Eggless Cake Pt. 1: Disaster!

    Ugh! Yesterday was kind of a crummy day all-around. I woke up to the sound of a cat coughing up a hairball and it went downhill from there: work was hectic, the man at the grocery meat counter ignored me and tried to wait on two men that had just arrived (tried!), and the electricity went off with 10 minutes left in my t.v. program (I Spy). Oh, and then there was the cake.
     I had a hunch I was in trouble from the start. The recipe booklet was so old that it only listed ingredients. As a knowledgeable cook of the past I would have known the right oven temperature, the cooking time, the size of the pan, etc. As a hapless cook of the present I turned to the internet to give me some clues. I figured out what I thought was the right timing and temperature. Where I screwed up (I think) was the pan...but I digress, let me tell you about my recipe choice.
     The recipe booklet of choice is called "Airline Honey Cook Book". This booklet is put out by The A. I. Root Company of Medina, Ohio "The Home of the Honeybees". While I could find no date on the booklet I think it might be from the 1920s. It references a study done in 1913 to emphasize a point. According to the booklet "Eighty-five pounds of sugar on the average is annually consumed by every man, woman, and child in the United States. According to that 1913 study the consumption of cane sugar by the average American is nearly five times that of the average European." To stress the perils of cane sugars and the goodness of honey, the booklet quotes Prof. A.J. Cook, of Claremont, Cal. "If cane sugar is absorbed without change, it will be removed by the kidneys and may result in their breakdown." Therefore, "There can be no doubt but that in eating honey our digestive machinery is saved work that it would have to perform if we ate cane sugar. We all know how children long for candy. Children should be given all the honey at each meal that they will eat"!
    Some more tidbits:

• What is  honey? "Honey is the nectar of flowers modified and evaporated by the bees."
• Different kinds of honey: Honey may have a good heavy body or it may be quite thin. It ranges in color from almost water-white to as dark as the darkest molasses. The flavor varies according to the flower from which it is obtained- the lighter-colored honeys being milder in flavor, as a rule.  White-clover honey, sage, sweet clover, alfalfa, willow-herb, raspberry, etc. are quite mild,each, however, having its own distinct flavor. Goldenrod, aster, heartsease, buckwheat, etc. are darker and stronger in flavor, especially the latter which is very strong and practically the darkest honey sold.
• Honey is placed on the market in four forms: comb honey, extracted honey, bulk comb honey, and granulated honey.

Now, I can't put it off any longer. I must describe the disaster.

         Eggless Cake
    One cupful sugar, 1/2 cup honey, one cupful sour milk, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter, one cupful chopped raisins, one cup chopped dates, one teaspoonful soda, 2 1/2 cupfuls flour. Spices may be added to taste.

Well that's the whole recipe. My research told me I should bake the cake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. Now as you can see this is not your standard white cake with buttercream frosting (mmm...buttercream frosting). This is more like what I would call a tea cake or a tea loaf. So, because I thought of it that way I put it in a loaf pan. BIG MISTAKE! Oh man, what a disaster!
     It baked and baked and baked and baked. 20 minutes passed, 30 minutes passed, still totally soupy in center. 35 minutes, 40 minutes, 45 minutes...finally I could take it no more! I took it out after 50 minutes! It was burnt on the outside, but I told myself, that, surely, the inside parts would be edible. Dear reader, after the brick, er...cake, had cooled on the rack I cut into it. Oh the humanity! Burnt on the outside, raw on the inside! In total disgust I heaved it into the trash.
My aunt was bothered that I didn't save it for the birds. I asked her which part she thought the birds would want, the burnt or the raw and she answered without batting an eye, "the burnt".  I'm not sure, but I think that would qualify as animal cruelty.
So here's the deal...I'm making it again tonight. This time in a bundt pan. Wish me luck! I'm sure going to need it!!