This Poor Man's Cake recipe is from the 1930s. My grandmother gave it to my mother and she gave it to me. Now I am a grandmother and passed it down to my kids. It's really good. You don't have to dirty your mixer for this one, just a big bowl.
Ingredients
- raisins: 2 cups
- water: 2 cups
- packed brown sugar: 1 cup
- shortening: 0.75 cup
- all-purpose flour: 3 cups
- ground cinnamon: 4 tsp
- baking soda: 2 tsp
- ground nutmeg: 1 tsp
- ground cloves: 1 tsp
- salt: 1 tsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13-inch pan.
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Mix raisins, water, brown sugar, and shortening in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
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Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a large bowl. When raisin mixture is cool, add to dry ingredients and mix well to combine.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 30 or 40 minutes. Do not overbake or it will be too dry. Test after 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of the cake should come out clean.
