I think the big note on the left says "Too much for Loose Bottom." Is loose bottom supposed to be a good thing? It almost sounds as if that's the goal, but the cake has too much of something to achieve loose-bottomedness. Or maybe the apparent changes written in the right margin are too much, and they give the cake a loose bottom? (My second guess as to what the scrawl says is "Too much for horse Bottom," which makes even less sense.)
I'm not sure about the extra measurements on the right, either. Some ingredients are left alone. Most are apparently increased (such as the 1/2 cup of butter increased to 3/4 cup). The vanilla is halved, though, and I don't know what is going on with the milk. What's tbt milk? (Maybe it's "+ 6 t" meaning to add six teaspoons?)
I clearly don't know what's going on here, but I love trying to puzzle it out. Let me know if you have any theories!
Maybe horse bottom is someone's nickname. Probably a secret one...
ReplyDeleteOne that you don't say in front of Horse Bottom if you know what's good for you...
DeleteThere is a type of baking pan called a loose bottom cake tin - maybe when this baker increased some of the ingredients there was too much batter to fit into her loose bottom cake tins? I read the "tbt" as "plus 6 tablespoons", which would make the milk just another ingredient this person increased in the recipe.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if specially prepared cake flour is the same as everyday cake flour (like Swan's Down)? This cake recipe actually looks quite doable, and might even taste good! Have you every tried to make it? I think I would start with the original before trying the edited version (that almost doubling of the amount of sugar gives me pause!).
The loose bottom cake tin makes sense! And six tablespoons would keep the increase of milk more in line with the increase of other ingredients than six teaspoons.
DeleteI think "specially prepared cake flour" is the way of emphasizing that they did not mean all-purpose flour. 1930s cooks would probably be inclined to just use the flour they had on hand, so this may have been a way to discourage that behavior. (I could be wrong, but that's my interpretation!)
I rarely make cakes because there are only two people in my household and we don't have anyone to share with. We don't need to split a whole cake/ Plus, I'm the only one who really enjoys nuts in desserts, so I definitely don't need to eat the whole thing!
Reminds me of when I finally noticed that foil roasting pans are stamped with ALWAYS SUPPORT THE BOTTOM. I should not have cackled over that as long as I did.
ReplyDeleteThat's great advice in a LOT of situations. Ha!
Delete