Election Cake

Moist yeasted cake with spices and raisins

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City/Region: United States of America

Time Period: 1796

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In 17th and 18th century Connecticut, Election Day was the holiday. Everyone came together to vote for the colony’s governor, often visiting with friends and family they didn’t see the rest of the year. People fortified themselves for the extremely long sermons of Election Day with lots and lots of election cake. 

This cake would have been baked in huge quantities, and you could expect to be able to have some wherever you went. I scaled this recipe from 1796 down to 1/30 of the original, and it still makes a large 10 inch cake.

I was skeptical about this one, but it rose in the oven and baked up to be beautifully moist and delicious. It’s one of those foods that’s even better after a day or two once the spices get the chance to permeate everything and really get to know each other.

“Election cake.
Thirty quarts flour, ten pounds butter, fourteen pounds sugar, twelve pounds raisins, three dozen eggs, one pint wine, one quart brandy, four ounces cinnamon, four ounces fine colander seed, three ounces ground alspice; wet the flour with the milk to the consistency of bread over night, adding one quart yeast, the next morning work the butter and sugar together for half an hour, which will render the cake much lighter and whiter; when it has risen light, work in every other ingredient except the plumbs, which work in when going into the oven.”

— American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, 1796

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Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons (18 g) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) flat beer
• 4 cups (500 g) flour
• 1 1/2 cups (350 ml) milk
• 1 heaping cup (180 g) raisins
• 1 1/2 sticks (170 g) butter, softened
• 1 1/8 cup (225 g) sugar
• 2 eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) brandy
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) sweet wine
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons ground allspice

Instructions:

1. Stir the yeast into the beer and let it sit for about 10 minutes until it’s nice and foamy.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and milk until you get a very dry dough.
3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix it until it forms a rough dough. If the dough becomes too wet, add a couple of tablespoons of flour, just enough so that it forms a dough.
4. Cover and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature, or overnight in the fridge.
5. If you refrigerated your dough, take it out and let it come back to room temperature.
6. While the dough warms back up, put the raisins in a small bowl and cover them with cool water and let them soak for 20 minutes to plump up.
7. In a large bowl, beat the butter slightly, then add the sugar and beat until it’s nice and fluffy.
8. Add the eggs and beat until they’re just incorporated, then mix in the brandy and wine. Add all of the spices and stir until evenly mixed.
9. Mix the butter batter into the risen bread dough. This will take a while, but if you keep at it, they eventually will mostly come together, and that's good enough. I used my hands, but a stand mixer would probably work fine. Cover and let it rise for another 30 to 40 minutes.
10. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
11. While the batter rises, butter the bottom and sides of a 10 inch (25 cm) round cake pan, place some parchment on the bottom, then butter the parchment. You could also use two smaller pans or several loaf pans.
12. Drain the raisins and toss them in a bit of flour so that they won’t sink to the bottom of the cake.
13. Mix the raisins into the batter after it has risen until they’re evenly distributed, then pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). You want them to be about 2/3 full. Smooth out the top so that it’s level, then bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
14. Let the cake cool to room temperature, then slice and serve it forth, election not required.

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