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 a large table-spoonful
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.