I love a loaf cake. Amazingly, the same amount of batter you use to make a loaf cake can be used to make a layer cake but loaf cakes have the added advantage of not needing to be iced. You can frost them, you can glaze them, you can sprinkle them with powdered sugar but I don’t feel like you have to in order to have a good cake experience unlike a layer cake would be downright bizarre uniced.
Whipped cream cake has another advantage over other cakes. It uses cream and egg whites directly from the refrigerator and no butter so while it does take about a full hour to bake, you can go from sitting around doing nothing to having a cake in the oven in about 10 minutes. Maybe even a little less.
There are a lot of variations floating around of whipped cream cake, some have you start it out in a “cold” oven—no preheating—and others have whole eggs or more eggs. The original recipe for this had you sift the sugar three times which made me think they wanted the sugar to be finer than traditional granulated sugar, so I took a page from another old-fashioned cake, the powdered sugar pound cake, and swapped out regular sugar for confectioners’ sugar. I think it gives the cake a very distinct, almost creamy crumb.
My apprentice for my grant made this recipe when she posted an interview with me and illustrated just how recipes can go wrong but still turn out okay. First, she didn’t read the ingredients, directions, or introduction carefully and pulled out granulated sugar instead of confectioners’ sugar. She caught that but then she opened the oven during the long baking time which affected the rise. Easy mistakes many inexperienced bakers make and luckily the cake was still tasty enough to share.
Whipped Cream Cake
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 3 egg whites
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Butter and flour one standard loaf pan. Set aside.
- In a large bowl or bowl of a stand mixer use the whisk attachment or an actual whisk to beat together the cream, egg whites, water and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. You will probably see some bubbles.
- In a second bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Whisk them into the cream mixture until a smooth batter forms.
- Pour into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick or thin knife inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean. Cool in pan in wire rack for 5 minutes then remove from pan and cool completely before slicing and serving.
- Can be made a day before you want to serve it but wait until you are ready to serve before slicing.
- I think it’s good served with some sliced strawberries or cherries but that is strictly optional.
Adapted from Charlotte Hains Athol’s 1935 Whipped Cream Cake in Let’s Dish: 50th Anniversary Edition, Then & Now Recipe Collection, Complied by the Howard County Historical Society 2014.
A version of this post appeared in Aspics, Chicken Salad, and Ice Cold Celery: Finding Community through Maryland Recipes.
Note: I did find that the cake rose more and had a slightly better texture on a sunny day than when I made it on a rainy day. Both were tasty but I did notice a little difference.