Prepare two pounds of currants by picking them clean, washing and
draining them through a cullender, and then spreading them out on a
large dish to dry before the fire or in the sun, placing the dish in
a slanting position. Pick and stone two pounds of the best raisins,
and cut them in half. Dredge the currants (when they are dry) and the
raisins thickly with flour to prevent them from sinking in the cake.
Grind or powder as much cinnamon as will make a large gravy-spoonful
when done; also a table-spoonful of mace and four nutmegs; sift these
spices, and mix them all together in a cup. Mix together two large
glasses of white wine, one of brandy and one of rose water, and cut a
pound of citron into large slips. Sift a pound of flour into one pan,
and a pound of powdered loaf-sugar into another. Cut up among the sugar
a pound of the best fresh butter, and stir them to a cream. Beat twelve
eggs till perfectly thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the
butter and sugar, alternately with the flour. Then add by degrees, the
fruit, spice and liquor, and stir the whole very hard at the last.
Then put the mixture into a well-buttered tin pan with straight or
perpendicular sides. Put it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake
it at least six hours. When done, take it out and set it on an inverted
sieve to cool gradually. Ice it next morning; first dredging the
outside all over with flour, and then wiping it with a towel. This will
make the icing stick.
ICING.--A quarter of a pound of finely-powdered loaf-sugar, of the
whitest and best quality, is the usual allowance to one white of egg.
For the cake in the preceding receipt, three quarters of a pound of
sugar and the whites of three eggs will be about the proper quantity.
Beat the white of egg by itself till it stands alone. Have ready the
powdered sugar, and then beat it hard into the white of egg, till it
becomes thick and smooth; flavouring it as you proceed with the juice
of a lemon, or a little extract of roses. Spread it evenly over the
cake with a broad knife or a feather; if you find it too thin, beat
in a little more powdered sugar. Cover with it thickly the top and
sides of the cake, taking care not to have it rough and streaky. When
dry, put on a second coat; and when that is nearly dry, lay on the
ornaments. You may flower it with coloured sugar-sand or nonparels;
but a newer and more elegant mode is to decorate it with devices and
borders in white sugar. These are put on with a syringe, moving it
skilfully, so as to form the pattern. A little gum tragacanth should be
mixed with this icing.
You may colour icing of a pale or deep yellow, by rubbing the lumps of
loaf-sugar (before they are powdered) upon the outside of a large lemon
or orange. This will also flavour it finely.
Almond icing, for a very fine cake, is made by mixing gradually with
the white of egg and sugar, some almonds, half bitter and half sweet,
that have been pounded in a mortar with rose water to a smooth paste.
The whole must be well incorporated, and spread over the cake near half
an inch thick. It must be set in a cool oven to dry, and then taken out
and covered with a smooth plain icing of sugar and white of egg.
Whatever icing is left, may be used to make maccaroons or kisses.
POUND CAKE.--Prepare a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a
tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and two nutmegs grated or powdered. Mix
together in a tumbler, a glass of white wine, a glass of brandy, and
a glass of rose water. Sift a pound of the finest flour into a broad
pan, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar into a deep pan,
and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Warm them by the fire till
soft; and then stir them to a cream. When they are perfectly light,
add gradually the spice and liquor, a little at a time. Beat ten
eggs as light as possible, and stir them by degrees into the mixture
alternately with the flour. Then add the juice of two lemons or three
large oranges. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a deep tin pan
with straight or upright sides, and bake it in a moderate oven from two
to three hours. If baked in a Dutch oven, take off the lid when you
have ascertained that the cake is quite done, and let it remain in the
oven to cool gradually. If any part is burnt, scrape it off as soon as
cold.
It may be iced either warm or cool; first dredging the cake with flour
and then wiping it off. It will be best to put on two coats of icing;
the second coat not till the first is entirely dry. Flavour the icing
with essence of lemon, or with extract of roses.
This cake will be very delicate if made with a pound of rice flour
instead of wheat.
INDIAN POUND CAKE.--Sift a pint of fine yellow Indian meal, and half
a pint of wheat flour, and mix them well together. Prepare a nutmeg
beaten, and mixed with a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir
together till very light, half a pound of powdered white sugar; and
half a pound of fresh butter; adding the spice, with a glass of white
wine, and a glass of brandy. Having beaten eight eggs as light as
possible, stir them into the butter and sugar, a little at a time, in
turn with the meal. Give the whole a hard stirring at the last; put it
into a well-buttered tin pan, and bake it about two hours.
