2009 June 09 | dinner with Julie

Archive for June 9th, 2009

Edna Lewis’ Busy Day Cake

A busy day. At the end of the afternoon (and overlapping dinner) I found myself judging a chili cook-off at the ATCO Kitchen for the Boys’ and Girls’ Club of Calgary (not the best reintroduction to regular food after two days with an unhappy gut), and soon after was at an organizational meeting for Ramsay Rocks, our community event which is now -gasp- only a week and a half away. I was relieved at close to 11 pm to come home, take out my contacts and sit down at the computer with a mug of tea and wedge of plain cake – aptly named busy day.

Of course the busy days of Edna Lewis’ childhood were filled with altogether different tasks: “Our busiest days were, of course, when we were canning, putting up watermelon-rind pickles and Seckel pears, making blackberry jelly, and preparing the brine for cucumber pickles.”

Edna Lewis is perhaps the most well-known Southern cook of our time; a Southern Julia Child, they called her. Her book, The Taste of Country Cooking, is calming and happiness-inducing as she recalls her childhood in Freetown, Virginia. Worth a watch: Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Pie: a short documentary on her life. The very first thing I learned from Miss Lewis – eons ago – was regarding baking powder. First, she measured it by piling it on a dime – not having measuring spoons. Second, she always made her own – she thought the commercially made double acting stuff left a metallic aftertaste. To make your own, sift together 1/4 cup cream of tartar and 2 tablespoons baking soda and store it in a tightly sealed container – use it as you would regular baking powder.

“A busy-day cake, or sweet bread, as it was really called, was regular cake batter, measured out and stirred in a hurry while the vegetables cooked on one end of the old wood stove and canning was carried out on the firebox end. The batter would be poured into a large biscuit pan and set into the oven to bake.”

This is the plain butter cake everyone should have in their repertoire; nothing is better to serve with fresh or stewed fruit in summer. Who needs shortcakes – or those little yellow sponges sold in the produce section – when you can so easily have a warm slice of buttery, sugary, sandy-crumbed cake? Instead of the usual strawberry shortcake, try simmering fresh blueberries in a small drizzle of maple syrup or honey until their skins burst, and spooning it warm over a wedge. The cake sinks appealingly in the middle as it bakes – if you don’t like this, bake it in a tube or Bundt pan.

Miss Lewis’ Busy-Day Cake

Adapted from The Taste of Country Cooking by Edna Lewis

Busy-day cake was never iced, it was always cut into squares and served warm, often with fresh fruit or berries left over from canning. The delicious flavor of fresh-cooked fruit with the plain cake was just to our taste and it was also refreshing with newly churned, chilled buttermilk or cold morning’s milk.

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
a good grating of nutmeg
½ cup milk, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9” springform pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in the vanilla.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.

Add about a quarter of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and stir by hand or beat on low speed just until blended. Add a third of the milk, mixing just until combined. Continue adding flour and milk, finishing with flour and stirring each time just until blended, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden (if it’s browning too quickly, cover loosely with a piece of foil) and springy to the touch. Serve warm, absolutely plain or with fruit. Serves 10.