Lydia M. Child’s Loaf Cake

A yeasted cake spiced with cinnamon and rose water

–

The theme of this blog is to recreate recipes from antique cookbooks which can be a way to have a glimpse of times past. Many of these old cookbooks were written by women who had very interesting lives, and who accomplished a lot in their time.

=

As Louise at Months of Edible Celebrations mentioned, one of this women, Lydia M. Child was born on February 11, 1802. I baked this cake from Lydia’s cookbook The American Frugal Housewife.

—

Lydia M. Child was a remarkable woman in many ways, who accomplished amazing things both in the personal and in the social sphere—and her life almost reads as a novel.

—

She was a member of the Transcendentalist movement—and like many of her generation —she was a passionate social reformer.

—

She raised a family, worked as a teacher and a journalist, wrote essays and novels devoted to the social causes of her time: she was an abolitionist, as well as an activist for women’s rights and Native Americans’ rights.

Her life has been recently portrayed in a documentary .

–

–

From the original recipe by Lydia Maria Child

–

In: “The American Frugal Housewife”, 1833—USA

===

Ingredients

–

2 lb bread flour

–

1/4 oz. (7 g) active dry yeast

—

1/2 lb sugar

–

1/4 lb. butter

–

2 eggs

–

1/2 cup warm water

–

1 cup water (or as needed)

–

1/2 oz. ground cinnamon

–

1 tbsp rose water or lemon extract (or to taste)

–

1-1/2 tsp salt

–

1 yolk to decorate

–

–

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside. Cream the butter with the sugar, add the eggs and the flavoring (rose or lemon) and mix well. Sift the flour with the cinnamon and the salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter-egg mixture, then pour in the yeast water and the remaining water, kneading on low speed to make a soft, smooth dough. You might need more water than indicated.

—

Let the dough rise in a buttered bowl, covered, until doubled.

—

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Shape the dough in a free form loaf or place it into a removable bottom round cake pan, 8-inches in diameter, generously buttered on the bottom and sides. Brush the top of the cake with yolk mixed with 1 tbsp water and make a diamond pattern lightly scoring the top with a sharp knife.

Let it rise, covered, until light. Bake for about 40 minutes and let cool on a rack.