I love Spice Cakes, so when I saw a recipe for Clove Cake in a hundred-year-old cookbook I was intrigued. Was it similar to Spice Cake or quite different? I decided to give it a try and see what it was like.
The verdict– The recipe makes a small loaf cake. I have mixed feelings about this cake. It was tasty, but not very aesthetically pleasing. The cake had an old-fashioned goodness with the warm, sweet, spiciness of cloves. The flavor is more intense than the typical spice cake, but it was good. My husband said that the worst thing about the cake was that there was not enough of it. The texture of the cake was nice, however, the cake fell when I took it out of the oven, so it did not look that great. The recipe called for a really high ratio of sugar to flour, and I think that this might be the issue.
Here’s the original recipe:
I am unclear why the recipe calls for adding the raisins before adding the baking soda and some of the flour. It’s difficult to get a well-mixed batter when there are chunky raisins in the mixing bowl, so I updated the recipe to add the raisins last.
When I made this recipe, the chopped raisins sank to the bottom. In hindsight I realized that I probably should have tossed them in flour prior to stirring them into the batter. This probably would have helped keep them dispersed throughout the cake. When I updated the recipe, I indicated that the raisins should be floured.
Sweet milk is just regular milk. In the days before pasteurized milk, some cake recipes called for sour milk. I’m not sure why the recipe author felt the need to clarify that milk that had not soured should be used.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Clove Cake
1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup flour + 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cloves
3/4 cup chopped raisins
Preheat oven to 350◦ F. Grease and flour a loaf pan (bread pan). In a small bowl, toss the raisins with two tablespoons to flour. (This will help keep them from sinking to the bottom). Set aside.
Put butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream. Add the eggs, milk, 1/2 cup flour, baking soda and cloves; beat until combined. Stir in the chopped raisins. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake 35 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. If desired, glaze or frost cake after it has cooled.
It sounds good, like a holiday cake.
What icing did you put on top?
I just made a basic buttercream icing.
Thank you.
I am not sure I ever had cake with cloves, but maybe I just would not have know what was in it. My mom sometimes had trouble making box cakes look good. I think it just has to taste good.
I don’t think that I ever had a Clove Cake prior to making this recipe. My general sense is that even a hundred-years-ago that it was considered a bit old fashioned. You may be right that these types of cakes are designed to taste good – and there may have been less focus on the presentation. Loaf cakes are easy to make, and a slice works well in a lunchbox.
I love spice cake. I shall try this one.
This cake definitely has a warm spicy taste. I think you will like the flavor.
Strange that the recipe calls for baking soda but there is no acid. Perhaps if sour milk was used, there would have been more lift.
You are so smart! You just wow me with your knowledge!
Thanks Suz! Learned from the best, my mom!
It makes a lot of sense that this cake might have risen more if sour milk (or milk plus a little lemon or vinegar) had been used. I wonder why the original recipe explicitly called for “sweet milk.”
It’s a puzzle!
Well that is about a mixed review as I have seen you share. I do not think I have ever “chopped” raisins…they are so small to start with.
I did chop each raisin into two or three pieces, but, like you, I wondered if they needed to be chopped. They ended up being more the size of currants, so I guess chopping the raisins is a way to disperse fewer raisins throughout the cake. I did have trouble with the raisins sinking to the bottom or the cake, and think that I should have dusted them with flour prior to adding to the batter.
this sounds interesting. i do like a spicy cake but cloves? I guess the recipe calls for ground cloves as in the original version?
cheers
sherry
Yes, ground cloves should be used in this recipe.
I love cloves but they can be quite strong never used them in a cake..interesting…
This cake definitely has a strong cloves flavor.
My mother made a similar spice cake years ago and I agree with your husband – there was not enough of it! 💖
I like to make loaf cakes because they tend to be quick and easy to make; but, when the cake is tasty like this one. it would be be nice if it was larger.
It is interesting the recipe calls for baking soda and not baking powder. Maybe since the rising agent was soda, they felt the need to make sure sour milk wasn’t used. I didn’t see an acid included for the soda.
Maybe – I’m a little foggy on why the recipe explicitly called for “sweet milk.”
I am guessing that bakers of that timeframe would have expected to use sour milk when only baking soda was used. This makes me think the recipe writer wanted to make sure sour milk wasn’t used, since it might cause to much of a reaction with the baking soda.