Raisin cake grapes." Some recipes in the United States circa the early 1900s utilized lard as an ingredient, which could be used instead of butter. Boiled raisin cake is a type of raisin cake whereby various ingredients are first boiled, after which the batter is placed in cake pans then baked. It is sometimes prepared with the omission of some standard cake ingredients, such as butter, eggs or milk. Boiled raisin cake may have a moist consistency. The cake dates back to the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), when it was prepared in frontier areas using the Dutch oven. Basic
Chiffon cake harden or dry out as traditional butter cakes might. This makes them better-suited than many cakes to filling or frosting with ingredients that need to be refrigerated or frozen, such as pastry cream or ice cream. The lack of butter, however, means that chiffon cakes lack much of the rich flavor of butter cakes The recipe is credited to Harry Baker (1883–1974), a California insurance salesman turned caterer. Baker kept the recipe secret for 20 years until he sold it to General Mills, which spread the recipe through marketing materials in the 1940s and 1950s under the name "chiffon cake",