Velvet Cakes
Source: Mary Randolph, 1824
History
Velvet Cakes is a recipe printed in The Virginia House-Wife, the 1824 housekeeping manual and cookbook by Mary Randolph. As printed, it is a yeast-leavened batter cake: flour, eggs, milk, and yeast are combined into a batter and left to rise well, after which a large spoonful of melted butter is stirred in and the batter is baked in muffin hoops. In the book it appears within the "Cakes" section, immediately after "Rice woffles" and before "Chocolate cakes". The Virginia House-Wife is generally considered the first regional American cookbook; its first edition dates to 1824, while the widely circulated Project Gutenberg text (ebook 12519) reproduces a later, 1860 printing. Beyond the recipe text and its appearance in this book, the historical record consulted here does not document an origin story for this particular dish. No source traces Velvet Cakes to English "bun" or "seed cake" traditions, to ale-yeast baking, to the bakery guilds of London or the English Midlands, or to any specific social class; those claims cannot be substantiated for this recipe and are therefore not included.
Ingredients
- 1 quart flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 quart milk
- 1 gill yeast
- 1 large spoonful butter, melted
Instructions
- Combine flour, eggs, milk, and yeast to form a batter. Allow the batter to rise well. Once risen, stir in a large spoonful of melted butter. Bake in muffin hoops.