Election Cake

Your Civic Duty Never Tasted So Good.

A dense, fragrant, bread-like cake recipe, dotted with boozy dried currants, mixed raisins, and warmed with spices.  The history of election cake reveals an American tradition that has been mostly lost to history.

Regardless of your political affiliation, reward yourself (and your right to vote!), with a hearty slice of this history-rich confection.

A bundt-shaped pan works best for this cake recipe.  However, don’t fret over a bundt-pan with intricate shapes and details, a rather traditional one will work best with this cake’s texture.  I happened to lean on a rustic bundt pan that has been in my family longer than me and no longer holds perfectly to its original form.  So, I serve the cake upside down.  I like the way the exposed part of the cake bakes in the pan; it swells and creates deep grooves and cracks, offering the perfect pockets in which to drizzle the lemon glaze.

A little bit of election cake history

In early American life, this cake would have been referred to as “great cake,” reminiscent of a familiar English confection made in a similar fashion.

Later, it would be called “muster cake,” a treat originally created by colonial women to feed the American farmers ordered for military training by the British (known as “mustering”).

As life in America evolved, so did this familiar-at-the-time cake recipe, and soon enough it was a celebratory component of Election Day.  Election Day was quite the holiday in early New England, second only to Thanksgiving, complete with church sermons and a festive home full of friends and family.  As a our Puritan ancestors were denied the joys of Christmas and Easter, the festivities of Election Day helped compensate for the loss.

Eventually the cakes were brought to polling sites for the men who voted, as many had traveled a distance, and the cakes offered sustenance and celebration.

While households had their own versions of this delectable cake, the first published recipe was recorded in 1796 by Amelia Simmons in her second edition cookbook, “American Cookery,” and called for… wait for it…. thirty quarts of flour, ten pounds of butter, three dozen eggs, a pint of wine!… and the list goes on, see for yourself below.  This large cake would have been baked with the intention of feeding many on Election Day.

Time would prove that this dense cake would be most popularly referred to as “Hartford Election Cake.”

Connecticut was a colony that had the right to elect its own Governor, and that was certainly something worth celebrating!  It was customary in Connecticut to enjoy this fine cake while waiting for the election results – often served as a reward for voting “the right way,” or in other words, for a particular party.  This tradition carried on well into the 19th century.

A properly made election cake could leave quite the social impression, too.  Housewives secured their prominence as socialites and hostesses based on the quality of their cakes – no pressure, ladies.  In 1886, Connecticut historian J. Hammond Trumbell referenced it this way:

Election Day (the first Thursday in May), the reddest letter in our calendar, brightened the whole year. Good housekeepers were expected to have finished their spring cleaning long before, election cakes are rising to make ready for the oven – and few homes were too poor to offer this refreshment to visitors.

The storied history doesn’t stop there.  Since women were not allowed to vote before 1920, election cake became part of a woman’s weapon of persuasion, an attempt to sway the men at the polling sites to vote according to her political interests.

Over time, election cakes waned in popularity.  Perhaps it was due to dissatisfaction in politics, or maybe the increase in population – and with it, new traditions.  Or, both.  In any event, I am enamored with its story.

As a woman who is proud to exercise my right to vote, I’m quite happy to bake an election cake – especially since I won’t have to work 10 pounds of butter to feed the townspeople or persuade the townsmen; instead, I can justly reward myself, my family, and my right to vote, with a hearty slice of American baked history.

I’d love to hear from you!

Scroll down and leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you!  If you give this cake a go, don’t forget to share it with me on Instagram, I’d love to see your creation!  Make sure to tag me @chasingtheseasons so that I don’t miss it!

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