Snoozecast Presents: Cooking and Baking

Tonight, we’ll read recipes on schoolroom cakes along with tea cakes and biscuits from The Cake and Biscuit Book by Elizabeth Douglas, published in 1903.

When this cookbook was published, most American students attended a one-room schoolhouse. A single teacher would typically have students of all ages in one class. The youngest children sat in the front, while the oldest students sat in the back. Students memorized and recited their lessons, and when they were lucky, they ate home baked treats like the ones here.

At the turn of the 20th century, home baking was considered an essential domestic skill, and simple confections like spice cakes, oat biscuits, and soft tea buns were often made in large batches to share. Many cakes intended for schoolrooms used ingredients that could stretch—like treacle, lard, or buttermilk—making them ideal for feeding many mouths with limited means.

The term “schoolroom cake” didn’t refer to a specific type, but rather to the spirit of the bake: something sturdy, not overly sweet, easy to pack, and nourishing enough to last a long day.

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Tonight, we’ll read recipes from A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, written by Charles Elme Francatelli and published in 1852.

Born in London of Italian descent, Francatelli was a French-trained cook who worked for Queen Victoria. While best known for his lavish cookbook The Modern Cook, filled with elaborate dishes for aristocratic tables, Francatelli also had a keen interest in practical nourishment for everyday people. A Plain Cookery Book was his attempt to provide affordable, nutritious recipes for the working poor—a surprisingly progressive endeavor for someone with royal credentials.

The book contains instructions for everything from humble gruels to hearty stews, with occasional flourishes of culinary elegance. Francatelli emphasized the importance of thrift and economy in the kitchen, recommending ways to stretch small amounts of meat or repurpose leftovers. Though the language may feel formal by today’s standards, many of the recipes offer a glimpse into the ingenuity of 19th-century home cooks working with limited means.

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Tonight, we’ll read a selection of recipes from the book English Housewifry by Elizabeth Moxon, published in 1764, starting with a recipe for whipt sillabubs.
Moxon’s book was one of the earliest English cookery books written specifically for middle-class women managing their own households, rather than for professional cooks or the aristocracy. Her recipes are practical but far from plain, offering glimpses into both the culinary expectations and the social rituals of Georgian-era domestic life.
The title page promises recipes that are “useful, substantial and splendid,” and the tone throughout is no-nonsense, with an emphasis on health and frugality—though it’s clear Moxon didn’t shy away from a bit of showiness in presentation. A whipt sillabub, for example, was a frothy dessert drink made of sweetened wine or cider and thickened cream, often served in decorative glasses and topped with foam. It’s the kind of indulgence that would have delighted guests at a genteel supper table, bridging the gap between refreshment and dessert.

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Tonight, we’ll read selections about baking breads and cakes from “The Charlotte Sunshine Cook Book” published in 1906.

This episode begins with a long-form poem that sings the praises of homemade bread, followed by a collection of recipes for classic loaves—many with ingredients familiar to the early 20th-century Southern kitchen. In the latter half, we turn to cakes, including several that call for hickory nuts, lending a rustic and deeply flavorful character to the confections.

Hickory nuts, closely related to walnuts and pecans, grow on various species of hickory trees native to North America. While some varieties like the bitternut are too bitter to enjoy, others—such as the shagbark—have a sweet, buttery flavor prized by foragers. Though their thick shells can be a challenge to crack, the reward is a nut considered by some to be the most delicious of all. In early American kitchens, especially before widespread commercial nut distribution, these wild-harvested treasures were a special ingredient in baked goods, adding richness and texture to cakes, cookies, and breads.

Cookbooks like The Charlotte Sunshine Cook Book were often compiled by women's clubs, church groups, or civic organizations, reflecting the everyday wisdom and resourcefulness of their communities. They serve as snapshots of a particular time and place—capturing regional tastes, available ingredients, and even local customs. In this case, the cookbook comes from Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Tonight, we’ll read a selection of marmalade and sweetmeat recipes from Miss Leslie’s New Cookery Book, published in 1857.

A type of sugar confectionery, “sweetmeats” is where the term “sweets” comes from nowadays. Despite the name, they have nothing to do with meat—at least, not in the way we think of it today. The word “mete” in Old English simply meant “food” in general, which is why older texts sometimes use it in unexpected ways. In other words, we are talking about candy.

Eliza Leslie, the author of this cookbook, was one of the most influential culinary writers of 19th-century America. Known for her precise, detailed instructions, she catered to middle-class households eager to refine their domestic skills. Her recipes reflected the evolving tastes of the time, blending European traditions with distinctly American ingredients and methods. From citrus preserves to candied nuts, the art of making sweet confections was a way to showcase both skill and hospitality.

These historical recipes offer a fascinating glimpse into the past—not just in terms of flavors, but also in the way food was prepared and enjoyed in an era before mass-produced candy.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes” by Miss Parloa.

The Maya believed that cacao was discovered by the gods in a mountain along with other delectable foods, for their divine use. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created by the divine grandmother goddess.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “For Luncheon and Supper Guests” written by Alice Bradley published in 1923. “Luncheon” is the formal word for lunch, a light mid-day meal.

In the Middle Ages, before electric lighting and industrialization, the mid-day meal was large and considered dinner. There was no lunch, so later in the evening a lighter meal was had called “supper”.

But by the 1800s, the large meal of dinner was pushed into the evening and thus, not only was supper squeezed out, but there was a need for something to eat in between breakfast and dinner.

Up until the early 1800s, luncheon was generally reserved for ladies, who would often have lunch with one another when their husbands were out. The meal was often made up of left-overs from the previous night's plentiful dinner. Beginning in the Victorian era, afternoon tea supplemented this luncheon at four o'clock.

This episode first aired in November of 2021.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “The New Royal Cook Book by Royal Baking Powder Co.” published in 1920.

When the first truly American cookbook was published in 1792, the recipes included used three possible types of leavening: baker's yeast, emptins (from the leavings of brewing beer), and pearlash.

The effectiveness of such leavenings varied widely. At that time, reliable commercial products were not available.

The creation of shelf-stable chemical combinations of sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar is seen as marking the true introduction of baking powder later in the 1800s. Although cooks had used both sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar previously in recipes, they had to purchase the ingredients individually from chemists and store them separately to prevent them from reacting prematurely.

Regardless of the expiration date, the effectiveness can be tested by placing a teaspoon of the powder into a small container of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, it is still active and usable.

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Tonight, we’ll read about baking cakes from the “Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Volume 4”

This episode originally aired in March of 2021.

The Woman’s Institute was founded by Mary Brooks Picken in Scranton, PA. Born in Kansas in 1886, Picken wrote the first dictionary to be published by a woman in the English language, beyond the over one hundred other books she wrote.

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Tonight, we’ll read “A treatise on the art of making good wholesome bread of wheat, oats, rye, barley” by Friedrick Accum, published in 1821.

Accum was a German chemist, whose most important achievements included advances in the field of gas lighting, efforts to keep processed foods free from dangerous additives, and the promotion of popular chemistry.

Following an apprenticeship as an apothecary, he opened his own commercial laboratory enterprise in London.

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