moist sugar, ½ oz. ground ginger, and the grated rind and juice of
a lemon. Mix with a little treacle to a paste thin enough to spread
on tins. Bake in a moderate oven, and when done enough cut it into
strips whilst still on the tins, and then roll it round the fingers.
When cold put in a tin at once, or they will lose their crispness.
(_b_) Take 1 lb. flour, ½ lb. coarse brown sugar, ¼ lb. butter, 1
dessertspoonful allspice, 2 of ground ginger, the grated peel of
half, and the juice of a whole lemon; mix altogether, adding ½ lb.
treacle; beat it well; butter some sheet tins, and spread the paste
thinly over them, bake in rather a slow oven. When done cut it into
squares, and roll each square round the finger as it is raised from
the tin. (_c_) ½ lb. salt butter, ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ lb. treacle
and flour (more treacle than flour), 1½ oz. finely-powdered ginger.
The butter, treacle, and part of the sugar to be made boiling hot,
and poured on the remainder of the ingredients well mixed. Spread it
very thinly with a knife on a sheet tin which has been buttered, and
bake. When done, to be taken off with a knife.
_Breakfast Cake._--Mix ½ oz. German yeast with ½ pint warm milk in
a pan; weigh 2 lb. flour and take sufficient of it to make the milk
the consistence of batter. When this sponge has risen, take a little
milk--melt in it 3 oz. butter; add a teaspoonful of salt, and the
yolks of 8 eggs; mix well with the sponge, and make into a dough
with the remaining portion of flour. Do not use more milk with the
eggs than will make ½ pint, or the dough will be too soft. When the
dough is proved, make it into cakes about 2 in. thick; put them into
buttered hoops; lay the hoops on iron plates, and when they are
lightly risen, bake them in a warm oven; cut into slices ½ in. thick
and butter each.
_Bride Cake._--Cleanse and dry 2½ lb. currants; stone ½ lb. muscatel
raisins; pound ¼ oz. mace, ⅛ oz. cinnamon; scald ¼ lb. sweet almonds,
remove skins, and shred; slice up 2 oz. each candied citron, lemon,
and orange peel; break 8 new eggs into a basin; sift 1 lb. powdered
loaf sugar into 1¼ lb. flour; in a warmed pan beat 1 lb. butter by
hand till it melts, then add the sugar and beat again; add ⅕ of the
flour, stir, and add nearly half the eggs; beat up, add more flour
and remainder of eggs; beat again and stir in rest of flour and
currants; next add the raisins, almonds, candied peel, spices, and ½
gill brandy; thoroughly mix; double paper the tin, and bake in a very
slow oven.
_Brighton Biscuits._--Take 1¼ lb. good moist sugar; roll fine; mix
with 2½ lb. flour, and sift through a flour sieve; rub in 2 oz.
butter; make a hole in the middle, and strew in a few caraway seeds;
pour in ½ pint each honey-water and milk; mix into dough, but do not
work too much; roll out in thin sheets; cut into biscuits and put 2
in. apart on buttered tin; wash with milk; bake steadily.
_Buttered Biscuits._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with
1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good yeast; break smooth; prove; cut
into biscuits; bake in strong heat.
_Captain’s Biscuits._--Rub 6 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with
1 qt. water; break smooth; bake in good strong heat.
_Chelsea Buns._--Take ½ or 1 quartern light bread dough; dust the
dresser or table with flour, and roll out with a rolling-pin into
a sheet about ¼ in. thick; over the surface put 4-6 oz. butter, in
little bits, work up and roll out 2 or 3 times, the same as for
making puff paste. The last time it is rolled out, spread thinly
and evenly over the surface, either moist or powdered loaf sugar;
moisten by sprinkling with water; cut into strips, ½-¾ in. wide; roll
up so as to form a coil or roll of dough about 2 in. in diameter.
Lay these pieces (when rolled up) on a clean baking-tin, with some
butter rubbed over the surface, to prevent the buns adhering when
baked. Place rather more than ¼ in. asunder, with one of the cut
edges downward. Put in a warm place, covered with a cloth, to prove,
or rise; bake in a moderately warm oven. May be made richer by using
more butter and sugar, and seeds or spice may be added at pleasure.
