Stir gradually into a pint of lukewarm milk a pound of sifted wheat
flour, add a small tea-cup of yeast, and set it where it will rise
quick. When of a spongy lightness, weigh out a pound of butter, a pound
and a quarter of nice sugar--stir them to a cream, then work them with
the hand into the sponge. Beat four eggs to a froth, the whites and
yelks separately--mix the eggs with the cake, together with a wine glass
of wine, one of brandy, a quarter of an ounce of mace, or one nutmeg.
Cinnamon is good spice for loaf cake, but it turns it a dark color. Add
another pound of flour, and work it with the hand for fifteen or twenty
minutes. (The longer it is worked, the more delicate will be the cake.)
Let it remain till risen again--when perfectly light, beat it a few
minutes with the hand, then add a couple of pounds of seeded raisins, a
quarter of a pound of citron, or almonds blanched, and pounded fine.
Butter three common sized cake pans, and put the cake into them--let
them remain half an hour in a warm place, before setting them in the
oven. Bake the cake in a quick, but not a furious oven, from an hour and
fifteen to thirty minutes, according to the heat of the oven. If it
browns too fast, cover it, while baking, with thick paper.