Baking Traditional New Years Cakes Using 1796 Recipe

Justine Dorn of Early American, who makes historical dishes in traditional dress, silently prepared a batch of New Year’s Cakes using a recipe from 1796. Dorn explains that these cakes are more like caraway sugar cookies and are meant to be given out freely.

What year is it again? Well, today’s it’s 1796 as we recreate this recipe for New Year’s Cakes. This recipe is from over 220 years ago. These cakes, which were cooked flat and small like modern day cookies, were intended to be handed out to guests during large New Year’s parties

New Years Cake 1796
Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.