1917 to 1945 Cake #6

George Washington Carver's Peanut Cake

The soil of the South was exhausted from the over planting of cotton. George Washington Carver was a botanist and wanted to improve the health and diet of black rural families so he pitched the idea of growing peanuts. He spoke to church and civic groups, wrote agricultural bulletins, and addressed the US House Ways and Means Committee in 1921. He convinced people that the peanut could improve the southern economy. Carver successfully turned the plant into oil, soap, medicine, insecticide, coffee, cookies, candies, and cake. the recipe in this book is adapted from "The African-American Heritage Cookbook" by Carolyn Quick Tillery.

My Experience:

This cake was super easy to make. The recipe only has 5 steps! The cake calls for a lot of flour and a lot of peanuts, it sounds very unsafe for the highly allergic portion of the population. This cake was nice in its simplicity and I feel would be good as a base layer with creative toppings on it.

Neighbor Comments:

"oooh yum....molasses....drool."

"Oh man, this one is good! Yes, I am already shoveling it into my mouth, I love that the peanut taste is almost faint thanks to the molasses, yummmm."