Since photos are few and far between in hundred-year-old cookbooks, I was surprised to see a photo of Halloween Spice Cupcakes in a 1926 cookbook. The adorable cupcakes (Can cupcakes be called adorable?) were decorated to look like jack-o-lanterns. Raisins were used to make the faces.
I decided to try to replicate the cupcakes in the photo. The recipe on page 180 of the cookbook is for a loaf cake and does not specifically mention Halloween Spice Cupcakes, so I just put the batter in a cupcake tin that I had lined with paper liners.
I decorated the cupcakes similarly to the way the cupcakes in the old photo were decorated. Since the photo in the old cookbook is black and white, it is difficult to tell what color the icing was. Since food coloring was readily available in 1926, I assumed that the icing was tinted orange.
The cupcakes were fun to make, and turned out wonderfully. The cupcakes were tasty and had a lovely spice flavor.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Halloween Spice Cupcakes
1/2 cup shortening or butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
frosting, tinted orange
raisins
Step 1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Put paper cupcake liners in cupcake tin(s).
Step 2. Put the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and allspice in a bowl. Stir to combine, then set aside.
Step 3. Put the shortening (or butter) and sugar in a mixing bowl, then cream.
Step 4. Add the eggs; beat until combined.
Step 5. Add the milk and dry ingredients; beat until smooth, then put in the prepared cupcake tin(s). Fill each cupcake cup 2/3 full.
Step 6. Bake 30 – 40 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Step 7. Let the cupcakes cool, then ice the cupcakes with icing that has been tinted orange.
Step 7. Use raisins to make the faces on the cupcakes. Use round raisins for the eyes, elongated raisins for the nose, and chopped raisins to make the mouth.
The cupcakes were very cute, and I’m glad they were tasty, as well.
Thanks! I was pleased with how they turned out.
I am here to say that YES, cupcakes can be adorable! Your cupcakes fall into that category. Cupcakes lend themselves so well to festivities!
Good to know that cupcakes can be adorable. Cupcakes are perfect for parties and other festivities.
They are perfect. And you can totally avoid that awkward moment at a party when someone has to cut the cake but no one wants to. They are perfect!
Good point – cupcakes are a wonderful way to avoid those awkward moments when someone has to cut the cake.
This reminds me so much of a spice cake that my mom used to make. I saved that recipe, but she also iced them with a white frosting, and I don’t have that recipe. The house always smelled so good when she made those cakes! Your cupcakes turned out ‘adorable’!
Spice cake has a wonderful aroma when it is baking.
I remember making cupcakes like these, with orange icing, with my mother when I was about 3 years old. That was about 1949, not 1926 🙂 I think I’ll make some this year.
Sweet memory!
It’s nice to hear that this post brought back some warm food memories. You should make some. I had fun making these cupcakes. I liked that they were fairly easy to make and decorate.
One (or three) of these would sure go nicely with coffee right now!
🙂 They are perfect with coffee. I actually took the cupcakes to a weekly coffee group I attend, and they were a hit.
I bet!!!!
Cupcakes can definitely be adorable! 🎃
Good to hear that cupcakes can be adorable.
This sounds absolutely incredible! My mother used to bake a similar spice cake, and seeing mace on the ingredient list brought back so many sweet memories. It is such an underrated spice!
When I first saw this recipe, I had similar thoughts to you. It is an underrated spice. Mace has such a lovely, bright, aromatic warmth. Modern Spice Cake recipes generally don’t call for mace. Over the years, I’ve made several hundred-year-old recipes that call for mace. It apparently was more popular a hundred years ago than what it is now.
Here are some other hundred-year-old recipes that I’ve made that call for mace:
Pickled Bananas
Ribbon Cake
Honey-Glazed Squash
“Modern” Pound Cake
Baked Rhubarb with Orange
Hermits Cookies
My mother used to make hermit cookies; they were my father’s favourite. I remember clearly the lovely taste and aroma of mace in her recipe. I agree that it’s a very underrated spice and not used much now.
