Golden Westerner Cake (Amber Westerner Cake)
The Golden Westerner Cake is a Texas pound cake; the Amber Westerner is made by substituting brown sugar for powdered sugar. The name “Westerner Cake” is sometimes used for both.
The Golden Westerner recipe was printed on boxes on Imperial Sugar. The Imperial Sugar Company (of Sugar Land, Texas), claims to be the longest surviving Texas business. The Golden Westerner Cake was popular in the 1960s, but is served much less today.
Handbook of Texas Online
IMPERIAL SUGAR COMPANY. The Imperial Sugar Company, which refines raw cane sugar at its huge plant at Sugar Land, is the oldest extant business in Texas. It has operated continuously on the same site, making the same products-refined cane sugar and a byproduct, blackstrap molasses-since 1843, before Fort Bend County was established. In the 1840s Nathaniel F. Williams developed Oakland Plantation and grew cotton, corn, and sugarcane. He sold the land to Benjamin F. Terry and William J. Kyle about 1852. Sometime after the Civil War most of the land was acquired by E. H. Cunningham, who built a large sugar refinery on the property around 1879.
Imperial Sugar Company Recipes
Westerner Cake
3 sticks (3/4 lb.) butter or margarine
4 cups (1 lb. carton) Imperial Sugar Confectioners Sugar or Dixie Crystals Confectioners Powdered Sugar
6 eggs
1 Imperial Sugar Confectioners Sugar or Dixie Crystals Confectioners Powdered Sugar carton full of all-purpose flour (4-1/2 cups)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. vanilla
Have eggs and butter at room temperature. Cream butter; gradually add confectioners sugar; beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition. Add flour gradually to batter. Add flavorings and mix well. Bake in 10-inch greased and floured tube pan in preheated oven at 325°F for one and one-half hours or until done. Cool four minutes, then invert pan. Makes twelve servings.
Nutrient analysis per serving: 543 calories; 8 grams protein; 71 grams carbohydrates; 26 grams fat; 106 milligrams cholesterol; 338 milligrams sodium.
Golden Westerner
Rich and moist made with Imperial Sugar Light Brown Sugar or Dixie Crystals Light Brown Sugar. In the recipe above, use 2-1/3 cups (one, 1-lb. carton) Imperial Sugar Light Brown Sugar or Dixie Crystals Light Brown Sugar instead of Imperial Sugar Confectioners Sugar or Dixie Confectioners Sugar.
Cooks.com
GOLDEN WESTERNER CAKES
6 eggs, at room temperature
3 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 (1 lb.) box powdered sugar
1 (1 lb.) box flour
3 tbsp. lemon juice
Lemon extract
Cream sugar and butter. Add flour and eggs alternately. Beat until fluffy. Add lemon juice and extract. Bake 1 hour and 30 minutes at 325 degrees in greased and floured tube pan.
5 March 1959, Dallas Morning News, “New Westerner Cake Keeps Well,” section 5, pg. 8:
If you want a cake that keeps wll and can be varied easily to please individual tastes, the new Westerner Cake is for you.
On the sweet side, the Westerner may be served plain, or with ice cream, fruit, whipped cream or frosting. In making it, suggest theImperial Sugar people, use the same carton in which the powdered sugar comes to measure the flour.
WESTERNER CAKE
Ingredients: Three sticks (3/4-pound) margarine or butter, 1 1-pound carton powdered sugar, 6 eggs, 1 carton full of sifted flour, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1 tablespoon vanilla.
Method: Have eggs and margarine at room temperature. Cream margarine; add powdered sugar; beat till fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition. Sift flour 3 times; add gradually to batter. Add flavorings and mix well. Bake in 10-inch greased and floured tube pan at 325 degrees F. 1-1/2 hours. Cool four minutes, then invert pan.
Banana Westerner: Omit lemon juice and gently blend in at last, 3/4 cup mashed, ripe banana and 2-3 cup extra finely chopped pecans.
Strawberry Westerner: Omit lemon juice and gently blend in at the last, one box sweetened frozen strawberries, thawed and well drained.