When baked, some sugar may be sifted over the surface.
_Cheese Cake._--Beat 4 oz. butter with the hand in a warm pan, till
it comes to a fine cream; add 4 oz. powdered sugar; beat well;
add yolks of 2 eggs; beat again; add a little milk; beat all well
together, and mix in 4 oz. clean currants; lay puff paste in the
patty-pans; fill half full; shake a little sugar over, and bake in a
good heat.
_Cinnamon Buns._--Same as saffron, omitting the caraway seeds and
saffron, and substituting ground cinnamon.
_Cinnamon, Currant, and Caraway Cake._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb.
flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; then wet up with ½
pint each honey-water and milk. Divide the dough into 3 parts; add to
one part a little powdered cinnamon; to another a few currants; to
another a few caraway seeds. Roll in sheets to the thickness of the
currants; cut to about the size of a penny; wash with a little milk,
and bake in a steady heat.
_Colchester Bread._--(_a_) Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; cut with
a Colchester cutter to about the thickness of a penny; wash with
milk; bake quick; wash with egg and milk while hot; when cold cut
apart.
(_b_) Put ¾ lb. loaf sugar into a saucepan, with ¼ pint water over
steady fire; stir till dissolved; beat 6 eggs with a whisk in a pan;
when the sugar boils pour it gently on the eggs, beating till cold;
stir in ¾ lb. fine sifted flour; paper frames; fill ¾ full with the
batter; sift sugar over; bake in steady oven.
_Cracknel Biscuits._--Rub 6 oz. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole
put 6 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 8 eggs and ¼ pint water;
break dough smooth; make and dock like captain’s biscuits; form on
the reel; drop into a stew-pan of water boiling over the fire; when
they swim, take out with a skimmer, and put into a pailful of cold
water; let remain 2 hours before baking; drain in a cloth or sieve;
bake on clean tins in a brisk oven.
_Crumpets._--These are made of batter composed of flour, water (or
milk), and a small quantity of yeast. To 1 lb. best wheaten flour add
3 tablespoonfuls yeast. A portion of the liquid paste, not too thin
(after being suffered to rise), is poured on a heated iron plate, and
baked, like pancakes in a pan.
_Curd Cheese Cake._--Warm 1 pint new milk; stir in a little rennet;
keep warm till a nice curd appears; break and strain the whey through
a hair-sieve; put mixture prepared as for cheese-cakes, but without
any currants, into sieve with curd; rub all through together; mix in
currants; fill out, and bake in a good heat.
_Derby Cake._--Rub 1 lb. butter in 2½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb.
powdered loaf sugar; beat 2 eggs with 3 tablespoonfuls honey-water,
and milk to make up ½ pint; add ½ lb. currants; mix; bake in a steady
oven.
_Diet Bread._--Whisk the yolks of 12 and the whites of 6 eggs,
together, so as just to break them; put ¼ pint water into a saucepan
or small stew-pan, add 1 lb. loaf sugar, and put on the fire; take it
off just before it boils; put in the eggs, and whisk well till cold;
stir in lightly 1 lb. flour; put mixture into papered square tins;
sift sugar over tops; bake in cool oven till dry and firm on top.
_Drop Biscuits._--Warm the pan; put in 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar and
8 eggs; beat with a whisk till milk warm; then beat till cold; stir
in lightly 1 lb. sugar, 2 oz. fine sifted flour, ½ oz. caraway seeds;
put batter into a bladder, drop through the pipe, in quantities about
the size of a nutmeg, on wafer-paper; sift sugar over the top; bake
in quick oven.
_Drops._--Whisk ½ teacup water, 6 eggs, and 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar
together till thick; add a few caraway seeds, and 18 oz. flour; mix
lightly together; drop on wafer-paper, about the size of a small
walnut; sift sugar over, and bake in a hot oven.
_Filbert Biscuits._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; make a hole,
and put in 10 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 4 tablespoonfuls
honey-water, 1 of orange-flower water, and ¾ pint milk; break dough
smooth; mould as large as a nutmeg, and round; cut twice across the
top each way, about half through, with a sharp knife; place on tin;
bake in steady heat.
