Prince of Wales Cake

[underused]

It was my partner's birthday this weekend. We usually have a Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte (Black Forest Cake), but this year I opted for something weirder: a Prince of Wales Cake.

I found this recipe in my Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens cookbook. The internet tells me this particular cake appeared sometime around the 1850s, likely to honour His Majesty King Edward VII (1841-1910). The internet also let me know there are a surprisingly diverse collection of recipes under this banner. Many (like this one) involve a combination of light and dark batters either layered or marbled, but a few are fruit cakes and at least one is lemon-flavoured.

I wanted to try this recipe because of its inclusion of cornstarch and baking soda/powder in large amounts. The dark cake also calls for a full teaspoon of cloves. When have you ever put a teaspoon of cloves in anything? It all sounded strange and kind of gross, which convinced me it must be delicious.

The result was an elegant, firm, mildly spiced cake that was perfect (and pretty) in layers. I'd never have known there was cornstarch in it at all, and I could only taste the soda a little. This one is frosted with Bailey's buttercream which was very tasty but slightly dry. It might have been improved with at least one layer of jam, jelly, or fruit. (Mmm, maybe apple butter.)

NOTES: You can make the sour milk by adding 1/2 tsp white vinegar to your milk and letting it sit out while you make the first cakes. I omitted the raisins.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

INGREDIENTS

Light Layers
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
1 c flour
1/2 c cornstarch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 c milk
3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

INSTRUCTIONS
Cream butter, adding sugar gradually. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk. Fold in beaten egg whites. Bake in two (buttered and floured) 9" layer pans in a 350 F oven for 20 mins.

The outside will come out a medium to dark golden brown, but once you cut into it, trust the centre will be very pale!

Dark Layers
1/2 c butter
1 c brown sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp baking soda *dissolved in* 1 tbsp hot water
2 c flour
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c sour milk
1 c raisins

INSTRUCTIONS
Cream butter, adding sugar gradually. Add and blend in the egg yolks, molasses, and soda/water. Combine dry ingredients and add alternately with the sour milk. Toss the raisins in a little flour and mix in.

Bake in two (buttered and floured) 9" layer pans in a 350 F oven for 20 mins.

According to the book, "spread layers with jelly, jam, or icing and put together, alternating dark and light layers... trim and frost with vanilla icing."

Comments

[star_fish]

I'm not much of a baker person so I most likely won't have much use for the recipe, but this looks and sounds very delicious.