Hermits are a wonderful old-time cookie. Not sure why they have become less popular over the years.
Good for the halloween season!
It’s nice to hear that you liked the cupcakes. They’re perfect for Halloween.
Those are SUPER old-fashioned cupcakes! I love them!
I’m glad you liked them. They’re definitely old-fashioned.
They look delicious. Spice cakes are really nice.
Several family members say that spice cake is their favorite type of cake. I’ve made several different spice cake recipes over the years, and this is one of the nicest recipes.
What a clever idea for Halloween! I wonder if the picture was to demonstrate different ways the batter for the spice loaf cake could be used? The top title does say Spice Cakes, with the tile below it sayings Spice Cake. I enjoy mace and will replace some nutmeg with mace.
I noticed the same thing. I think that you’re probably right that the picture shows another way the batter for spice loaf cake could be used. It’s interesting how there are two recipe titles and that they indicate both “cakes” and cake.” I wish that the cookbook author had provided a little more detail.
It was fun to see Halloween cupcakes. I wonder if any of your hundred year old cookbooks and magazines have any other Halloween treats.
I’ve seen several recipes over the years for various Halloween foods in hundred-year-old cookbooks and magazines. I made a recipe for Witches’ Layer Cake a couple years ago that appeared in a 1924 issue of American Cookery magazine. Also, back in the years when I was posting my grandmother’s diary, I once made Ice Cream Served in Orange Jack-o’-Lantern Shells that was based on a Halloween party treat suggestion in an old issue of Ladies Home Journal.
How fun! It is neat she included the instructions on how to make a post card invite to the Halloween party. Oddly enough, I remember small red cinnamon candies about that size from when I was a kid.
Were other holiday parties similar?
Your questions are taking me down memory lane. It’s been a long time since I looked at many of the posts that I did during the years when I was posting my grandmother’s diary. It’s fun to revisit them. I think that the Halloween party was the only large party that Grandma had at her house during the years when she was keeping a diary. Additionally, there were family gatherings at various holidays, and occasional dinners and picnics with classmates.
When I was looking back at the old posts, I came across two posts that which included Halloween crafts that you might enjoy:
Shrunken Apple Head Witch Craft
Halloween Bogyman Craft
It is always amusing to me when I see an old ad saying send for information with a post card or a stamped self-addressed envelope to get information.
Your shrunken apple head witch looked great! It seemed more of a modern decoration made for fun.
The carrot candleholder seemed an old fashioned decoration and not something that would be made today. Since they didn’t show a tea light or small candle on top of the candle holder I am, like everyone in the comments, puzzled by this one.
I know people make candle holders by making small hollowed parts of fruits or vegetables.
It is a puzzling image, and it sure isn’t clear how to convert the craft into a candleholder. Apparently there was more demand for candleholders a hundred years ago than there are now. I can picture a fun, spooky Halloween party lit with flickering candles.
It would be spooky and fun.
What a fun glimpse into 1926 baking — I had no idea food coloring was already so readily available back then. The raisin jack-o’-lantern faces are such a clever, simple decoration; I might borrow that idea for a batch this year. I’d love to know whether the original loaf version baked at the same temperature, since a loaf would need quite a bit longer than the 30–40 minutes you used for the cupcakes.
I agree that the raisin jack-o’-lantern are a clever, simple decoration. I was pleased with how they turned out. The recipe says to “bake in loaf pan in moderate oven (350 degrees) for 45 minutes.” When I made the cupcakes, I assumed that they would also be baked at 350 degrees, though the recipe doesn’t say that. The cupcakes took longer to bake than what I anticipated, but turned out well. I’m guessing that the loaf cake might actually take more than 45 minutes for a wooden pick to come out clean–but am not sure. There is often a lot of uncertainty when trying to interpret hundred-year-old recipes.