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Depression cake is a type of cake that was commonly made during the Great Depression. The ingredients include little or no milk, sugar, butter or eggs, because the ingredients were then either expensive or hard to obtain. Similar cakes are known as "War Cake," as they avoided ingredients that were scarce or were being conserved for the use of soldiers. A common Depression Cake is also known as "Boiled Raisin Cake," or "Milkless, Eggless, Butterless Cake." "Boiled" refers to the boiling of raisins with the sugar and spices to make a syrup base early in the recipe. However, some bakers do include butter. Boiled raisin-type cakes date back at least to the American Civil War. ==History== Depression cake has been referred to as “War Cake” by texts dating back to World War I. In a pamphlet distributed by the United States Food Administration in 1918 entitled “War Economy in Food,” War Cake is listed under “Recipes for Conservation Sweets.” The United States Food Administration stressed the importance of reducing sugar consumption during the war and offered molasses, corn syrup, and raisins in its place.〔United States Food Administration. War Economy in Food: With Suggestions and Recipes for Substitutions in the Planning of Meals, 1918.〕 When the Great Depression hit America following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, families were forced to stretch their budgets and “make do” with minimal and cheap ingredients when it came to cooking. Some women were able to feed their families on $5 per week.〔Cravens, Hamilton. Great Depression: People and Perspectives. ABC-CLIO, 2009.〕 Dessert became a luxury for most, and depression cake was a more affordable alternative to other cakes that used milk, eggs, and butter. Affordability was achieved through ingredient substitution. For example, shortening was substituted for butter, water was substituted for milk, and baking powder was substituted for eggs.〔Swell, Barbara. Mama’s in the Kitchen: Weird & Wonderful Home Cooking 1900-1950. Native Ground Books & Music, 2002.〕 Depression cake is just one of many examples of ingredient substitution during the Great Depression, as some women took full advantage of the practice by making mock foods such as mock apple pie and mock fish.〔Kennan Ferguson. “Intensifying Taste, Intensifying Identity: Collectivity Through Community Cookbooks.” Signs 37, no. 3 (Spring 2012): 708.〕 Radio shows and women’s periodicals played a large role in circulating the recipe for depression cake during the Great Depression. Betty Crocker’s Cooking Hour was one such show that provided women with budget-friendly recipes. General Mills, owner of Betty Crocker, employed nutritionists and cooks to experiment with different ways of “ruining” a cake, such as ingredient omission.〔Marks, Susan. Finding Betty Crocker: The Secret Life of America’s First Lady of Food. U of Minnesota Press, 2007.〕 Loring Schuler’s Journal was a publication that also offered baking tips during the Great Depression, recommending replacing eggs with baking powder and using inexpensive grains and produce.〔David Welky. Everything Was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression. University of Illinois Press, 2008. http://books.google.com/books?id=thWdlKayKPIC&source=gbs_navlinks_s.〕 A recipe titled "War Cake" was published in M.F.K. Fisher's book ''How to Cook a Wolf'' and republished in her ''The Art of Eating''; it uses bacon grease on the premise that spices will mask its taste. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Depression cake」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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