_French Rolls._--Set a sponge with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good
small-beer yeast; let sponge rise and drop; melt 1 oz. butter in 1
pint warm milk, and 1 oz. salt; wet up about 7 lb. flour; let lie ½
hour; put on warm tins; prove well; bake in quick oven.
_Ginger Cake._--Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; add as much ground
ginger as will give a pleasant taste; cut as thick as a shilling and
as large as a penny; wash with water; bake quick.
_Hot Cross Buns._--Take 1 qt. milk, 12 oz. butter, 12 oz. sugar, ½
oz. mixed spice, 2 eggs, 2 oz. German yeast, or ½ teacupful of good
thick small-beer yeast, and 4 lb. flour. If to be made with currants,
add 1 or 1½ lb. currants, clean washed, picked, and dried. Make the
milk blood-warm; if the weather is cold, rather warmer; put it into a
gallon pan, with half the sugar, 6 oz. of flour, the yeast and eggs;
mix together, cover the pan, and put in a warm place. When this has
risen with a high, frothy head, and again fallen and become nearly
flat, it is ready for the remaining portion of the ingredients to
be mixed with it; but while rising, the butter should be rubbed in
with the flour between the hands, until reduced to small crumbles.
Mix the whole together into a nice mellow dough. If the flour is not
very good and strong, about 4-6 oz. more may be required to make the
dough of the required consistence. Cover the pan; let remain in a
warm place for about ½ hour, or until the dough has risen 4 in. Make
into buns by moulding the dough up into small balls lightly under
the hands, and place on warm tins, slightly rubbed over with butter,
about 3-4 in. asunder. Half-prove, and cross; brush the tops over
with milk, and finish proving; bake in a hot oven; when done, brush
the tops over again with milk. The best method for proving is to put
the tins on shelves in a warm cupboard near the fire. Place a pan
with hot water at the bottom, but put no tin on the pan. Put a piece
of heated iron or brick into the water in the pan occasionally, to
cause a steam to ascend, which will keep the surface of the buns
moist, when they will expand or prove to their full size, otherwise
the surface will be hardened, and prevent expansion. Keep the
cupboard door close shut until ready to bake.
_Italian Bread._--Take 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar,
18 oz. flour, 12 eggs, ½ lb. citron and lemon peel. Mix as for
pound-cake. If the mixture begins to curdle, which is most likely
from the quantity of eggs, add a little of the flour. When the eggs
are all used, and it is light, stir in the remainder of the flour
lightly. Bake in long, narrow tins, either papered or buttered; first
put in a layer of the mixture, and cover with the peel cut in large
thin slices; proceed in this way until ¾ full, and bake in a moderate
oven.
_Lemon Biscuits._--Prepare dough as for filbert biscuits, but leave
out orange-flower water and use 6 drops essence of lemon; cut out,
dock with lemon docker; bake in good steady heat.
_Lemon Cheese Cake._--Prepare as for common cheese-cakes; grate rind
of fresh lemon; squeeze the juice, and mix.
_Lord Mayor’s Cake._--Whisk 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar and 8 eggs in
a warm earthen pan for 15 minutes, or until quite thick; add a few
caraway seeds and 1 lb. flour; mix lightly with a spoon, and drop on
paper, about the size of a small teacup; place on iron plates; sift
sugar or caraway seeds on top; bake in hot oven; when done, take off
the papers, and stick two together.
_Lunch or School Cake._--Mix ½ lb. moist sugar with 2 lb. flour;
in a hole in the middle put 1 tablespoonful good thick yeast (not
bitter); warm ½ pint milk rather more than blood warm, but not hot
enough to scald the yeast; mix ⅓ with the yeast and a little of the
flour; when it has risen (say ¾ hour if the yeast is good) melt ½ lb.
butter in a little more milk; add 1½ lb. currants, a little candied
peel, and grated rind of lemon, and 1 teaspoonful powdered allspice;
mix; butter hoop or tin, put in, and set in warm place to rise; bake
in warm oven. This cake should be mixed up rather softer than bread
dough.
