War Cake a.k.a. Poor Man's Cake
War Cake a.k.a. Poor Man's Cake. An easy to make, simple raisin spice cake using common ingredients to create a moist and delicious version of this timeless classic.
Originally published December 2012.
I had been getting requests for War Cake on our Facebook Page for the last couple of weeks. At first I replied that I had never heard of it.
But in fact, our family has been making it for decades.
It's said to be a recipe adapted to the limited available ingredients such as eggs and dairy products due to rationing during World War II. We know this cake in our family as Poor Man's Cake and my Mom's recipe for it is absolutely delicious.
By either name this is one delicious, moist raisin spice cake and although it is made without eggs or milk, you would never know it. It stays moist for days in a covered container but you may want to try it warm out of the oven.
You can also add some rum sauce for a terrific dessert especially now as the Holiday season approaches.
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War Cake ...a.k.a. Poor Man's Cake
War Cake a.k.a. Poor Man's Cake. An easy to make, simple raisin spice cake using common ingredients to create a moist and delicious version of this timeless classic.
Ingredients
- 2 cups raisins
- 3 cups water
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 3 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon cloves
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- In a small saucepan combine the raisins and water. Bring to a rolling boil and continue to boil for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and butter.
- Stir until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. This step can be done a day in advance if you prefer. Let this mixture cool for at least a couple of hours until it reaches room temperature.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices.
- Pour the raisin mixture onto the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended but do not over mix the batter. Pour the batter into a well greased and floured bundt pan or tube pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning the cake out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container or cake tin.
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Nutrition Information
Yield
16Serving Size
1/16Amount Per Serving Calories 268Total Fat 6gSaturated Fat 4gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 15mgSodium 160mgCarbohydrates 52gFiber 1gSugar 30gProtein 3g
The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.
Oh, my! This must be my grandma's
"spice cake" they'd make and put in cold storage. By the time the recipe had trickled down to our generation, we called it a doorstop as somehow the leavening must have been left out. Fond memories of it (when moist) with a vanilla buttercream which did, indeed, last for several days covered at room temp. Ty
I have this baking even as I type. Smells so good, sweet and spicy. I made it vegan by using oil in place of butter. And, I used apple cider instead of water, to add another layer of flavor and use up some cider I had in the fridge. I did reduce the sugar to 1 cup because of the sugar in the cider. Can't wait for it to be done!
Does it freeze well?
Absolutely Brett!
My mom made this for years, and now I do. It is wonderful, and over the years, I have added mixed fruits and even nuts as well as raisins. It makes a wonderful dark fruit cake.
help!!! Sooo want to make this cake but it must be gluten free. Total novice at gf baking. Uncertain of flour combo to use. My grandmother made this wonderful cake
I don't do a lot of gluten free baking I'm afraid. I'd try one of the commercially available all purpose gluten free flours which are a mix of several types.
yeah the flour choice is what concerned me. T u for your response. Doing later today. Fingers crossed!
This cake has become my new favorite! Its the first successful fruit cake I ever made.Super moist and bursting with flavor. I made a triple batch with mixed fruits,added a little black treacle and reduced the sugar to a cup and it was wonderful!!!!
Thanks for this recipe.xx
My mom will be pleased. 🙂
Made this cake today, very easy and excellent results my family really enjoyed it and asked me to add it to my recipe box to make again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
This could not be a war cake...sugar and butter were rationed as I am 93 and remember it very well without these ingredients. I love your recipe and shall try it.. thanks for all your time to share these recipes.
As the post says, we always called to Poor Man's Cake but others have mentioned it as a war cake. Butter and sugar were rationed but were available. A lot of people, from what I'm told, saved part of their small rations for weeks to make a cake at Christmas time or for a birthday.
You are so right! People today cannot fathom the things that were done during the war/depression...Love this recipe MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!
I remember my grandma making it with pork drippings because butter was rationed. So Delicious.
Yes my mom, born in 1927, had the recipe called "Poor Man's Cake" and she used vegetable shortening (Crisco) in the pan with the water, spices and raisins. Never butter.
Just made this cake ,add vanilla to it smell incredible while cooking
Just took it out of the oven, yummy
Does this freeze well .
It should.
Just came across this recipe (and this blog, too) and recognize it also. My mother used to make it often, and simply called it boiled raisin cake. I think she got the recipe out of some old cookbook like the "Household Searchlight" cookbook.
yes it was called a boiled raisin cake and I still make it
;
My mom also made it and called it boiled raisin cake. She made a sort of caramel, brown sugar butter icing for it that was also wonderful. She lived through the war years and because their family had 12 children, they were the only ones in town with enough sugar to make fudge. Thanks for the recipe and the memories. Now if I could only duplicate her icing recipe.
HI Barry,
I doubled the recipe, and when I dumped the raisin mixture into the flour I had to stir and stir and stir.
What do you think of this - use enough of the raisin mixture to thoroughly wet the flour, then add the rest. My concern is too much gluten development which may make it bread-like.
Thoughts?
It smells wonderful, is very tender and is still cooling.
Cheers - Miles
I've never doubled it but if I did I'd do the mixing in an extra large bowl, so you can do big folds, and generally less of them. Hope it turned out well. It's a pretty forgiving recipe.