This cake (like every thing else in which Indian meal is an ingredient)
should be eaten quite fresh; it is then very nice. When stale, (even a
day old,) it becomes dry and rough as if made with saw-dust.
QUEEN CAKE.--Sift fourteen ounces of the finest flour, being two ounces
less than a pound. Cakes baked in little tins, should have a smaller
proportion of flour than those that are done in large loaves. Prepare
a table-spoonful of beaten cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of mace, and two
beaten nutmegs; and mix them all together when powdered. Mix in a
tumbler, half a glass of white wine, half a glass of brandy, and half a
glass of rose water. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar, and sift it into a
deep pan; cut up in it a pound of fresh butter; warm them by the fire,
and stir them to a cream. Add gradually the spice and the liquor. Beat
ten eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture in turn with the
flour. Stir in the juice of two lemons, and beat the whole very hard.
Butter some little tins; half fill them with the mixture; set them into
a brisk oven, and bake them about a quarter of an hour. When done,
they will shrink from the sides of the tins. After you turn them out,
spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. If you have occasion to fill
your tins a second time, scrape and wipe them well before they are used
again.
Make an icing, flavoured with lemon juice or with extract of roses; and
spread two coats of it on the queen cakes. Set them to dry in a warm
place, but not near enough the fire to discolour the icing and cause it
to crack.
Queen cakes are best the day they are baked.
FRUIT QUEEN CAKES.--Make them in the above manner, with the addition
of a pound of currants, (picked, washed, dried, and floured,) and the
juice and grated peel of two large lemons, stirred in gradually at the
last. Instead of currants, you may put in sultana or seedless raisins,
cut in half and floured. You may substitute oranges for lemons.
You may make a fruit pound cake in this manner.
LADY CAKE.--Take a quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds, or
peach-kernels. Put them into a bowl of boiling water, (renewing the
water as it cools,) and let them lie in it till the skin peels off
easily; then throw them, as they are blanched, into a bowl of cold
water, which will much improve their whiteness. Pound them, one at a
time, in a mortar; pouring in frequently a few drops of rose water to
prevent them from oiling and being heavy. Cut up three quarters of a
pound of fresh butter into a whole pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Having
warmed it, stir it to a light cream, and then add very gradually the
pounded almonds, beating them in very hard. Sift into a separate pan
half a pound and two ounces of flour, and beat in another pan to a
stiff froth, the whites only of seventeen eggs. Stir the flour and the
white of egg alternately into the pan of butter, sugar and almonds,
a very little at a time of each. Having beaten the whole as hard as
possible, put it into a buttered tin pan, (a square one is best,) and
set it immediately into a moderate oven. Bake it about an hour, more
or less, according to its thickness. When cool, ice it, flavouring the
icing with lemon juice. It is best the day it is baked, and should be
eaten fresh. When you put it away wrap it in a thick cloth.
If you bake it in little tins, use two ounces less of flour.
SPANISH BUNS.--Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter into a jill
and a half or three wine glasses of rich unskimmed milk, (cream will be
still better,) and set the pan on a stove or near the fire, till the
butter becomes soft enough to stir all through the milk with a knife;
but do not let it get so hot as to oil of itself. Then set it away in
a cold place. Sift into separate pans, a half pound and a quarter of
a pound of the finest flour; and having beaten four eggs as light as
possible, mix them with the milk and butter, and then pour the whole
into the pan that contains the half pound of flour. Having previously
prepared two grated nutmegs, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon
and mace, stir them into the mixture; adding six drops of extract of
roses, or a large table-spoonful of rose water. Add a wine glass and
a half of the best fresh yeast from a brewery. If you cannot procure
yeast of the very best quality, an attempt to make these buns will most
probably prove a failure, as the variety of other ingredients will
prevent them from rising unless the yeast is as strong as possible.
Before you put it in, skim off the thin liquid or beer from the top,
and then stir up the bottom. After you have put in the yeast, add the
sugar; stirring it well in, a very little at a time. If too much sugar
is put in at once, the buns will be heavy. Lastly, sprinkle in the
quarter of a pound of flour that was sifted separately; and stir the
whole very hard. Put the mixture into a square pan well buttered, and
(having covered it with a cloth) place it in a corner of the hearth to
rise, which will require, perhaps, about five hours; therefore these
buns should always be made early in the day. Do not bake it till the
batter has risen to twice its original quantity, and is covered on the
top with bubbles; then set the pan into a moderate oven, and bake it
half an hour. Let it get cool in the pan; then cut it into squares,
and either ice them, (flavouring the icing with essence of lemon or
extract of roses,) or sift grated loaf-sugar thickly over them. These
buns (like all other cakes made with yeast) should be eaten the day
they are baked: as when stale, they fall and become hard.
