American WW1 Red Cross Cake - baked to send across the Atlantic to the Doughboys in France

Keith Arden Colley in Texas, USA has a mobile First World War commemorative exhibition which he takes on tour.   During a recent exhibition Keith put some posts on his Facebook page and one of them I found particularly interesting.  It was a WW1 Red Cross cake recipe for a cake to be sent across the Atlantic to the troops of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), who were known as “Doughboys” because of the shape of their hats.

I decided to make the cake and found it delicious.  Then I had an idea – why not bake a cake and send it back across the Atlantic by surface mail.  In 1917, when America joined WW1 on the side of the Allies, aeroplanes were still something very new, the first recorded flight being in 1903.

Keith thought the idea sounded great so we took some photos of the cake being packed up to send off to Keith and hope to bring you more when the cake reaches Keith.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups hot water
2 tablespoons of lard (if this is not going by sea you could use an alternative fat)
1 teaspoon each of cinnamon, mixed spice and cloves
8 ozs. Raisins or Craisins – soaked in Rum
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3 cups of flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Place all ingredients in a pan – except for the flour and soda.  Bring them to the boil, stirring frequently.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool.  Stir in the flour and soda and mix well.

Grease a loaf tin.  Pour the mix into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.  

NOTE:  I found it was better to bake the cake at a cooler temperature for longer.

For more information about Keith Arden Colley’s Mobile Commemorative WW1 Exhibition follow the link http://www.ww1mobilemuseum.com/ or find Keith on Facebook

For a fantastic account of the hazards of crossing the Atlantic during 1914 – 1918 see “Into the Danger Zone: Sea Crossings of the First World War” by Tad Fitch and Michael Poirier (The History Press, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK, 2014).  You will find a review of the book in a previous post on this blog.  Tad and Michael also have a Facebook page:   https://www.facebook.com/intothedangerzone/