Plain Cake

Recipe No. 45 from the U.S. Army’s WWII cookbook — Cakes and Cookies. Quantities are exactly as printed, for 100 servings; a scaled-down 8-serving version is in the notes.

Ingredients

• Shortening — 1¾ pounds (⅞ No. 56 dippers)
• Sugar, granulated — 3¾ pounds (1⅞ No. 56 dippers)
• Eggs — 23 eggs (1½ mess kit cups)
• Flour, sifted — 4 pounds (2 No. 56 dippers)
• Baking powder — 2½ ounces (6⅔ mess kit spoons)
• Salt — ½ ounce (1 mess kit spoon)
• Milk, evaporated — 1¾ — 14½-ounce cans
• Water (for milk) — 1½ pints (1 mess kit cup)
• Vanilla — 1½ ounces (3 mess kit spoons)

Directions

Key ingredients

Baking Soda & Baking Powder · Evaporated Milk

1. Stir shortening until soft and smooth.
2. Add sugar gradually; mix thoroughly.
3. Add unbeaten eggs, a few at a time, beating after each addition until well mixed. Beat thoroughly at this stage to insure a light tender cake.
4. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together twice.
5. Mix milk and water; add vanilla.
6. Add dry ingredients and milk alternately to sugar and egg mixture, first adding about ⅓ dry ingredients, then ½ milk, then another ⅓ dry ingredients and remaining milk and dry ingredients.
7. Mix thoroughly but avoid overmixing.
8. Place in greased sheet pans. Bake in moderate oven (350° F.) 30 to 35 minutes or until done.

Notes

SCALED TO 8 SERVINGS (the original is ÷12.5): Shortening — 2¼ oz Sugar, granulated — 4¾ oz Eggs — 1¾ eggs Flour, sifted — 5 oz Baking powder — about 1¼ tsp Salt — a pinch Milk, evaporated — ½ can (14½ oz) Water (for milk) — 3¾ tbsp Vanilla — about ¾ tsp

This recipe makes two sheet pans (17 by 24 by 1 inches) or eight loaf pans 9⅞ by 4¼ by 2¾ inches) or 200 individual cakes each 3 inches in diameter.

— TM 10-412, Army Recipes (War Department, 15 August 1944), recipe No. 45, Cakes and Cookies. Army measures: 1 No. 56 dipper = 1 qt; 1 No. 55 dipper = 1¾ qt; 1 mess kit cup = 1½ pints.