Recipe
1940s War Cake (Eggless Spice Cake)
A ration-era spice cake made without eggs or butter: boiled raisins, brown sugar, and pantry spices from wartime household manuals.
Context
War cakes (sometimes called “eggless, butterless, milkless cake”) circulated widely when rationing limited eggs, butter, and sugar. Raisins were boiled to plump them and sweeten the batter; spices covered the simpler crumb. Treat this as a historical method adapted for a modern oven, not a claim that every household used the same formula.
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup shortening or vegetable oil
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves or allspice
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions
- In a saucepan, combine brown sugar, water, shortening, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer 5 minutes. Cool until lukewarm.
- Stir in baking soda, then sift in flour and mix until smooth.
- Pour into a greased loaf pan or 8-inch square pan.
- Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 40–50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool before slicing.