TO BEAT EGGS.--In making cakes it is of the utmost importance that the
eggs should be properly and sufficiently beaten; otherwise the cakes
will most certainly be deficient in the peculiar lightness
characterizing those that are made by good confectioners. Home-made
cakes, if good in other respects, are too frequently (even when not
absolutely heavy or streaked) hard, solid and tough. This often proceeds
from too large a portion of flour, and too small an allowance of butter
and eggs. The richest cake that can be made (provided it is light and
well baked) is less unwholesome than what are called plain cakes, if
they are solid or leathery. Cakes cannot be crisp and light without a
due proportion of the articles that are to make them so; and even then,
the ingredients must be thoroughly stirred or beaten; and of course
thoroughly baked afterwards.
Persons who do not know the right way, complain much of the fatigue of
beating eggs, and therefore leave off too soon. There will be no
fatigue, if they are beaten with the proper stroke, and with _wooden_
rods, and in a shallow, flat-bottomed _earthen_ pan. The coldness of a
tin pan retards the lightness of the eggs. For the same reason do not
use a metal egg-beater. In beating them do not move your elbow, but keep
it close to your side. Move only your hand at the wrist, and let the
stroke be quick, short, and horizontal; putting the egg-beater always
down to the bottom of the pan, which should therefore be shallow. Do not
leave off as soon as you have got the eggs into a foam; they are then
only _beginning_ to be light. But persist till after the foaming has
ceased, and the bubbles have all disappeared. Continue till the surface
is smooth as a mirror, and the beaten egg as thick as a rich boiled
custard; for till then it will not be really light. It is seldom
necessary to beat the whites and yolks separately, if they are
afterwards to be put together. The article will be quite as light, when
cooked, if the whites and yolks are beaten together, and there will then
be no danger of their going in streaks when baked. The justly-celebrated
Mrs. Goodfellow, of Philadelphia, always taught her pupils to beat the
whites and yolks together, even for sponge-cake; and lighter than hers
no sponge-cake could possibly be.
When white of egg is to be used without any yolk, (as for lady-cake,
maccaroons, meringues, icing, &c.,) it should be beaten till it stands
alone on the rods; not falling when held up.
Hickory rods for egg-beating are to be had at the wooden-ware shops, or
at the turner’s. For stirring butter and sugar together, nothing is
equal to a wooden spaddle. It should be about a foot long, and flattened
at the end like that of a mush-stick, only broader. Spoons are very
tedious and inconvenient either for beating eggs or stirring butter and
sugar, and do not produce the proper lightness.
BOSTON CAKE.--Put a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep pan, and
cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Stir the butter and sugar together
till perfectly light. Then add a powdered nutmeg, a table-spoonful of
powdered mace and cinnamon mixed together, and a large wine-glass of
excellent brandy. If the brandy is of bad quality it will give the cake
a disagreeable taste. If very good, it will highly improve the flavour,
and also add to the lightness of the cake. Sift into a pan a pound of
flour. In another pan beat six eggs till very thick and smooth. Stir
them gradually into the butter and sugar, alternately with the flour,
and a pint of rich milk or cream, a little of each at a time. Have ready
a level tea-spoonful (not heaped) of pearlash, or sal-eratus, (or a full
tea-spoonful of bi-carbonate of soda,) dissolved in as much warm water
as will cover it. Add this at the last, and then give the whole a very
hard stirring. Butter a large square pan. Put in the mixture. Set it
immediately into the oven, and bake it thoroughly. It requires very long
baking. A thick square Boston cake will scarcely be done in less than
three hours. At the end of the first hour, increase the heat of the
oven, and also at the second. When cool, sift powdered sugar over it,
and cut it into squares.
If properly made, and well-baked, (following exactly the above
directions,) this cake will be found excellent, and will seem fresh
longer than any other; the milk keeping it soft.
Milk turned sour is very good for Boston cake; as by stirring the
dissolved pearlash or soda into the milk, the acidity will be entirely
removed, and the alkali rendered more effective in increasing the
lightness of the cake. Still great care will be necessary in baking it.
The best confectioners make this cake every day without any failure.
