Old Fashioned Scripture Cake Recipes

Old Fashioned scripture cake recipes all share similarities, yet each tends to be a little different. If you enjoy baking cakes from scratch and solving puzzles, you'll enjoy making them.

Back when these cake recipes were invented, women's church groups prided themselves on being able to make the cake without referring to their Bibles. Yet aside from their novelty, these are delicious fruitcakes in their own right.

Old Time Novelty Cakes

Enjoy a novelty cake baking game from the Victorian Era. Get out your Bible and try to solve these old fashioned Scripture Cake recipes.

Look up The Old Testament references, but try not to look at the list of ingredients. Instead, try to discern the ingredients needed from reading the verses.

See how well you can solve the baking puzzle and bake a delicious cake that will delight your family and friends. Don't be fooled, these old time novelty cakes are genuine fruitcakes and taste quite delicious.

Old Fashioned Scripture Cake Recipe

Mom's Recipe Scrapbooks (c. 1920s)

Scripture Cake

4-1/2 cups cake flour; I Kings IV, 22
1 cup butter; Judges V, 25
2 cups sugar; Jeremiah VI, 20
2 cups raisins; I Samuel XXX, 12
2 cups figs; Nahum III, 12
2 cups almonds; Numbers XVII, 8
1/2 cup sour milk; Judges IV, 19
3 tablespoonfuls honey; I Samuel XIV, 25
Pinch of salt; Leviticus II, 13
6 eggs; Jeremiah XVII, 11
2 teaspoonfuls soda; Amos IV, 5
Season with spices to taste; II Chronicles IX, 9

Follow Solomon's prescription for making a good boy (Proverbs III, 12), and you will have a good cake. Bake in slow oven.

Old Time Scripture Cake Recipe

Grandma McIlmoyle's Handwritten Recipe Books (c. 1912)

Bible Cake Puzzle

Judges V, 25
Jeremiah VI, 20
Isaiah X, 14
I Samuel XXX, 12
Genesis XLIII, 11
Exodus XVI, 31
Genesis XXIV, 17
I Kings IV, 22
Leviticus II, 13
Amos IV, 5
I Kings X, 10

Follow Solomon's advice for making good boys (Proverbs XXIII, 13), and you will have a good cake.

Blend all ingredients and beat well by hand. Pour into a buttered and lightly floured baking pan. Bake at a medium temperature for about three hours and allow to stand for 24 hours for the maximum flavor.

Bible Cake References

Try to identify the ingredients needed in the old fashioned Scripture Cake recipe above. There are no quantities given as this was simply meant as a memory game to test one's Bible knowledge and cake baking skills.

Give up? Below are the Old Testament (KJV) verses that match the ingredients:

Bible Cake Solution

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
3 cups brown sugar
6 eggs
1/4 cup honey
3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 cups raisins
2 cups figs
1 cup almonds
3/4 cup water

Directions:

Heat oven to 325°F and have a greased 10-inch tube pan with a solid bottom at the ready.

Cream butter. Add sugar and blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each. Beat in honey.

Combine whole wheat flour, salt, baking powder, and desired spices in a bowl.

Mix raisins, figs, and almonds in another bowl. Add some of the flour mixture to the fruit and nuts and mix with hands until fruit is coated with flour.

Add fruit mixture to butter-egg mixture and beat well. Add remaining flour mixture and water alternately, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition.

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake about 2 hours or until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Turn out of pan onto rack to cool.

If top of cake begins to brown too much while baking, cover it loosely with aluminum foil. The fruit laden cake might fall a little just before it's fully baked, but its good taste and texture are unaffected.

Old Fashioned Scripture Cake Recipe

My Pet Recipes Tried and True (1900)

Scripture Cake

One cup butter; Judges V, 25
Four cups flour; I Kings IV, 22
Three cups sugar; Jeremiah VI, 20
Two cups raisins; I Samuel XXX, 12
Two cups figs; I Samuel XXX, 12
One cup water; Genesis XXIV, 17
One cup almonds; Jeremiah I, 11
Six eggs; Isaiah X, 14
One tablespoon honey; Exodus XVI, 31
One teaspoon cream; Job XXIX, 6
Baking powder, 3 teaspoons, and a pinch of salt; Job VI, 6
Spices to taste; I Kings X, 10

Follow Solomon's advice for making good boys and you will have a good cake; Proverbs XXIII, 13. —Contributed by Mrs. Stocking

Caramel Syrup Sauce for Scripture Cake Recipes

Key To The Pantry (1897)

Burnt Jeremiah Syrup Recipe

In a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, melt sugar, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. After sugar melts, continue cooking, stirring continuously, until it is a deep golden brown. Add water and cook, stirring frequently, until smooth.

Remove from the heat, add butter, and stir till it melts; allow to cool. Drizzle over cooled Scripture cake and garnish with whole almonds.

Why It's Called Burnt Jeremiah Syrup

"And if I say, I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name, then there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with forbearing, and I cannot contain" (Jeremiah 20:9).

About the Old Fashioned Scripture Cake Recipes

This type of novelty cake recipe was very much in fashion at women's sewing bees and home Bible study groups in the 1830s to 1860s, and to a lesser extent up until the 1930s.

Most old fashioned Scripture Cake recipes first appeared in the early nineteenth century, but some might have originated at an even earlier time. They are essentially fruitcakes.

They were presented as a fun cake baking game which tested the participants' knowledge of the Bible and their cooking abilities, and to prevent the gathering from indulging in idle tittle-tattle, though their success in preventing the latter is up for debate.

Once the cake had been baked, the children who were present carefully passed cake slices to the guests.