[I] Sponge cake may be made with rice flour.
ALMOND CAKE.--Blanch, and pound in a mortar four ounces of shelled
sweet almonds and two ounces of shelled bitter ones; adding, as you
proceed, sufficient rose-water to make them light and white. Sift half
a pound of flour, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat thirteen eggs;
and when they are as light as possible, stir into them alternately
the almonds, sugar, and flour; adding a grated nutmeg. Butter a large
square pan; put in the mixture, and bake it in a brisk oven about half
an hour, less or more, according to its thickness. When cool, ice it.
It is best when eaten fresh.
COCOA-NUT CAKE.--Cut up and wash a cocoa-nut, and grate as much of it
as will weigh a pound. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat fifteen eggs
very light; and then beat into them, gradually, the sugar. Then add by
degrees the cocoa-nut; and lastly, a handful of sifted flour. Stir the
whole very hard, and bake it either in a large tin pan, or in little
tins. The oven should be rather quick.
WASHINGTON CAKE.--Stir together a pound of butter and a pound of
sugar; and sift into another pan a pound of flour. Beat six eggs very
light, and stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately with the
flour and a pint of rich milk or cream; if the milk is sour it will be
no disadvantage. Add a glass of wine, a glass of brandy, a powdered
nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Lastly, stir in a
small tea-spoonful of soda, or sal-aratus, that has been melted in
tepid water; take care not to put in too much soda, lest it give the
cake an unpleasant taste. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a
buttered tin pan, (or into little tins,) and bake it in a brisk oven.
Wrapped in a thick cloth, this cake will keep soft for a week.
CIDER CAKE.--Pick, wash, and dry a pound of currants, and sprinkle them
well with flour; and prepare two nutmegs and a large table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon. Sift half a pound and two ounces of flour. Stir
together till very light, six ounces of fresh butter, and half a pound
of powdered white sugar; and add gradually the spice, with two wine
glasses of brandy, (or one of brandy and one of white wine.) Beat four
eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture alternately with the
flour. Add by degrees half a pint of brisk cider; and then stir in the
currants, a few at a time. Lastly, a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or
sal-aratus dissolved in a little cider. Having stirred the whole very
hard, put it in a buttered tin pan, have the oven ready, and put in the
cake immediately. Bake it in a brisk oven an hour or more, according
to its thickness. Or you may bake it as little cakes, putting it into
small tins; in which case use but half a pound of flour in mixing the
batter.
ELECTION CAKE.--Make a sponge (as it is called) in the following
manner:--Sift into a pan two pounds and a half of flour; and
into a deep plate another pound. Take a second pan, and stir two
table-spoonfuls of the best West India molasses into five jills or two
tumblers and a half of strong fresh yeast; adding a jill of water,
warm, but not hot. Then stir gradually into the yeast, &c. the pound
of flour that you have sifted separately. Cover it, and let it set by
the fire three hours to rise. While it is rising, prepare the other
ingredients, by stirring in a deep pan two pounds of fresh butter and
two pounds of powdered sugar, till they are quite light and creamy;
adding to them a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; a tea-spoonful
of powdered mace; and two powdered nutmegs. Stir in also half a pint
of rich milk. Beat fourteen eggs till very smooth and thick, and stir
them gradually into the mixture, alternately with the two pounds and a
half of flour which you sifted first. When the sponge is quite light,
mix the whole together, and bake it in buttered tin pans in a moderate
oven. It should be eaten fresh, as no sweet cake made with yeast is so
good after the first day. If it is not probable that the whole will
come into use on the day it is baked, mix but half the above quantity.
MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKE.--Cut up a quarter of a pound of butter into a
pint of rich milk, and warm it till the butter becomes soft; then stir
it about in the milk so as to mix them well. Sift three quarters of a
pound of flour (or a pint and a half) into a deep pan, and making a
hole in the middle of it, stir in a large table-spoonful of the best
brewer's yeast in which a salt-spoonful of salt has been dissolved;
and then thin it with the milk and butter. Cover it, and set it near
the fire to rise. If the yeast is sufficiently strong, it will most
probably be light in two hours. When it is quite light, mix with the
dough two beaten eggs and three quarters of a pound more of sifted
flour; adding a tea-spoonful of oil of cinnamon, and stirring it
very hard. Butter a large round baking pan, and put the mixture into
it. Set it to rise again, as before. Mix together five ounces or a
large coffee-cup of fine brown sugar; two ounces of butter; and two
table-spoonfuls of powdered cinnamon. When the dough is thoroughly
light, make deep incisions all over it, at equal distances, and fill
them with the mixture of butter, sugar and cinnamon, pressing it hard
down into the bottom of the holes, and closing the dough a little at
the top to prevent the seasoning from running out. Strew some sugar
over the top of the cake; set it immediately into the oven, and bake
it from an hour and a half to two hours, or more, in a brisk oven in
proportion to its thickness. When cool, cut it into squares This is a
very good plain cake; but do not attempt it unless you have excellent
yeast.
HUCKLEBERRY CAKE.--Spread a quart of ripe huckleberries on a large
dish, and dredge them thickly with flour. Mix together half a pint of
milk; half a pint of molasses; half a pint of powdered sugar; and half
a pound of butter. Warm them by the fire till the butter is quite soft
then stir them all together, and set them away till cold. Prepare a
large table-spoonful of powdered cloves and cinnamon mixed. Beat five
eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the other ingredients;
adding, by degrees, sufficient sifted flour to make a thick batter.
Then stir in a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or dissolved sal-aratus.
Lastly, add by degrees the huckleberries. Put the mixture into a
buttered pan, or into little tins, and bake it in a moderate oven. It
is best the second day.
BREAD CAKE.--When you are making wheat bread, and the dough is quite
light and ready to bake, take out as much of it as would make a twelve
cent loaf, and mix with it a tea-cup full of powdered sugar, and a
tea-cup full of butter that has been softened and stirred about in a
tea-cup of warm milk. Add also a beaten egg. Knead it very well, put it
into a square pan, dredged with flour, cover it, and set it near the
fire for half an hour. Then bake it in a moderate oven, and wrap it in
a thick cloth as soon as it is done. It is best when fresh.