Jefferson's Savoy Cakes

President Thomas Jefferson actually wrote this recipe.  And others, some written in French.  This recipe To make biscuit de Savoy includes an interesting step - "take care not to shut the oven till the biscuit begins to swell up, then close the oven."


Although the Library of Congress site gives no date, it may have been written while he lived in Paris from 1784-1789.

To make biscuit de Savoy

12 eggs
12 table spoonfuls of sugar
separate the yolk and white perfectly
grate [zest] the peal of one orange.
mix the whole and beat them very well
6 spoonfuls of flour; put this a searce [sieve]
beat well the whites separately
mix the whole gently
grease the mould with butter
powder it with sugar.
put in the mixture and put it in the oven. 
of the eggs beat as directed
in the _?__ of the Macarons.
["beating them always to prevent
their turning into oil"]
take care not to shut the oven till
the biscuit begins to swell up,
then close the oven.
a half an hour suffices to bake
more or less according to size.

I do like Savoys. Crispy sugary on the outside - because the mold is buttered and scattered with sugar rather than flour - and a nice cake inside. Previous posts using Savoy Cake recipes include one by his distant relative, Mary Randolph. Burnt Custard in Randolph's Virginia Housewife (1824) was built on Savoy Cake slices, as described HERE. Chantilly Cake or Trifle Cake, from early 1800, was a trifle within a Savoy Cake. HERE

©2013 Patricia Bixler Reber
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