LOL
Great post, by the way! I like culinary history and one of my side hobbies is resurrecting old recipes. Sometimes they just need a little tweaking and they become something marvelous!
My favorite was a 19th Century Norwegian fruitcake made with molasses and dried currants.
I progressively made tweaks to the recipe and now it makes a very nice spice cake and the fruit is optional...but I like it! Feel free to try it, it’s easy!
Fruit & Spice Cake
2 cups seedless raisins or dried cranberries
2 1/4 cups water
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 egss, beaten
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground clove
2 tsp all spice
2 tsp nutmeg (optional because it gives some people heartburn)
3 1/2 cups of flour. (Whole wheat unbleached flour works really well with this recipe.)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
Combine the raisins, spices, and water and simmer to a light boil and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add oil, then the sugar, and then the eggs followed by the salt and baking soda. Sift in the flour and stir until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a greased 13x9 glass pan.
Bake at 375F in a regular oven or at 350F in a convection oven for around 35-40 minutes (check it at around 30 minutes).