_Macaroons._--Pound 1 lb. blanched and dried sweet almonds fine in
a mortar; pass through wire sieve; make into softish batter, with
whites of 5 or 6 eggs, and a spoonful or two of orange-flower water;
beat well; lay on oval wafer-paper; dredge tops with powdered loaf
sugar; bake in rather cool oven.
_Madeira Cake._--Whisk 4 eggs very light, and, still whisking, throw
in by slow degrees the following ingredients in the order named--6
oz. each sifted sugar and flour, 4 oz. butter, slightly dissolved
but not heated, the rind of a fresh lemon, and ⅓ teaspoonful soda
carbonate; beat well just before moulding; bake for 1 hour in
moderate oven. Each portion of butter must be beaten into the mixture
until no appearance of it remains, before the next is added.
_Muffins._--These should be baked on a hot iron plate. To 1 peck
flour add ¾ pint good small-beer yeast, 4 oz. of salt, and water (or
milk) slightly warmed, sufficient to form a dough of rather soft
consistency; when light, small portions of the dough are put into
holes, made in a layer of flour about 2 in. thick, placed on a board;
cover up with a blanket, and stand near a fire, to cause the dough
to rise to a semi-globular shape; place on heated iron plate, and
bake; when bottoms begin to acquire brownish colour, turn, and bake
opposite side.
_Naples Biscuits._--Take 6 oz. each moist and loaf sugar, ¼ pint
water; proceed as for diet cake, with 6 eggs and ¾ lb. flour; have
tins papered: fill nearly full of the batter; sugar the tops; bake in
rather slow oven. These biscuits are diet-bread batter, fancifully
dropped into tins, papered with white paper, and baked in a warm
oven, with a little sugar sifted over the top.
_Oatmeal Cakes._--These are composed of oatmeal and water; and the
difficulties lie, first, in wetting, with sufficient quickness, the
whole of the meal, without drenching any portion of it; secondly,
in properly kneading and rolling out the cakes with dexterity and
despatch; and, finally, in turning them while baking, or “firing.”
They are sometimes baked on a “girdle” or “griddle”--a flat piece of
cast iron, placed over a bright fire; sometimes on a “toaster,” which
is similar to a hanger, with a sliding back, which supports the cake
in front of the fire; and sometimes in an American oven.
The process of making is as follows:--Put 2 or 3 handfuls of meal
into a 3 pint basin; stir while pouring in boiling water; when
all is moistened, having scattered a handful of dry meal over the
paste-board, turn out the “leaven” with a spoon or your hand, dusted
with meal; take a piece, according to the size of cake required,
and knead out, using the rolling-pin if wanted thin; shape with a
knife or tin cutter 4-5 in. in diameter. As oatmeal swells and dries
very rapidly, to have cakes that will stick together, and, at the
same time, eat short or “free,” this process cannot be done too
expeditiously. Each of the three modes of baking gives a different
flavour. For toasting let the cakes be 10 or 12 in. in diameter,
nip up the edge all round, and cut them across twice, which makes
a square edge for them to stand on. In this form they are called
“farls.” For turning, use a broad, supple knife, or a piece of tin
plate. A little butter melted in the water is an improvement.
_Parkin._--(_a_) 4 lb. oatmeal, 4 lb. treacle, 1 lb. sugar, 1 lb.
butter, 2 oz. powdered ginger. Set a pan before the fire with the
treacle and butter in it. When dissolved, add the other ingredients,
and stir it as stiff as you can with a knife, but do not knead it.
Add 1 teacupful brandy (if liked), and bake it in a cool oven in
dripping pans or flat dishes about 2 in. thick. Do not turn it out
till quite cold, or it will break, but cut it across with a knife
where you would like it divided. It must be baked in a cool oven.
