Often called Old Hartford (or Salem) election cake, raisin-studded yeast cakes like this were originally served at Militia Day fairs after the American Revolution.

Food historian William Woys Weaver explains that the term election cake is a generic one (like wedding cake), applied to several different types of cakes. Some versions are glazed, but many of the oldest surviving recipes are not; some were baked in round earthenware pans rather than loaf pans. This is a moist elec