Mrs. Tucker’s Short Cake

Summer in Michigan is such a fun season.  Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, cherries and peaches are all available, fresh and local, throughout the summer.  That’s why I quickly nabbed Mrs. Tucker’s Short Cake out of Grandma Dora’s recipe box as soon as I spotted it.  It’s the perfect recipe to pair with whatever fresh fruit you have available during the summer months.

 

The recipe is as follows:

MRS. TUCKER’S SHORT CAKE

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sifted cake flour (3 times)
• 1 teaspoon double action baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice (I use 1 teaspoon lemon and 1 vanilla)
• 6 Tablespoons hot milk

Beat eggs very light. Add sugar gradually, beating all the time.  Add extract.  Fold in flour, little at a time.  Add hot milk.  Mix quickly until batter is smooth.

I started out by measuring the dry ingredients, the flour and baking powder, into a small bowl and then set it aside.  Next, I cracked three eggs into another, larger mixing bowl and whisked them gently.  I added the sugar and continued to whisk until they were well blended.  Then, because my Grandma had written it in, I whisked in 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  While I slowly stirred the flour mixture into the wet mixture, I heated
the milk in the microwave for 1 minute.  Last, I poured in the milk and mixed it in with a rubber spatula.

 

 

 

Just like many of Grandma Dora’s recipes, this one didn’t give any details for baking.  Because of the amount of batter it made, I decided to put it into an 8 x 8 square pan.  I also greased the pan before I poured in the batter, like you would do with any cake recipe.  I wasn’t sure what temperature to bake it at, but the batter was very thin, like a cake mix, so I decided on 350 degrees.  I kept a close watch on it and kept adding more time until it was golden brown and an inserted toothpick came out clean.  It took 26 minutes in my oven.  So the new recipe, for ease of use, is:

MRS. TUCKER’S SHORT CAKE

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 Tablespoons hot milk

In a small mixing bowl, combine flour and baking powder, set aside.  In a medium size mixing bowl, beat eggs lightly.  Mix in sugar a little at a time.  Stir in lemon juice and vanilla.  Slowly fold in flour mixture.  Add hot milk.  Mix together until batter is smooth.  Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-27 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool.  Serve with fresh berries and ice cream or cool whip.

Mrs. Tucker’s Short Cake baked and golden brown.

 

I was eager to try Mrs. Tucker’s Short Cake.  Normally, my husband and I aren’t big fans of short cake because it’s usually not very sweet and rather biscuit like. Unless I top it with a lot of ice cream or cool whip I’m not usually interested.  But because this batter was so thin, I wondered if it would be more like cake than a biscuit.  I knew, that it had to be pretty sweet since it called for a whole cup of sugar.  We were both pleasantly surprised when we tasted it!  It tasted nothing like traditional short cake. It was sweet and moist. The closest thing we could compare it to was a heavier angel food cake.  My husband liked it so much that his was gone before I had finished getting our boys milk to drink with it.  This will be our new go-to short cake recipe.  No more dry, bitter biscuit “cake” for us!

Mrs. Tucker’s Short Cake served with strawberries, blueberries and ice cream!

Happy Baking!

Wendy