Jell-O and Spice Cake

There are just some foods that have very strong emotional connections for me. The Entenmann’s Crumb Coffee Cake always reminds me of my Polish grandmother. In my memories, when we walk into her house, she is almost always at her table in her kitchen with the white and blue box and her glass measuring cup of tea, ready to dish out slices of cake to us kids. That was pretty much the only time that we had Entenmann’s Crumb Coffee Cake. After dinner, she would miraculously produce white plastic Cool-Whip containers full of jewel-colored Jell-O that she would dish out into glass bowls for us. And I loved that because it was such a treat too. Especially if she served it with a dollop of Cool-Whip on top. Mom would make Jell-O for us at home, but it was never like at Grandma’s house. Mom’s Jell-O was usually Knox Blox, the stiffer wriggly squares that sometimes were mixed with stuff - like chopped carrots and celery, coconut, or canned fruit cocktail – and were sometimes layered in different colors. While the Knox Blox were fun to play with because they were rubbery, they weren’t the special dessert that Grandma’s Jell-O was.

Spice cake was the hallmark of my Italian grandmother. While she also occasionally made zeppole and possibly a few other sweets, her spice cake is the one treat that stands out in my mind. As early as my freshman year of college, my Italian grandmother started mailing me care packages of her spice cake. It seemed like no matter where my address was, my Italian grandmother was willing to ship me her spice cake. Even when I went to Central Europe for my junior year abroad, she paid the postage to ship her spice cakes overseas so that I would have a taste of home. When I got my first apartment in graduate school, it was one of the first family recipes that I learned to bake. There was something comforting about the smell of the spices from the boiling syrup that recalled my Italian grandmother’s kitchen and some of the fun craziness that went on there.

Over the years, I became the master of the spice cake, and would occasionally bring some to my Italian grandmother’s house on my visits. She always fussed over it, as if it were something special and not made from her humble recipe. After her passing, I continued to make the spice cake for friends and family, but mostly for myself. It is a simple recipe, which starts out by boiling sugar, water, oil, raisins, and spices to make a fragrant syrup. While my Italian grandmother always used vegetable oil, sometimes I use butter because that’s what I have on hand. The syrup is supposed to cool before being mixed into the dry ingredients, but I hardly ever have the patience for that. So my batter is usually a bubbling mess because the heat seems to activate the baking powder and/or baking soda in the bowl of dry ingredients. Finally, two egg yolk are mixed into the batter. This can get tricky if the batter is warm from using hot syrup. And sometimes I use whole eggs because I’m too lazy to separate the eggs, or I have no use for the egg whites. After that, the batter is poured into a greased rectangular pyrex pan and baked. That’s it.

At Easter this year, I still had money leftover on a gift certificate that friends had given me for Christmas. So I used that to acquire a super cute Nordic Ware Bunny Cakelet pan when it went on sale. I asked Dad whether he wanted me to bring his favorite gluten free vanilla olive oil cake or Grandma’s spice cake. He didn’t skip a beat in asking for the spice cake. And he didn’t really mind that I forgot the raisins.

The Recipe

Grandma's Spice Cake
This was a special treat when we visited Grandma in New Jersey. She would also mail them to me at my college dorm, my study abroad, my Army barracks, or where ever else I happened to be. When she could no longer bake, I would mail (or bring) them to her.

2 cups water
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
½ box raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp ginger
1 tsp clove
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 egg yolks


1. Combine water, oil, sugar, raisins, and spices in large saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil 2-5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
2. Combine remaining ingredients, except egg yolks, in mixing bowl.
3. Add syrup into dry ingredients and stir until moistened. If the syrup is still warm, this may foam at first, but will settle.
4. Once partially blended, add egg yolks and stir until completely blended. Use a few strokes as possible, as overmixing will result in a tough tasting cake.
5. Pour into lightly greased 8x12 pan. Spread evenly.
6. Bake at 325F for 45 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center.

♥ I’ve also been successful with replacing ½ cup vegetable oil with ½ cup butter/margarine and using whole eggs instead of just the egg yolks.
♥ Dried cranberries, shredded carrots, pineapple tidbits, and chopped nuts can be added if desired. Dried ingredients should be added with raisins. Other ingredients can be added when combining dry ingredients and syrup.

The Bonus Recipe

Celery and Carrot Jello
These Knox blocks bring back fond memories. Generic ingredients work just as well.

2 carrots, finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
4 envelopes Knox gelatin
1 6oz. pkg lime or orange Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water

1. Combine Jell-O and gelatin powders. Dissolve with hot water.
2. Add cold water, celery and carrots.
3. Pour into 9x13 pan and chill for 2 hours, or until firm.
4. Cut into 1-inch cubes and eat with hands.

♥ If you skip the Knox gelatin, the mixture can be chilled in a mold and served as a salad. Unmold by setting briefly in warm water and then invert onto a plate.
♥ Layers are created by using a larger tray, letting the Jell-O set, and then repeating the recipe with another flavor. Three layers is the maximum I’ve achieved without overflowing the pan.

Other Combinations:
♥ Black cherry jello with shredded coconut
♥ Bright red cherry jello with canned mandarin oranges
♥ Lemon or cherry jello with drained fruit cocktail