[Illustration: POUND CAKE.]
_Ingredients._—1 lb. of butter, 1¼ lb. of flour, 1 lb. of pounded
loaf sugar, 1 lb. of currants, 9 eggs, 2 oz. of candied peel, ½ oz.
of citron, ½ oz. of sweet almonds; when liked, a little pounded mace.
_Mode._—Work the butter to a cream; dredge in the flour; add the sugar,
currants, candied peel, which should be cut into neat slices, and the
almonds, which should be blanched and chopped, and mix all these well
together; whisk the eggs, and let them be thoroughly blended with the
dry ingredients. Beat the cake well for 20 minutes, and put it into a
round tin, lined at the bottom and sides with a strip of white buttered
paper. Bake it from 1½ to 2 hours, and let the oven be well heated when
the cake is first put in, as, if this is not the case, the currants
will all sink to the bottom of it. To make this preparation light, the
yolks and whites of the eggs should be beaten separately, and added
separately to the other ingredients. A glass of wine is sometimes added
to the mixture; but this is scarcely necessary, as the cake will be
found quite rich enough without it. _Time._—1½ to 2 hours. _Ave-_*
_rage cost_, 3_s._ 6_d._ _Sufficient._—The above quantity divided in
two will make two nice-sized cakes. _Seasonable_ at any time.