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Emily's White Cake

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Emily’s white cake is a tender, snow-white shortening-based layer cake from the early 1900s, leavened with stiff egg whites for fluff. The dairy-free vintage classic for birthdays and baptisms.

YIELD

1 cake

PREP

20 min

COOK

20 min

READY

45 min

Emily’s white cake reads like a recipe pulled straight from a hand-written family card from the early twentieth century, when Crisco was the hot new shortening and white cake was the centerpiece of every birthday, christening, and Sunday dinner. It’s a true white cake, no butter and no whole eggs, just shortening, sugar, flour, water, baking powder, and folded-in beaten egg whites. The result is a snow-white crumb that takes color and flavoring beautifully under any frosting you choose.

The technique is old-school. Cream the shortening and sugar slowly until pale, then alternate dry ingredients with the water (this prevents lumps and overdevelops the gluten). Add a teaspoon of vanilla, almond, or lemon flavoring. The egg whites get beaten to stiff peaks and folded in last, which is what gives the cake its signature lift since there’s no whole-egg structure to lean on.

The baking instructions are vintage too: start in a moderate oven, bump the heat to set the rise, then drop the heat at the end to let the cake shrink cleanly from the pan.

Pro Tips

  • Modern translation: bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 to 30 minutes, testing with a toothpick that comes out clean.
  • Fold the egg whites in three additions, gently. Deflate them and the cake bakes dense.
  • Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt before measuring. Old recipes assumed sifted flour as the default.
  • For the whitest possible cake, use clear vanilla or almond extract instead of brown vanilla.

Variations

  • Frost with classic seven-minute frosting or boiled milk frosting for a period-correct finish.
  • Add the zest of one lemon and use lemon flavoring for a bright lemon white cake.
  • Bake as cupcakes for 18 to 20 minutes for individual servings.

Ingredients

½ 118
1 ½ 355
CUPS ML SUGAR
3 710
3 15
TEASPOONS ML BAKING POWDER
1 5
TEASPOON ML SALT
1 237
CUP ML WATER
1 5
TEASPOON ML FLAVORING *

Directions

Cream Crisco.

Add sugar slowly and cream together. Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with the liquid.

Add flavoring, beat mixture thoroughly and last fold in stiffly beaten whites of eggs.

Prepare layer-cake tins by greasing them with a mixture of Crisco and flour.

Pour in cake mixture; put in moderate oven, allow to rise for five minutes, increase heat to bake; at the end of fifteen minutes, reduce heat to allow cake to shrink from pan.

* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 231g (8.1 oz)
Amount per Serving
Calories 632 1% from fat
 % Daily Value *
Total Fat 1g 1%
Saturated Fat 0g 1%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 595mg 25%
Total Carbohydrate 49g 49%
Dietary Fiber 3g 10%
Sugars g
Protein 19g
Vitamin A 0% Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 8% Iron 25%
* based on a 2,000 calorie diet How is this calculated?
Low Fat, Low in Saturated Fat, Low Cholesterol, Cholesterol-Free, Trans-fat Free, Good source of fiber
 

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