Colonial Recipes

From the outside, Washington College’s copy of “Colonial recipes from old Virginia and Maryland Manors” by Maude A. Bomberger is not much to look at. Sure, the font on the spine and cover is kind of neat, there’s a cute drawing of a country estate on the front, and the cloth is a nice shade of blue. But the wear and tear on the spine are evident, the binding is clearly loose, and who wants to eat like an American colonist, anyway?

However, considered as cultural artifact, as well as a primary resource, this little book is truly fascinating. Divided into two parts, Virginia and Maryland, this book tells the history of Virginia and Maryland’s most famous and historic manors through the recipes developed in each place. The first recipe in the book, from Mount Vernon, Virginia, “was an inheritance to Mrs. Onderhurst, of Philadelphia, to whom it was given by Mrs. Washington herself.” The first First Lady’s recipe for “Rich Black Cake” calls for 20 eggs, 2 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of sugar, 5 pounds of fruit, and ½ pint of wine- ingredients surely unattainable for the average colonial American. Rich, indeed.  

The Maryland section also includes a recipe for black cake, though this one is explicitly called a fruit cake. Courtesy of the manor at Winston, this “Black Fruit Cake” requires a mind-blowing 4.5 pounds each of raisins and currants, plus 1 pound citron.  

Unfortunately, neither of the black cake recipes contains chocolate, or any explanation of why the cake is black.  

Due to the condition and age of Miller Library’s copy of “Colonial Recipes” it is housed in our rare book collection and available by appointment only. However, you can find these cake recipes and more on the digital version available on the Internet Archive! 

https://archive.org/details/colonialrecipesf00bomb/page/n9/mode/2up