Some people make it in round cakes. (_b_) 1 lb. Yorkshire oatmeal,
1 lb. thick treacle (not golden syrup), ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. moist
sugar, mixed spice and ginger to taste. Rub the butter into the
meal with the sugar and spice, then add the treacle (melted, if
too thick), mix all well together, and bake in flat tins, such as
are used for Yorkshire puddings, in a slow oven, for 2 hours or
more. Parkin is not fit for eating for 2-3 days, till it has become
perfectly soft. (_c_) 7 lb. oatmeal, 1 lb. butter, 2 lb. treacle,
3 tablespoonfuls soda carbonate; to be baked in hoops the same as
teacakes. The butter to be melted and mixed with the treacle warm.
(_d_) 4 lb. oatmeal, ¾ lb. butter, ¾ lb. lard; currants, raisins
(candied lemon peel if approved), ginger, and cayenne pepper to
taste. Add sufficient treacle to make the whole into a soft paste.
Bake in a slow oven. The treacle, butter, and lard should be warmed a
little together. Butter and lard keep the cake moist longer than if
only butter were used.
_Plum Cake._--(_a_) Set a sponge with 1 lb. flour, ½ pint warm milk,
and 3 tablespoonfuls good yeast; beat up 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. powdered
sugar, 2 eggs, and 4 oz. flour as for pound cake; put in sponge, and
beat all well together; add 1 lb. currants; bake without proving in a
slow oven.
(_b_) Beat 1 lb. butter with your hand in a warm pan till it comes
to a fine cream, add 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat together to a
nice cream; have 1¼ lb. flour sifted, put in a little, and stir; add
4 eggs; beat well; add a little more flour and 4 more eggs; beat it
well again; stir in remainder of flour; for small cakes, butter the
tins; for large ones, paper; sugar over the top, and bake in moderate
heat.
(_c_) Sift 1 lb. loaf sugar; add 1 lb. fresh butter, melted a little,
and worked by hand to consistency of cream; beat together; while
doing so, add 10 eggs; beat till well incorporated; mix 4 oz. candied
orange or lemon peel, shred or cut small, a few currants and 1 lb.
flour well together; put in a hoop; sift sugar on top; bake in warm
oven.
_Porridge._--Put on the fire a pan, of the size that will hold the
quantity required, about ⅔ full of water; when the water is quick
boiling take a handful of meal, and holding the hand over the pan--of
course high enough to avoid being burned by the steam--let the meal
slide slowly through the fingers into the water, the other hand
stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, or what Scotch cooks call
the “spurtle.” Continue this till enough of meal is put into the
water, then add salt to taste, and, allow the porridge to boil for
20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally lest it stick to the pan and
scorch. Porridge is not good if boiled less than 20 minutes; but
for children, or delicate stomachs it should be boiled the full ½
hour, by which time the meal is so well swelled and softened that it
becomes a digestible and most nutritious article of food. Letting
the meal slide slowly into the water is an important element in
making good porridge. If it is thrown in too quickly, or the water
allowed to cease boiling, it forms into lumps, and is not so good. It
is not easy to give any rule as to the proportion of meal to water,
as the thickness of porridge is quite a matter of taste. Of course it
must be still thin when one stops putting in the meal, as it swells
to more than half as much again with the boiling.
_Pound Cake._--The following table gives the ingredients necessary
for rich pound-, Twelfth-, or bride-cakes of different prices:--
---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Ingredients. |10s.6d.| 12s. | 15s. | 18s. | 1l.1s.|1l.11s.| 2l.2s.
---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| | | | | | |
| lb.oz.| lb.oz.| lb.oz.| lb.oz.| lb.oz.| lb.oz.| lb.oz.
Butter | 0 11 | 0 13 | 1 1 | 1 4 | 1 6 | 2 1 | 2 12
Sugar | 0 7 | 0 8 | 0 10 | 0 12 | 1 0 | 1 6 | 1 12
Currants | 1 4 | 1 6 | 1 10 | 2 0 | 2 8 | 3 12 | 5 0
Orange, lemon, | 0 6 | 0 7 | 0 8 | 0 10 | 0 12 | 1 2 | 1 8
and citron | | | | | | |
(mixed) | | | | | | |
Almonds | 0 1½| 0 2 | 0 2 | 0 3 | 0 3 | 0 4 | 0 6
Mixed spice* | 0 0½| | 0 0¾| | 0 1 | 0 1½| 0 2
Flour | 0 11 | 0 13 | 1 1 | 1 4 | 1 6 | 2 1 | 2 12
Eggs (number) | 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 24
Brandy, or | Wine | glass | full | | ¼ pt.| | ½ pt.
brandy and | | | | | | |
wine | | | | | | |
---------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
* Nutmegs, mace, and cinnamon, of equal parts, in powder.
