American Cake - Cake #11: 1-2-3-4 Cake

Time Period: 1870-1899

When you think of the platonic ideal of "American cake", the 1-2-3-4 cake is likely what pops into your head: Yellow/vanilla sponge with a chocolate icing. The use of vanilla extract in cakes dates to about the Civil War (no correlation that I know of, but wouldn't that be wild?) and recipes for this type of cake started popping up shortly thereafter. Versions of it have been traced to an 1870 Michigan newspaper, a couple of regional cookbooks, and finally, The Joy of Cooking in 1931.

It's called 1-2-3-4 Cake because of the proportions of its ingredients. 1 cup of butter. 2 cups of sugar. 3 cups of flour. 4 eggs. Recipes vary on what else gets added, but this one makes sure to include a little liquid (milk) and some leavening (baking powder). There were also a couple of other interesting details. I generally use all-purpose flour for my baking, but this recipe insisted on cake flour. I didn't think there'd be much of a difference, but was amazed to see how much more quickly cake flour combined into the batter. This is also one of the rare times I made a frosting on the stovetop instead of in the stand mixer.

The circumstances this cake was baked in are (hopefully) once in a lifetime as well. It was meant to be a birthday cake for Tiddy in March, but that became impossible. For one, it was made in the midst of organizing the stuff we just moved into the new house; you can see the boxes in the background of the picture. I had to hunt through piles of dishes to track down all the pans and racks that I'd need. And then there came a little thing called global pandemic, which has affected every aspect of life, as you can imagine. Finally, though, we were able to amass all of the necessary ingredients and equipment, and I was able to give Tiddy a belated dessert.

So, how was it? Frankly, a bit dry. I think sponge should be moist enough on its own, and not need an assist from the frosting. I don't know that this recipe will be going into the cake rotation, but overall, though, it's not too bad. It's certainly better than the other desserts available in the culinary world right now.