Dissolve yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm potato water. Cream sugar, vegetable shortening, margarine, and salt. Add egg replacer, potato, remaining potato water, yeast mixture, and flour, in that order, to a large bowl. Mix well after each addition. Knead dough lightly on a floured surface and place in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. Divide dough and spread into 2 greased baking sheets. Let rise again for about one hour. Punch holes with your knuckles in dough and dot all over with bits of the margarine (BE GENEROUS). Cover with brown sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon. Begin preheating over to 375 and let the dough rise while it preheats. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Let cool for a few minutes before devouring. To store, airtight containers work but traditionally we cut the bread into 10x10 inch squares and wrap it in wax paper.
**This is a yeast bread but is traditionally called "cake" because of the sugar-y goodness. ***Best eaten soon after baking, when still warm, but if you can't eat all 32 servings right away, save it for later and just microwave a slice for about 10 seconds****It does freeze well in a freezer bag-. Just let it thaw completely.
Source of recipe: You will eat every single bite of this, for sure.
This recipe is from my church, Home Moravian, in Winston-Salem, NC, established in 1771. I altered the ingredients to fit a vegan diet. If you've never had Moravian Sugar cake you MUST make this.There are many differing recipes out there and everyone at my church thinks theirs is the best-- but truth be told they are ALL great. This one is very similar to the one we serve at our Candle Tea every Christmas.