This is the most perfect of sponge-cakes, when properly made.
Ingredients: Ten eggs, one pound of _pulverized_ sugar, half a pound of
flour, juice of half a large lemon, with the rind grated.
After all the ingredients are quite ready--_i. e._, the flour and sugar
sifted, the lemon-peel grated, the half lemon squeezed, and the tins
buttered--the success of this cake is in the beating of the eggs. Two
persons should beat them at least half an hour, one beating the whites,
and the other the yolks and half of the sugar together. Next cut the
yolks into the whites, then stir in lightly the remainder of the sugar,
then the flour and lemon by degrees.[J]
The oven heat should be rather _moderate_ at first. Much of the success
depends upon this, as the batter should be evenly heated throughout
before it begins to rise. When baked, spread over the cakes a wafer
thickness of icing (see page 304) slightly flavored with vanilla.
WHITE CAKE (_Miss Eliza Brown_).
I venture to say there is not to be found a better receipt for white
cake than the following. The cake is mixed contrary to the usual rules
for making cake, but it is the best mode for making it fine-grained and
delicate.
Ingredients: Whites of six eggs, scant three-quarters of a cupful of
butter, one and one-quarter cupfuls of pulverized sugar, two cupfuls of
flour, juice of half a lemon, one-quarter of a tea-spoonful of soda.
If soda is used, mix it well with the flour, and pass it through the
sieve several times to distribute it equally. Beat the butter to a light
cream, and add the flour to it, stirring it in gradually with the ends
of the fingers until it is a smooth paste. Beat the whites of the six
eggs to a stiff froth, and mix in them the pulverized sugar; now stir
the egg and sugar gradually into the flour and butter, adding also the
lemon-juice, and mix it smoothly together with the egg-whisk. As soon as
it is perfectly smooth, put it into the oven, the heat of which should
be rather moderate at first. When done and still hot, spread over it a
frosting made with the white of one egg, pulverized sugar (see page
304), and a flavoring of lemon. The frosting is a decided improvement,
and, according to the receipt, only requires a few minutes to prepare.
This cake may be made with one tea-spoonful of baking-powder, or with
prepared flour, or with the one-quarter tea-spoonful of soda and
one-half tea-spoonful of cream of tartar, when the essence of lemon
should be used instead of the lemon-juice.
JUMBLES (_Mrs. Wadsworth_).
Ingredients: Two cupfuls of sugar, three eggs (beaten separately); one
cupful of butter, just enough flour to roll it out.
Mix quickly, and roll it thin. Cut out the cakes with a round
cake-cutter, cutting them out again in the centre with the top of the
pepper-glass of the caster. When they are in the pans, wet the tops,
using a paste-brush or feather, with the white of an egg slightly
beaten. Then sprinkle over very coarse-pounded lump-sugar; the sugar, in
fact, in little lumps.