Anyone Can Bake: 1929 Royal Baking Powder Cookbook

[rachelmanija]

After helping a neighbor clean out his apartment for a move and bringing him homebaked bread as a consolation, he gave me a cookbook that he'd unearthed from God knows where. It's a complete delight, and unlike many old cookbooks which are only good for windows into the things people used to eat that we now find unutterably gross, or for enjoyable reading of recipes way too complex or unusual to actually make, this one's recipes look both good and extremely simple.

I am going to try some. I assume baking powder is basically the same now as in 1929, i.e., I can just do the recipes as written?

Cut for a whole lot of photos.













Anyone Can Bake

Comments

[pameladean]

Those recipes look wonderful. I have made one or two of them -- or versions thereof, anyway. If you really like caraway seeds, the Nun's Cake is just lovely. I think the one I made was more spartan in terms of eggs and butter, which meant it was a little dry; possibly this version is trying to make up for that, though slathering the dry version with butter also worked just fine.

But the text! My God! As an perfect encapsulation of what is STILL WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY it could hardly be bettered. And what masterful use of the passive voice.

P.

[rachelmanija]

I know! There's also a bit that goes something like, "What woman doesn't delight in a perfectly polished oyster fork?"

Me, I thought. I do not delight in that.

I don't like caraway seeds but a lot of the recipes sound delicious.

[pameladean]

ALSO ME! I do not delight in that.

I would pick one with an ingredient that you (and many other people) don't like. But they all sound plausible and delicious. I'm intrigued by the peach dumplings, except for the part where you don't take out the stone. I guess you just eat around it as you would with a simple peach.

P.

[movingfinger]

For a thing like tea cake, you may be able to substitute poppy seeds for caraway.

[mildred_of_midgard]

*does not delight in that*