The real name is truly Cheap Cake. It's from an old church cookbook compiled by the ladies of Huntley M. E. Church; I'm guessing it dates to the early 1900's. The ads include lunches for 30 cents and phone numbers that are simply two or three digits.
So, with a name like that and the ingredient list how could I not resist giving it a whirl? One of the ingredients is flavor of choice. I added 1 tsp vanilla and orange zest (from one orange), because, after all if the name is cheap it deserves a little zest. The batter resembled one of my boys' favorites cakes: Butter Cake from Cooks Illustrated (which calls for orange zest). When this cake was cooking I compared recipes....hmmm....no wonder one is called cheap and one is called butter. Butter cake recipe coming soon - along with more Huntley Church recipes.
CHEAP CAKE (recipe courtesy Huntley M. E. Church cookbook)
I cup sugar
1 egg
Butter the size of an egg
1 cup milk
1 pt. flour
2 tsp baking powder
Flavoring of any kind.
[That's all folks, no other directions. Recipe was made with softened butter the approximate size of egg. All ingredients were placed in bowl and mixed with electric mixer until smooth. Baked at 350 in 9" round greased and floured cake pan for approximately 30-35 minutes.]