Food History: 19th Century American Recipes for Spanish Buns, Sponge Cake and Seed Cake (from 1866)

Three 19th century American dessert recipes for Spanish buns, sponge cake and seed cake, all from an 1866 issue of Peterson's Magazine. The Spanish buns sound quite boozy, with generous portions of wine and brandy, and flavoured with rose-water and currants. You can download the free, high-res 8” x 8” @ 300 ppi recipe card here. Can be used as a gift tag, dinner invitation, place card or in junk journal and scrapbooking projects.


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Food History: 19th Century American Holiday Recipe for Pommes au Riz (from 1866)

A 19th century American cookery recipe for Pommes au Riz from an 1866 issue of Peterson's Magazine. This looks like a delicious apple-flavoured rice pudding, a pleasantly light dessert or snack after heavier holiday fare. You can download the free, high-res 8” x 6” @ 300 ppi recipe card here. Can be used as a gift tag, dinner invitation, place card or in junk journal and scrapbooking projects.


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Food History: 19th Century American Holiday Recipe for An Excellent Family Plum Pudding (from 1866)

A 19th century American holiday recipe for "an excellent family plum pudding" from an 1866 issue of Peterson's Magazine. Seems to be a deliciously rich dessert, a perfect ending to a any holiday celebration. You can download the free, high-res 8” x 6” @ 300 ppi recipe card here. Can be used as a gift tag, dinner invitation, place card or in junk journal and scrapbooking projects.


All digitized work by The Real Victorian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Please link back to RealVictorian.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Food History: 19th Century American Holiday Recipe for Mince-meat (from 1866)

A 19th century American holiday recipe for mince-meat from an 1866 issue of Peterson's Magazine. Seems to be a favourite dish among many housewives at that time, with a good mixture of meat such as boiled ox-tongue, lots of sweet fruit and plenty of alcohol! You can download the free, high-res 8” x 6” @ 300 ppi recipe card here. Can be used as a gift tag, dinner invitation, place card or in junk journal and scrapbooking projects.


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Victorian Childhood Games: Cat's Cradle

This illustration and the accompanying description of a popular Victorian childhood game of Cat's Cradle was taken from an 1875 issue of Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine.

I know this doesn't really have any relevance to the game but a phrase in the article (which I highlighted above) jumped out at me as I was reading it: "Shades of Verstegan - living soul of Richard Grant White, come to our rescue!" I find the sentence rather intriguing - I don't think I've ever read or heard anyone use that phrase before. Isn't it marvelously Victorian? I'm still hazy as to what it actually means! If anyone could shed some light on that turn of phrase? I would be delighted if you do.

Quick links to characters named:
[1] Verstegan
[2] Richard Grant White

For those who have not actually played Cat's Cradle before and would be interested in the steps, here is an easy-to-follow Youtube video from MomsMinivan:




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Food History: Victorian Recipe for Anise Cake from Young Ladies' Journal, February 1, 1898

A Victorian recipe for anise cake (although it sounds almost like a biscuit/cookie recipe) from the February 1, 1898 issue of The Young Ladies' Journal. No indication of how hot the oven should be so some experimentation required! You can download the free, high-res 4” x 4” @ 300 ppi recipe card here.


All digitized work by The Real Victorian is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to The Real Victorian as your source when sharing or publishing.