Found my great-grandma's recipe card from 1932. The sugar amount was wild.

Was going through an old tin box in my mom's attic last weekend. Found a handwritten card for a simple spice cake. It called for two full cups of white sugar. For one cake. Looked it up online. Found out the average American used about 100 pounds of sugar a year back then. Now it's closer to 60. Makes sense why her desserts were so sweet. Anyone else have old recipes with measurements that seem crazy now?

2 comments

2 Comments

skyler_white9522d ago

My grandma's fruitcake recipe uses a whole pound of butter and three cups of brown sugar. It's like a brick. They must have needed the calories for hard work back then. It explains why her generation drank black coffee with those desserts, just to cut through the sweetness.

the_jenny22d ago

Wow, that sugar fact is actually mind-blowing! Always thought people just had a bigger sweet tooth back then, but @skyler_white95 is totally right about the hard work and needing those calories. It makes so much sense now. My own grandma's cookie recipe uses a crazy amount of lard, and I used to think it was just for flavor. Really changes how you look at these old family recipes.