These proportions allow for the cake being iced. If more sugar is
preferred, it may be the same as the butter; less is used that the
cake may be light, and to allow for the sweet fruit. Double the
quantity of almonds may be used. To make: warm a smooth pan, large
enough for the mixture; put in the butter, and reduce it to a fine
cream, by working it about the pan with your hand. In summer the
pan need not be warmed; but in winter keep the mixture as warm as
possible, without oiling the butter. Add the sugar and mix it well
with the butter, until it becomes white and feels light in the hand.
Break in 2 or 3 eggs at a time, and work the mixture well before
more is added. Continue doing this until all are used and it becomes
light; then add the spirit, currants, peel, spice, and almonds, most
of the almonds being previously cut in thin slices, and the peel
into small thin strips and bits. When these are incorporated, mix in
the flour lightly; put it in a hoop with paper over the bottom and
round the sides, and place on a baking-plate. Large cakes require
3 or 4 pieces of stiff paper round the sides; and if the cake is
very large, a pipe or funnel, made either of stiff paper or tin, and
well buttered, should be put in the centre, and the mixture placed
round it; this is to allow the middle of the cake to be well baked,
otherwise the edge would be burnt 2 or 3 in. deep before it could be
properly done. Place the tin plates containing the cake on another,
the surface of which is covered 1 or 2 in. thick with sawdust or
fine ashes to protect the bottom. Bake it in an oven at a moderate
heat. The time required to bake it will depend on the state of the
oven and the size of the cake. A guinea cake in an oven of a proper
heat will take 4 to 5 hours. When the cake is cold proceed to ice it.
Wedding-cakes have generally, first, a coating on the top of almond
icing; when this is dry, the sides and top are covered with royal or
white icing. Fix on gum paste or other ornaments while it is wet; and
when dry, ornament with piping, orange-blossoms, ribbon, &c.; the
surface and sides are often covered with small knobs of white sugar
candy whilst the icing is wet. Twelfth-cakes are iced with white or
coloured icing, and decorated with gum paste, plaster ornaments,
piping-paste, rings, knots, and fancy papers, &c., and piped.
_Prussian Cake._--Rub 4 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1
qt. warm milk, 1 pint warm water, 4 yolks of eggs, and ½ pint good
thick yeast; if obliged to take more yeast, leave out some of the
water; let dough lie 10-20 minutes; mould up round, ½-¾ lb. each;
place on tins, about 2 in. from each other; put in warm place, and
prove well; bake in steady heat; melt a little butter and wash over
when done.
_Queen’s Biscuits._--Rub 1 lb. butter into 2 lb. flour; add 1 lb.
powdered sugar; make a hole and pour in ¼ pint milk, to mix it up
with; add a few caraways, if you choose; roll the paste in sheets of
the thickness of a halfpenny, cut into biscuits with a small round or
oval cutter: place on clean tins, see that they do not quite touch;
prick with a fork, and bake in a quick oven till they begin to change
colour; when cold, they will be crisp.
_Queen’s Cake._--Warm 1 lb. butter a little in an earthen pan, and
work it by hand to a smooth cream; add 1 lb. finely-powdered and
sifted loaf sugar; stir well with the butter for 5 minutes; add 8
eggs and 2 spoonfuls water gradually, continuing the beating until
the whole is well mixed: stir in lightly 20 oz. flour, and a handful
of currants; fill some small round buttered tins; dust tops with
powdered loaf sugar; bake in warm oven.
_Queen’s Drops._--Prepare as for pound cakes; add 2 oz. more flour,
1½ lb. currants; drop on whited brown paper, about the size of large
nutmegs, about 2 inches from each other; put sheets on tins; bake in
steady oven.