Election cake , like a bite from American history, makes its rounds every November.  I make it every year, but only once a year – the first Monday of November.  Preparing Election Cake is a celebration of love, of patriotism, of politics and of history.    And for those of you who’ve read Nourished Kitchen for some time, you know that I keep my politics to myself (and think you should too), but share my love of vintage and historic recipes like staititai, buttermilk biscuits or cream of chicken soup.  We’ve even hosted whole dinner parties based on historic cuisine. Among all the historic cookery I’ve sampled in my kitchen, this Election Cake recipe is one of our favorites.

In early America, the electoral process brought communities together in festivity and revelry.  Families traveled from the far reaches of their region to town centers where they enjoyed a holiday – visiting neighbors homes, dancing at balls, drinking, carousing and mustering for the local militia¹.  Indeed, for a time before America revolted and became a nation in her own right, these celebratory spiced cakes were called muster cakes.  After the revolution, mustering for the occupying forces no longer proved a necessity, but festivities still surrounded the electoral process and these spiced and fruit-studded cakes were renamed for the annual elections.  Election cakes commissioned by local government could often command several hundred dollars by today’s standards, as they were massive – intended to feed an entire community of voters.  By the middle of the 19^th century, states and municipalities no longer commissioned the cakes and what was first  a symbol of conviviality and festivity began to take on an ulterior motive: slices of election cake were provided as an incentive to vote a straight ticket or for a particular candidate.

A charming old-world recipe, preparing an election cake is a slow process – a process that fell from favor once by the late 19^th century when cakes leavened by baking powder became all the rage.  Now, it’s all but forgotten.  Cakes of the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries were typically produced through soaking or sour leavening, while those cakes that weren’t prepared in this manner, such as Portugal cake, excluded wheat flour in favor of blanched almond meal.  Interestingly, it’s these traditional methods – soaking flour in sour milk, leavening dough with sourdough starter or blanching nutmeats and removing their papery skins – that optimized nourishment received from these foods.  The simple, traditional acts of soaking and souring grains and flours degrades antinutrients such as food phytate which would otherwise bind up minerals, particularly iron and zinc, preventing your body from best absorbing these vital micronutrients².  Despite what ill-informed detractors have stated, the processes of soaking and souring cereal grains is so effective that researchers in human nutrition suggest that a return to traditional methods of grain preparation such as soaking, fermenting or sprouting result in improved nutrient status, increased lean-body mass and increase in resistance to infection – particularly among those populations who adhere to a largely plant-based diet either from necessity or from choice^3,4.  (Learn more about the value of soaking grains). Traditional foods nourish.

Not only were election cakes prepared through a long soak in fresh or sour milk coupled with sour leavening, but they were filled with wholesome fats – raw butter, farm eggs, and served with a heavy seasoning of wine and brandy or molasses, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and coriander.  Cooks studded the spiced cakes with dried fruit – mostly prunes, raisins and currants.  A special occasion food, cakes were prepared in magnificent quantities – enough to make a modern cook blush.  In one of the first recorded recipes for election cake, Amelia Simmons calls for more than three dozen eggs, a quart of brandy and fourteen pounds of sugar.  Incidentally, both sugar and flour available in early America would have remained whole and unrefined – refined foods were a luxury few colonialists could afford.

Election Cake: Thirty quarts of flour, 10 pound butter, 14 pound sugar, 12 pound raisins, 3 doz eggs, one pint wine, one quart brandy, 4 ounces cinnamon, 4 ounces fine colander seed, 3 ounces ground alspice; wet flour with milk to the consistence of bread over night, adding one quart yeast; the next morning work the butter and sugar together for half an hour, which will render the cake much lighter and whiter; when it has rise light work in every other ingredient except the plumbs, which work in when going into the oven. - Simmons, American Cookery, 1796.

Now that elections are upon us again, go vote and while you’re add it, soak some flour in milk, stir it with spice and brandy and take a bite of American culinary history.

Election Cake Recipe

An historic American recipe, Election Cake played a role in the festivities of post-colonial America.  Like a cross between bread and cake, Election Cake is spicy and fragrant with molasses and brandy.  This recipe is adapted from American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, first published in 1796.

Ingredients for Election Cake

• 4 1/2 cups spelt or soft white wheat flour (see sources)
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk or sour milk, not ultrapasteurized
• 1/4 cup proofed and bubbly sourdough starter (see sources)
• 1/2 lb butter (see sources)
• 1 1/4 cups whole unrefined cane sugar
• 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon white wine
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground or freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
• 2 cups dried fruit (prunes, raisins, currants etc.)

Equipment for Election Cake

• stand mixer equipped with a dough hook (buy it online) OR a mixing bowl and wooden spoon
• spring-form pan (buy it online)

Method for Election Cake

1. Combine four and one-half cups spelt or soft white wheat flour together with one and one-quarter cups sour milk and one-quarter cup bubbly sourdough starter until a thick dough resembling the texture and consistency of bread dough is formed.  Form the dough into a round ball, place it in a bowl and allow it to rest, covered, at room temperature for eight to twelve hours.
2. After the dough has rested for eight to twelve hours, beat one-half pound butter, one and one-quarters cup unrefined cane sugar, one-quarter cup blackstrap molasses together with one tablespoons white wine and two tablespoons brandy.  Once the mixture of butter, sugar, molasses and liquor is thoroughly combined and fluffy, stir in two beaten eggs.
3. Beat butter, sugar and egg mixture with dough, adding one tablespoon ground cinnamon, one tablespoon ground coriander, one-half teaspoon ground allspice, one-half teaspoon ground nutmeg and one-half teaspoon unrefined sea salt to the mixture, until the batter resembles a that of a thick cake then fold in dried fruit.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing the dough to rise until doubled in bulk while the oven preheats.
5. Bake the cake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about forty-five minutes to one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean.  Serve with plenty of butter and a pint of hard cider.

YIELD: about 8 servings.

TIME: 8 to 12 hours (soaking), 10 to 20 minutes (active time), 1 to 2 hours (rising time), 45 minutes to 1 hour (baking time)

SUBSTITUTIONS: If you do not keep an active sourdough starter, you can also substitute two teaspoons bakers yeast dissolved in one-quarter cup water.

This recipe was originally published on November 2nd, 2008 and was revised on November 1st, 2010.

1. Ross. Election Cake. Hearth to Heart. October 2003. 2. Gibson, et al. Improving the bioavailability of nutrients in plant foods at the household level. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. May 2006. 3. Hotz, et al. Traditional food-processing and preparation practices to enhance the bioavailability of micronutrients in plant-based diets. Journal of Nutrition. April 2007. 4. Gibson et al. Dietary diversification/modification strategies to enhance micronutrient content and bioavailability of diets in developing countries. British Journal of Nutrition. May 2001.