Prep Time: 10 Min Cook Time: 40 Min Total Time: 50 Min
A vintage Depression-Era snack cake made with raisins, molasses and cozy
spices without any eggs, milk or butter that’s super moist and perfectly sweet.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1 1/3 cups water
- 1/3 cup oil
- 3 tablespoons molasses
- 2 cups raisins
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons water
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×9 baking pan or spray with cooking
spray. Optional: line pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil to easily
remove cake from pan.
2. Combine brown sugar, water, oil, molasses, raisins, salt and spices in a
saucepan then heat over medium-high heat until boiling. Once boiling,
cook for 1 minute then remove from heat.
3. Combine flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl then whisk to
combine, breaking up any clumps of flour. Set aside.
4. Mix water with baking soda in a small cup until baking soda has dissolved
then stir into raisin mixture (it will foam up – don’t worry, it’s supposed to!)
5. Pour raisin mixture into bowl with flour then stir until just combined.
6. Pour batter into the prepared 9 X 9 pan then bake for 40-45 minutes or
until cooked through (test with toothpick if needed).
7. Cool in pan then cut into squares.
8. Store at room temperature in an air-tight container.
NOTES
Don’t fret too much over the spices. If you’re out of nutmeg or don’t like ginger
or whatever, just use what you have and what you like.
Feel free to add chopped pecans or walnuts! I have added pecans and loved
the results. I use about one heaping cup.
Yes, both the baking powder and baking soda are needed. This is a
dense, heavy batter which requires a lot of help from the leavening agents to
rise, especially since there are no eggs in the recipe. You can’t use too much
baking powder or baking soda in a recipe without having bad results, so you
do actually need to use both in this recipe.
If you’re out of or just don’t like molasses, simply omit it. You could substitute
dark corn syrup if desired but I think other alternatives (sorghum, agave,
maple syrup, etc.) would be too thin.
