Tammy Algood’s Scripture Cake is a scrumptious spice cake with an interesting history. According to Tammy, Dolley Madison made this dessert famous. The cake’s name—which you might also see as Bible Cake or Old Testament Cake—comes from the purpose of the original recipe: to teach young girls baking and scripture in tandem. We adapted Tammy’s recipe, which called for a 13×9-inch baking dish, to create a lovely round cake—a perfect pairing with your favorite cake plate to add just the right entertaining touch to this beautifully simplistic treat.
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1-½ cups sugar
- 3 eggs, divided
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground mace
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup finely chopped figs
- 1 cup golden raisins
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- Garnish: fresh figs
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Grease and flour a 10-inch round cake pan and set aside.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat the butter and sugar for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks, water, and honey.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, mace, cloves, and salt. Toss the figs, raisins, and almonds with the flour mixture and add to the butter mixture.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold into the batter. Spoon evenly into the prepared baking pan and bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting and serving. Garnish with fresh figs, if desired.
Butter- Judges 5:25
Sugar- Jeremiah 6:20
Eggs- Isaiah 10:14
Flour- Leviticus 24:5
Salt- 2 Kings 2:20
Baking powder- Amos 4:5
Cinnamon- Exodus 30:23
Spices- 2 Chronicles 9:9
Nuts- Genesis 43:11
Figs- Jeremiah 24:5
Raisins- 2 Samuel 16:1
