana Bread. The look and texture also was very similar to a quick bread. This had a lot of flavor due to all of the spices. I am not a fan of dried fruit so that part of it was not my favorite. Overall, the process of making this cake makes it one of the most interesting recipes I have ever seen, the actual product you get out of it is good but not overwhelmingly exciting.