Most likely the namesake for this recipe was Mary Hedges Carll (1831-1900), the East Hampton-born wife of George Carll (1834-1902) of Dix Hills. Mary was the daughter of William Hedges (1803-1865) and Phebe Osborn Hedges (1805-1833), and the aunt of the East Hampton Library's first librarian, Ettie Hedges Pennypacker (1879-1970).
The recipe was handwritten by Sarah Griswold Gardiner Tyler (1848-1927), a daughter of Samuel Buell Gardiner (1815-1882) and Mary Gardiner Thompson Gardiner (1807-1887). She married John Alexander Tyler (1848-1883), whose mother was Julia Gardiner Tyler (1820-1889), a former first lady. Sarah inscribed the front of the recipe book with her married name, Mrs. John Alexander Tyler, and dated it 1910.
Sarah included a variety of other local recipes, like Gardiner's Island Cake, similar to a molasses cake, and an almond cake she called East Hampton Cake. Most of her recipes appear with the name of the woman who created or served the dish.
Mrs. Carll's Cake calls for dissolving baking soda in milk, and adds flavor with nutmeg and raisins, making a mild spice cake. Cakes with dried fruit were very popular during this time, with a whole genre of dried fruit cakes or composition cakes appearing in cookbooks.
Like many of Sarah's recipes, Mrs. Carll's Cake calls for "soda or saleratus," meaning baking soda or a similar substitute. Saleratus was made from potassium bicarbonate and even cream of tartar before the invention of baking soda. Baking soda was relatively new in Sarah's lifetime, with a factory first producing it in 1846. Similarly, modern baking powder was patented in 1856 by Eben Norton Horsford (1818-1893), a Boston-area chemist and husband of Mary L'Hommedieu Gardiner (1824-1855).
For those interested in the history of cooking here, the Long Island Collection has installed a new exhibition featuring local cookbooks and recipe collections in the front lobby. As part of our Halloween at the Library celebration, four spice cake recipes have been selected for our spice cake baking competition, including Mrs. Carll's Cake. Entries are due Oct. 25.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is head of collection for the East Hampton Library's Long Island Collection.
