Cream Cakes

History

Cream Cakes is documented as a recipe in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife, first published in 1824. As printed, it is a plain griddle cake: 'Melt as much butter in a pint of milk, as will make it rich as cream—make the flour into a paste with this, knead it well, roll it out frequently, cut it in squares, and bake on a griddle'. The name describes the enrichment method — butter melted into milk until the liquid is 'rich as cream' — rather than the use of actual cream in the batter. Mary Randolph (1762–1828) was born into the Virginia gentry and, after financial reverses, opened a boarding house in Richmond in 1807; her cookbook drew on the knowledge of the enslaved people who worked in her kitchens. The Virginia House-Wife is considered the first regional American cookbook. The record does not document where or when 'cream cakes' first arose, does not tie the recipe to any English region such as East Anglia or the Midlands, and does not associate it with wealth or social status.

Ingredients

• butter
• 1 pint milk
• flour

Instructions

1. Melt as much butter in a pint of milk as will make it rich as cream.
2. Make the flour into a paste with this and knead it well.
3. Roll it out frequently, then cut it in squares.
4. Bake on a griddle.