Maternal Traditions

In December 1983, readers shared recipes that were favorites their mothers or grandmothers used during the holidays.

Prudie Burns Whitt’s jam cake

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 cups flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cloves
1 heaping tablespoon soda
2⁄3 cup coffee
2 cups jam

Cream butter, and gradually add sugar. Beat together until light and fluffy. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together. Add coffee and jam alternately with flour mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour batter into greased and floured cake pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

Cream cake was a favorite when Edith Crawford Ambrose of Berea was a child. This recipe belonged to her mother, Llewellyn Crawford.

Llewellyn’s cream cake

3⁄4 cup butter
3 cups sugar
3 cups sifted flour
5 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of soda
Dust of mace
6 eggs
3 cups thick cream
1 teaspoon lemon flavoring

Cream butter and sugar. Sift flour with dry ingredients. Add eggs one at a time, alternating with dry ingredients. Add cream and flavoring. Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake in 350-degree oven. Check every 15 minutes. The length of baking time depends on the type of pan used, Ambrose said.

Martha Yarber of Mount Sterling has saved many of her mother’s recipes. Here’s the recipe for a blackberry cake that her mother baked when Yarber was a child.

Blackberry cake

2 cups sugar
2 sticks margarine
3 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cocoa
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons soda
2 cups blackberries and juice
1 cup raisins
1 cup nuts

Cream sugar and margarine. Add eggs. Mix dry ingredients together. Add berries and juice, alternating with dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Add raisins and nuts, which have been sprinkled with flour. Pour into greased and floured pan, and bake at 350 degrees 11⁄2 hours or until done.

Mary France’s favorite Christmas treat was custard. Here is her recipe.

Mary France’s custard

3 eggs, separated
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 quart milk

Mix egg yolks with sugar, cornstarch and milk. Cook until thickened. Beat egg whites, and add to cooled mixture.