Pinapple Westerner: Omit lemon juice and gently blend in at the last, one No. 1 flat can of crushed pineapple, well drained.
19 May 1960, Dallas Morning News, “Western Party,” section 5, pg. 10:
For refreshments, make Westerner Cake. It’s a big cake you can mix in 11 minutes and the recipe can be made two different ways. One is made with powdered sugar for a delicate, fresh-tasting cake—the Golden Westerner. The other, the Amber Westerner, is made with brown sugar for a cake that’s rich and moist with a butterscotch taste.
GOLDEN WESTERNER CAKE
3 sticks (3/4 pound) butter or margarine
1 1-pound carton 10X powdered sugar
6 eggs
1 10X powdered sugar carton full of sifted flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
Have eggs and butter at room temperature. Cream butter; add 10X powdered sugar; beat till fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition. Sift flour three times; add gradually to batter. Add flavorings and mix well. Bake in 10-inch greased and floured tube pan at 325 F. 1-1/2 hours. Cool four minutes, then invert pan.
AMBER WESTERNER CAKE
In the recipe above, use one 1-pound carton of light or dark brown sugar instead of 10X powdered sugar.
15 September 1965, Syracuse (NY) Herald-Journal, pg. 35:
Some mighty fine eating—Texas style—is your reward for roping these recipes…
GOLDEN WESTERNER CAKE
3 sticks butter or margarine, room temp.
1 one-pound carton powdered sugar
6 eggs, room temp.
1 powdered sugar carton full of sifted flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
Cream butter and add powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating well after each addition. When sugar is added, beat until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with each addition. Sift flour 3 times and add gradually to the batter. Add flavorings and mix well. Pour batter into a 10-inch, well-greased and floured tube pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325. Cool for 4 minutes before inverting pan. Good served plain, with whipped cream, fruit or ice cream.
For AMBER WESTERNER CAKE, substitute either light or dark brown sugar for powdered sugar.
125th Anniversary Cookbook
Imperial Sugar Company
Sugar Land, Texas
1968
Pg. 10:
Golden Westerner Cake
Hearty kind of pound cake—one of our all-time favorites.
3 sticks (3/4 lb.) butter or margarine
1 carton (1 lb.) Imperial 10X Powdered Sugar
6 eggs
1 Imperial 10X Powdered Sugar carton full of sifted flour
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla
Have eggs and butter at room temperature. Cream butter; add Imperial 10X Powdered Sugar; beat till fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition.
Sift flour 3 times; add gradually to batter. Add flavorings and mix well. Bake in 10” greased and floured tube pan at 325 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Cool 4 minutes, then invert pan. Wonderful served plain. with whipped cream, fruit or ice cream. If you wish, spoon Imperial 10X Powdered Sugar lightly into ridges on top of cake.
AMBER WESTERNER: Rich and moist made with Imperial Brown Sugar. In the recipe above, use one carton (1 lb.) of Imperial Brown Sugar instead of Imperial 10X Powdered Sugar.
30 January 1975, Port Arthur (TX) News, pg. 14:
“Several years ago there was a recipe for a ‘Westerner Banana Nut Cake’ on the back of an Imperial Powdered Sugar box. Somehow I managed to lose my copy. Would it be possible to get another copy?”—Mrs. D. J.
We sent your question to the Imperial Sugar Co. in Sugar Land, and they replied that they have no recipe for Westerner Banana Nut Cake, but they did have Golden Westerner Cake which follows:
Have six eggs and three sticks of butter or margarine at room temperature. Cream butter; add a one-pound carton of powdered sugar; beat till fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition.
Sift one powdered sugar carton full of sifted flour three times; add gradually to batter. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and one tablespoon of vanilla and mix well.
Bake in a 10 inch greased and floured tube pan at 325 Fahrenheit one and one-half hours. Cool four minutes, then invert pan.
For Amber Westerner: in the recipe above, use a one-pound carton of light or dark brown sugar instead of powdered sugar.