“Laura and Mary made new starry papers for the shelves, and Ma made vanity cakes.”
Vanity cakes were a special party treat for Laura that she remembered fondly even in later years. In a letter now available in the Detroit Public Library, she writes about how the cakes bubbled up when they were fried until they were so light and fluffy like a bubble with nothing inside – hence the name, vanity cakes.
Vanity Cakes Recipe: Yield six cakes
Vanity cakes are the perfect treat to add to a Little House on the Prairie birthday party, unit study, or gathering. Note: this recipe is adapted from a recipe in The Little House Cookbook, but makes some modern substitutes like oil instead of lard. We also included a strawberry sauce you can use as a topping if you’d like, or try the blueberry sauce topping shared in Laura’s Wedding Cake recipe.
Ingredients for Making Vanity Cakes
- 1 egg, large
- Pinch Salt
- ½ Cup All-purpose flour, plus additional for cutting board
- 1 Cup Powdered sugar
- 2-4 cups of oil
- ½ Cup Strawberry dipping sauce (optional)
Making Vanity Cakes As Laura Ingalls Wilder Did
Step One
Fill your fryer or dutch oven with about 3 inches of oil. Heat to 350 F. Caution – use extreme caution around hot oil and closely supervise any children who may be helping you.
Step Two
In the bowl, beat the egg and salt for 1 minute. Whisk in ¼ cup of flour thoroughly. Add the remaining flour, one tablespoon of flour at a time, until the dough is too stiff to beat, but too soft to roll out. There’s a balance here between too much and too little.
Step Three
Cover a cutting board with flour. With a teaspoon, spoon the batter into the flour on the board in six separate portions. Carefully turn each spoonful of dough over to cover it with flour, then flatten. Slowly drop it into the hot oil, cooking one at a time.
Step Four
Cook for approximately 3½ minutes, carefully turning halfway through. The cakes should cook to a golden brown. Adjust the temperature if they are browning too quickly.
Step Five
Drain cakes on a paper towel and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with strawberry dipping sauce.
Strawberry Dipping Sauce
- ½ Cup sugar
- ½ Cup water
- 1 Cup Strawberries, hulled and quartered
Step One
Mix water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring constantly.
Step Two
Reduce heat to low and add strawberries. Stir occasionally cooking for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool and serve.
This deceptively simple recipe will create a delicious treat that you and your family will love.
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Vanity cakes always seemed to be a mystery to me until I read Barbara Walker’s recipe in “The Little House Cookbook” years ago. Once I made them I was overjoyed to see they were just like my favorite sopapillas in Tex-Mex restaurants. And then, on a trip to New Orleans I discovered the famous beignets – all puffed up and dusted with sugar! Laura and Ma were sharing their simple pioneer culture with a gentle nod to humility when making vanity cakes for not only Nellie Olson but readers of the Little House books.
Lard is good for you.
This is correct. According to Prevention Magazine lard is lower in saturated fat than other animal fats like butter and tallow, and higher in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat—the type that gives olive oil its health halo. Lard is made up of 50% monounsaturated fat—compare that to only 32% in butter and 6% in coconut oil. Plus, in its natural form, lard has none of the trans fats that we know are bad for you.
They didn’t have powdered sugar back then. I don’t remember the dipping sauce either. Did she just sprinkle white sugar on them ?
In her letter memoirs, from the book “The selected letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder”, written by William Anderson, she (Laura) says “They are mostly egg, fried in deep fat, eaten hot, crunchy, not sweet. Sort of a bubble”… So, I don’t think they had the sweetness… if they had strawberries, I’m sure that would have been wonderful, or maybe honey… But, from her comment, it sounds like they were just fried and eaten hot.
I am reading “The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder” by William Anderaon. In chapter six Laura states in a letter that she cannot remember the recipe. At the time she wrote the letter Carrie was the only other sister still living and Carrie also did not remember the recipe. Laura did say in this letter that the vanity cakes were NOT sweet. She stated they were mostly egg and yellow in color. She said the yellow was from the egg yolks.
Would the Vanity Cakes turn out just as well if I doubled or tripled the recipe?
I am going to double the recipe. I don’t see why it wouldn’t work?
In On the Banks of Plum Creek, “Country Party” chapter, Ma makes vanity cakes, and Laura specifically remarks that they are not sweet. So the additional of confectioner’s sugar is definitely a modern addition. Remember the Ingalls family rarely ate sugar.
They can’t have had sugar, Plum Creek specifically says they are NOT sweet.
Hello, this is very nice site! Does anyone have real authentic recipe for this vanity cakes? Would very appreciate. Mostly egg and not sweet, and I will cook in lard just same as Mrs. Ingalls all the years ago. Thank you!
They sound like cream puff batter, it’s not sweet, and is a crisp bubbly puff
I love this recipe
I am thinking maybe like a cream puff batter only fried?
I think so too. Cream puffs are made from the French dough “pate a choux,” a dough that’s the basis for many desserts, which Ma probably knew about, given her upbringing. It’s yellow, mostly egg, not sweet, and puffs up with a hole in the middle. Plus it melts in your mouth. Im pretty sure it was pate a choux.