136.--Directions for mixing Cakes made with Butter.
Take your butter and work it on a marble slab, then cream it in a warm
earthenware pan, and be particularly careful not to let the butter
oil; add the sugar and work it well with your hand, mixing in one or
two eggs at a time, and so on progressing until all the eggs are used.
Beat it well up, and as soon as you perceive the mixing rise in the pan
put in the flour and beat it well. Then add the spices, currants, and
whatever else is required for the mixing. You may then put it up into
the tins you intend for it. It will be necessary during the time of
creaming it to warm it two or three times, particularly in cold weather.
137. _Another Way._--Proceed with the butter and sugar as before. Have
ready separated the whites from the yolks of the eggs; mix in the yolks
two or three at a time; let another person whisk up the whites stiff.
Then put them to the other mixture and proceed as before directed.
138.--London Way of mixing Cakes.
Weigh down the flour and sugar on a clean smooth table, make a hole in
it, and bank it well up; in this hole put your eggs; cream the butter
in an earthenware pan; then add to the flour and sugar the eggs and
butter; mix all together and beat up well with both hands. You may work
it up this way as light as a feather; then add the currants, spices,
&c.
139. _Another Way._--Take six pieces of cane about 18 inches long,
tie them fast together at one end, but in order to make them open put
in the middle, where you tie them, one or two pieces half the length.
This is called a mixing-rod. Provide a tall pot, as upright as can be
procured, which make hot; work your butter on a marble slab, then put
it in the pan and work it well round with the rod until it is nicely
creamed; put in the sugar and incorporate both together; add one or two
eggs at a time, and so on progressively until they are all used up;
work away with the rod with all speed, and as soon as it is properly
light (which you may know by its rising in the pan) take it out and mix
in the flour, spices, currants, &c., with a spatter. This is esteemed
the very best way of mixing cakes.
140.--Citron Cake.
1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. 2 ozs. of sugar, 6 eggs, and 4 yolks; 1 lb. 4
ozs. of flour. Cut 4 ozs. of green citron in long thin pieces and place
them in two or three layers as you put the cake up. It must be baked in
a deep tin or rim papered with fine paper. Neatly buttered and baked in
a slow oven.
141.--Common Fruit Cake.
3 lbs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 24 eggs, 5¼ lbs. of flour, 4½ lbs.
of currants, 1 lb. 8 ozs. of lemon and orange peel, a little mace, a
pint of warm milk, ¼ oz. of soda, about ½ oz. cream of tartar. Proceed
as directed.
142.--Pound Cakes.
1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 8 eggs, 1 lb. 2 ozs. of flour, 1 lb. 8
ozs. of currants, 8 ozs. of orange and lemon peel. Proceed as directed.
143.--Seed Cakes.
1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of sugar, 8 eggs, 1 lb. of flour, caraway
seeds. Some put 1 tablespoonful of brandy and 2 ozs. of cut almonds.
144.--Two and Three Pound Cakes.
2 lbs. 4 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 2 lbs. 6 ozs. of
flour, 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of currants, 1 lb. 8 ozs. of orange, lemon, and
citron; almonds and brandy if required; ¾ oz. of cream of tartar and
carbonate of soda. Proceed as directed.
145.--Another Seed Cake.
2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 2 lbs. 4 ozs. of
flour, 4 ozs. of cut almonds, caraway seeds, and a glass of brandy; ¾
oz. of cream of tartar and carbonate of soda. Proceed as directed.
146.--Four and Six Pound Cakes.
2 lbs. 8 ozs. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 16 eggs, 3 lbs. 8 ozs. of
flour, 6 lbs. of currants, 2 lbs. of orange and lemon, citron and
almonds. Proceed as directed.
147.--Bride Cakes.
The following mixtures are made in a few first-class shops, and the
recipes for the same are not generally known. The prices quoted allow
for almond-icing as well.
---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
Ingredients. |10s. 6d.| 12s. | 15s. | 18s. | £1 1s.|£1 11s.| £2 2s.
---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
| lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.|lb. oz.
Butter | 0 11 | 0 13 | 1 1 | 1 4 | 1 6 |2 1 | 2 12
Sugar | 0 7 | 0 8 | 0 10 | 0 12 | 1 0 |1 6 | 1 12
Currants | 1 4 | 1 6 | 1 10 | 2 0 | 2 8 |3 12 | 5 0
Orange and | | | | | | |
citron, mixed| 0 6 | 0 7 | 0 8 | 0 10 | 0 12 |1 2 | 1 8
Almonds | 0 1½| 0 2 | 0 2 | 0 3 | 0 3 |0 4 | 0 6
Mixed spice[B] | 0 0½| -- | 0 0¾| -- | 0 1 |0 1½| 0 2
Flour | 0 11 | 0 13 | 1 1 | 1 4 | 1 6 |2 1 | 2 12
Eggs, number of| 6 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 24
Brandy or {| Wine- | Wine- | Wine- | Wine- |¼-pint.|¼-pint.|½-pint.
brandy and {| glass- | glass-| glass-| glass-| | |
wine {| ful. | ful. | ful. | ful. | | |
---------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------
148.--Icing Sugar for Bride Cakes, &c.
To make this take 2 lbs. of finely powdered icing sugar (first having
an earthenware pan made warm), put in six fresh whites of eggs, and
immediately whisk them, and as quickly as possible, until quite stiff;
then add the sugar by degrees, whisking all the time. As soon as it
appears light cease whisking, and beat it well with the spatter until
you have put in all the sugar. A little tartaric acid or lemon-juice
may be added towards the end of the mixing. To know when it is
sufficiently beaten, take up a little on the spatter and let it drop
into the basin again. If it keeps its shape it is ready; if it runs it
is either beaten too little or requires more sugar.
A good substitute for eggs is French glue. Take a quarter of an ounce
of it and fully one imperial pint of boiling water. Pour the water
on the glue, and stir in with a spoon until all is dissolved. If
convenient, make it two days before using. The glue is used similar to
eggs. Add to it a small pinch of tartaric acid. This glue is mostly
used for wholesale or cheap purposes.
149.--Almond Icing for Bride Cakes.
1 lb. Valencia almonds, 2 lbs. of icing sugar, and about 3 whites of
eggs and 2 yolks. Blanch and beat the almonds. Fine with whites of
eggs, then add the sugar and whites and yolks, beat them well together
and make them into a stiffish paste. As soon as the cake is baked, take
it out and take off the hoop and the paper carefully from the sides,
then put the almond icing carefully on the top of the cake, and make it
as smooth as you can. Put into the oven, and let it remain until the
almond icing is firm enough and of the colour of a macaroon; let it
stand two or three hours, then ice it with sugar icing.
150.--Wedding Cake.
1¼ lb. of flour, 1 lb. 2 oz. of butter, 1 lb. of moist sugar, 4 lbs.
of currants, 1½ lb. of mixed peel, 2 nutmegs grated, ½ oz. ground
cinnamon, 10 eggs, ½ lb. blanched sweet almonds cut in halves, and a
wineglassful of brandy. Mix as before directed.
151.--Rich Twelfth Cake.
Same as wedding cake. In olden times a bean and a pea were introduced
into the cake to determine who should be king and queen of the evening
festivities.
152.--Madeira Cakes.
1¾ lb. of butter, 2 lbs. of sugar, 2 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of patent
flour, 24 eggs. Proceed as before directed. This mixing makes eight
cakes, selling at a shilling each. Put two thin slices of citron on
each. Bake in a cool oven. Note.--Patent flour is made with 8 lbs. of
flour, 4 ozs. cream of tartar, 2 ozs. carbonate of soda, and sifted
three times.