Pork Cake

Cooking Instructions

Distinctively flavored, this cake made imaginative use of salt pork when butter was scarce on the farm. The cake was revived during both world wars when butter was unobtainable. Originally this was made in huge quantities (usually using 4 pounds of flour) and the excess was stored.

Put the pork through a food chopper, using the finest blade. Put into a small, warm bowl and pour boiling water over it. Let stand 20 to 25 minutes. Sift the flour with the soda, baking powder, salt, and spices, then mix with the raisins. In mixing bowl, beat the egg, then beat in the sugar, followed by the molasses. Stir in the pork mixture, then the flour mixture. Continue to stir just enough to blend. Turn into a greased and floured loaf pan and bake in a pre-heated 325F oven about 60 minutes or until the cake is resilient when pressed lightly with a fingertip. Cool on a cake rack for a few minutes in the pan, then loosen the cake and turn it out on the rack. This cake was traditionally served plain. It freezes well.

Wine Pairing(s)

Penfold's 'Grange' Shiraz