Bernie Moran from Baltimore was in search of the recipe for the butter cake that was sold at Brown’s bakery in the late 1950s. The bakery, located on Belnord Avenue in East Baltimore, has been closed for many years, like many other small bakeries. Nonetheless, it seems many people still long for some of the special baked goods that were sold at these neighborhood spots.
Ruanne Lori from Parkville sent in a recipe for a butter cake that she said appeared in this column more than 30 years ago. She also used to live in East Baltimore and remembers buying delicious butter cake from a bakery not far from Belnord Avenue. This recipe did not come from Brown’s bakery but was developed by Baltimore pastry chef Gerhard Kadolph. Lori said his recipe makes a cake very similar to the butter cake she remembers buying at her neighborhood bakery.
Not long ago, I ran a recipe for someone else looking for a gooey, German-style butter cake from a different East Baltimore bakery. That cake, like this one, had sweet raised dough as the base, which was topped with a butter and sugar topping before being baked. The two recipes have subtle differences — most notably pan size, which affects the density. Once baked and cooled, both recipes produce a sweet, slightly dense cake with pools of luscious butter running through. Hopefully, this one will be close to the cake Moran remembers.
BUTTER CAKE
Makes 16 servings
Ingredients:
2 packages active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup soft shortening
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
All-purpose flour (4 1/2 to 5 cups)
Butter topping:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. milk powder
1 tsp. vanilla
Pinch of salt
1 small egg
Directions:
Soften yeast in warm water for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix milk, sugar, shortening and salt. Stir in dissolved yeast mixture, then eggs. Mix flour in with a spoon, then use your hands until you have added enough flour to make the dough easy to handle.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Oil top of dough and place in an oiled, covered bowl. Place in a warm, draft-free place to rise until it doubles in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down, cover and let rise again. After the second rising, round up and let rest 15 minutes so dough is easy to handle. Spread dough evenly into a 12-by-15-inch sheet pan and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
For the butter topping, cream sugars, butter, milk powder, vanilla and salt. Mix in egg. Spread butter topping evenly over dough. Let dough rise until light, about 15 to 30 minutes. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. The cake should be golden brown but still somewhat wobbly when done.
REQUESTS
Mary Beth York from Niles, Mich., is looking for the recipe for what she calls Crisco Breath O’Spring Cake. She said she has been helping a friend copy recipes from a collection of old clippings and recipe cards so they will be easier to read. They came across the recipe for this cake stuck in the back of a cookbook from 1942, but it was damaged and they are unable to make out the entire recipe. She believes the recipe was originally printed on the label of an old Crisco can. She is hoping someone else might have saved the label and can fill in the missing pieces.
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