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As I was looking through an old 19th century cookbook I came across a recipe for a soft gingerbread cake that didn't call for any eggs. I know that there are people who avoid eating eggs because they have an allergy or a sensitivity to them, but I was actually glad to find this eggless gingerbread recipe for a different reason because I was having a bit of an egg shortage with the lack of eggs that my chickens were laying.

Having backyard chickens has given me a new appreciation for eggless recipes because there are times of the year when my chickens are laying less eggs than other times. At the moment, out of the four laying hens that I have only one of them is laying eggs right now. So, even though getting eggs from the store is an option for me in the modern day, it's still nice to have some recipes that don't need eggs because who wants to buy more eggs than necessary at the store when you already have chickens out in the backyard?!

And it actually makes a lot of sense historically that there would be recipes in old cookbooks that don't require any eggs because there are times of the year when chickens don't lay very many eggs (such as in the fall if they are molting, during the winter when daylight hours are less, if they are broody and setting on eggs to hatch them, etc.) so the average family keeping chickens in the past probably would have had times when eggs were more scarce and they wanted to save the few eggs that they did have for certain special recipes. There are a lot of variables when it comes to whether or not chickens will lay eggs in the fall and winter (like the breed of chicken, how old they are, etc.), but in general it makes a lot of sense that old cookbooks would have some options for times when people wanted to conserve eggs or for when they might have been out of eggs.

So this buttermilk gingerbread cake recipe could be a good option for anyone who needs an eggless recipe whether it's because of an allergy or sensitivity to eggs, because you've run out of eggs at home and don't want to go out to the store, or because you have your own chickens and they are on an egg-laying hiatus at the moment.

Original Recipe

The recipe I found came from a cookbook called The Young Housekeeper's Friend by Mrs. Cornelius. There were a couple of different editions of this book, and the one that had this recipe is the 1871 edition (pictured above next to the gingerbread.) The antique copy that I have is falling apart at the spine and it has multiple pages with stains on them, so it seems like it was probably a well-used cookbook by somebody in the past! It's fun to imagine who else might have used this cookbook years ago and who might have even made this same exact recipe before.

The original recipe actually gives quite a bit of instructions and suggestions for this recipe compared to some other recipes I've seen from the same time period. It seems as though this recipe was intended to be very adaptable depending on what ingredients were available and upon personal preferences. I chose to use all butter for this recipe and to make it with the original spice suggestions of ginger and cinnamon, but this recipe includes several different options for ways that it could be made.

Here is the text of the original recipe from pages 65-66 of the book:

"One cup and a half of molasses, one of beef-shortening or butter, or half of each, two cups of sour milk, half cup of brown sugar, and two teaspoonfuls of saleratus. Have ready in a pan two or three cups of flour, with the sugar, a little ginger, and cinnamon; and when you have boiled up the molasses, butter, and shortening, pour it upon the ingredients in the pan, and stir well. Then add the sour milk and saleratus, and flour enough to make it as thick as cup-cake. Gingerbread is as much improved by being thoroughly beaten, as any other cake. You cake make it more delicate by using butter only, adding the juice of a lemon to sour the milk, and using grated nutmeg instead of ginger. On the other hand, very good gingerbread is made by omitting the butter, and using shortening instead, and cold water or cider in place of the sour milk. A teaspoonful of salt is necessary where the butter is omitted."

Notes About This Recipe

I divided this recipe in half and I used salted butter for making this recipe. The original recipe assumes that the butter would have been salted because it suggests adding salt if the butter is omitted. I also decided to add a bit more salt to the recipe because I wasn't sure if modern-day salted butter would have the same amount of salt as 19th century butter. I found this to be a good salt level with using modern-day salted butter as well as adding a half teaspoonful of additional salt. If you are using unsalted butter, though, you could add an extra pinch of salt on top of the half teaspoon in this recipe.

I also used buttermilk for this recipe. The original recipe calls for using sour milk which would have been raw milk that had naturally soured since it wasn't refrigerated. This milk would have been more like a cultured milk and not spoiled milk. I definitely wouldn't recommend using store bought pasteurized milk that has gone sour! If you have access to raw milk that has soured than you could use that like the original recipe suggests, or you could use buttermilk like I did. There are also ways of making milk "sour" by adding something acidic like lemon juice as the original recipe mentions. I haven't tried making this cake with the lemon, but that could be an option if you didn't have any buttermilk on hand. I would guess that it might give the cake more of a lemon flavor, though, so it would probably be different from the traditional gingerbread flavor.

And since this cake relies on the reaction of the acidic buttermilk and molasses with the baking soda and doesn't have any eggs to help with the rising, it's important to put this cake straight into the oven after you put the batter into the pan. If you let it sit around on the counter for a while it might turn out flatter and more dense.

Taste and Texture

You might be wondering how an eggless gingerbread cake compares to one that uses eggs in it. I didn't notice any difference in flavor at all. This tasted a lot like other old-fashioned gingerbread recipes that I've tried before. It has the typical molasses and spice flavor that you think of with gingerbread. There is a little bit of a difference with the texture, though. This cake is on the denser side, and it isn't as light and fluffy as some cake recipes might be, but it's still a nice soft cake. It has more of a hearty, substantial texture that feels more old-fashioned to me. The cake doesn't rise very high in the pan, so it stays just a couple of inches tall, but that could also be partly because I used a long 13x9 pan, and I don't know what size pan this recipe was originally intended for. In a different sized pan the height of the cake could be taller. Overall, I found it to be a very nice recipe and one that I would definitely make again, and for those who need or want to avoid eggs for whatever reason I think this cake could be a good option. I really enjoyed eating it plain, but I also really enjoyed it with some icing on top, too, so I think it's good either way, depending on your preference.

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The information in this post is not to be taken as medical advice and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.