In mixing them, you may stir in at the last half a pound of raisins,
stoned, chopped and floured; or half a pound of currants. If you use
fruit, put in half a wine glass more of the yeast.
BATH BUNS.--Boil a little saffron in sufficient water to cover it, till
the liquid is of a bright yellow; then strain it, and set it to cool.
Rub half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of sifted flour, and
make it into a paste with four eggs that have been well beaten, and a
large wine glass of the best and strongest yeast; adding the infusion
of saffron to colour it yellow. Put the dough into a pan, cover it with
a cloth, and set it before the fire to rise. When it is quite light,
mix into it a quarter of a pound of powdered and sifted loaf-sugar; a
grated nutmeg; and, if you choose, two or three spoonfuls of carraway
seeds. Roll out the dough into a thick sheet, and divide it into round
cakes with a cutter. Strew the top of each bun with carraway comfits,
and bake them on flat tins buttered well. They should be eaten the day
they are baked, as they are not good unless quite fresh.
JELLY CAKE.--Sift three quarters of a pound of flour. Stir to a cream
a pound of butter and a pound of powdered white sugar, and mix in half
a tea-cup of rose water, and a grated nutmeg, with a tea-spoonful of
powdered cinnamon. Beat ten eggs very light, and add them gradually
to the mixture, alternately with the flour; stirring the whole very
hard. Put your griddle into the oven of a stove; and when it is quite
hot, grease it with fresh butter tied in a clean rag, and set on it a
tin cake-ring, (about the size of a large dinner plate,) greased also.
Dip out two large table-spoonfuls and a half of the cake batter; put
it within the tin ring, and bake it about five minutes (or a little
longer) without turning it. When it is done, take it carefully off;
place it on a large dish to cool; wipe the griddle, grease it afresh,
and put on another cake. Proceed thus till all the batter is baked.
When the cakes are cool, spread every one thickly over with grape
jelly, peach marmalade, or any other sweetmeat that is smooth and
thick; currant jelly will be found too thin, and is liable to run off.
Lay the cakes smoothly one on another, (each having a layer of jelly
or marmalade between,) and either grate loaf-sugar over the top one,
or ice it smoothly; marking the icing with cross lines of coloured
sugar-sand, all the lines meeting at the centre so as to divide the
cake, when cut, into triangular or wedge-shaped slices. If you ice it,
add the juice of a lemon to the icing.
Jelly cake should be eaten fresh. It is best the day it is baked.
You may bake small jelly cakes in muffin rings.
SPONGE CAKE.--Sift half a pound of flour,[I] and powder a pound of the
best loaf-sugar. Grate the yellow rind and squeeze into a saucer the
juice of three lemons. Beat twelve eggs; and when they are as light as
possible, beat into them gradually and very hard the sugar, adding the
lemon, and beating the whole for a long time. Then by degrees, stir
in the flour slowly and lightly; for if the flour is stirred hard and
fast into sponge cake, it will make it porous and tough. Have ready
buttered, a sufficient number of little square tins, (the thinner they
are the better,) half fill them with the mixture; grate loaf-sugar over
the top of each; put them immediately into a quick oven, and bake them
about ten minutes; taking out one to try when you think they are done.
Spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. When baked in small square
cakes, they are generally called Naples biscuits.
If you are willing to take the trouble, they will bake much nicer in
little square paper cases, which you must make of thick letter paper,
turning up the sides all round, and pasting together or sewing up the
corners.
If you bake the mixture in one large cake, (which is not advisable
unless you have had much practice in baking,) put it into a buttered
tin pan or mould, and set it directly into a hot Dutch oven, as it will
fall and become heavy if allowed to stand. Keep plenty of live coals on
the top, and under the bottom till the cake has risen very high, and
is of a fine colour; then diminish the fire, and keep it moderate till
the cake is done. It will take about an hour. When cool, ice it; adding
a little lemon juice or extract of roses to the icing. Sponge cake is
best the day it is baked.
Diet Bread is a foolish name for Sponge Cake.