ALBANY CAKE.--Sift three pounds of flour into a pan. Stir together a
pound of fresh butter, and a pound of brown sugar. Mix together a pint
of West India molasses, and half a pint of rich milk. Have ready a pound
and a half of raisins, seeded, cut in two, and well dredged with flour
to prevent their sinking. Beat five eggs very light, and mix them
gradually with the milk and molasses, adding a glass of brandy, and a
table-spoonful of cinnamon powdered. Add the mixture gradually to the
beaten butter and sugar, alternately with the flour, a little at a time
of each. Next stir in a small teacup-full of strong fresh yeast. Then
sprinkle in the raisins. Lastly, stir in a very small tea-spoonful of
bi-carbonate of soda, or a still smaller portion of sal-eratus,
dissolved in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Stir the whole
mixture long and hard. Cover it, and set it in a warm place to rise.
When quite light, butter a deep tin pan, put in the mixture, and bake it
in a loaf. It will require very long and steady baking.
Like all others that have yeast in them, this cake is best when fresh.
AUSTRIAN CAKE.--Take a thick straight-sided pound cake about the
circumference of a large dinner-plate, and cut it horizontally into
slices, the whole breadth of the cake, and rather more than half an inch
thick. Spread each slice, thickly and smoothly, with marmalade of peach,
raspberry, strawberry, or orange. The marmalade may be all the same, or
of a different sort on each slice. Lay the slices, nicely, and evenly,
one upon another, taking care that none of the marmalade oozes down from
between the edges. Then make a thick icing of white of egg and powdered
loaf-sugar, and flavour it with rose or orange-flower water. Heap a
large portion of it on the centre of the cake, and with a broad knife
(dipped frequently in cold water) spread it smoothly all over the top
and sides. Then set it away to harden. You may ornament it by putting
icing into a small syringe and pressing it out into the form of a
centre-piece and border of flowers. To do this requires practice, taste,
and ingenuity.
When the cake is to be eaten, cut it down into triangular pieces; each
including a portion of the different layers of marmalade.
Instead of marmalade you may use for this cake, fresh strawberries,
mashed smoothly and sweetened with white sugar.
MADISON CAKE.--Pick clean two pounds of sultana raisins, (those that
have no seeds,) and cut them in half. If you cannot procure the sultana,
use the bloom or muscatel raisins, removing all the seeds. When the
raisins are cut in two, dredge them _thickly_ on all sides with flour,
to prevent their sinking or clodding in the cake while baking. Sift into
a pan a pound and three quarters (_not more_) of flour. Cut up a pound
of fresh butter into a deep pan. Mix with it a pound of white lump-sugar
finely powdered; and stir them together till they become a thick, white,
cream. Have ready a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg, and a
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and mix these spices, gradually,
with the butter and sugar. Beat fourteen eggs (_not fewer_) till very
light and thick. Then stir them, gradually, into the beaten butter and
sugar, alternately with the flour and a pint of rich milk, (sour milk
will be best.) Add at the last a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash, or
of bi-carbonate of soda, dissolved in a large wine-glass of brandy. Give
the whole a hard stirring, and then put it immediately into a deep
circular tin pan, the sides and bottom of which have been first well
greased with fresh butter. Set it directly into a well-heated oven, and
let it bake from five to six hours, according to its size. It requires
long and steady baking. When cool, cover it (top and sides) with a thick
icing, made in the usual way of beaten white of egg and sugar, and
flavoured with rose-water or lemon.
If the above directions are closely followed this will be found a very
fine cake, and it will keep soft and fresh a week if the air is
carefully excluded from it.
It will be still better, if in addition to the two pounds of raisins,
you mix in two pounds of Zante currants, picked, washed, dried before
the fire, and then well floured. Half a pound of citron cut into slips
and floured, may also be added.
STRAWBERRY CAKES.--Sift a small quart of flour into a pan, and cut up
among it half a pound of the best fresh butter; or mix in a pint of
butter if it is soft enough to measure in that manner. Rub with your
hands the butter into the flour, till the whole is crumbled fine. Beat
three eggs very light; and then mix with them three table-spoonfuls of
powdered loaf-sugar. Wet the flour and butter with the beaten egg and
sugar, so as to form a dough. If you find it too stiff, add a very
little cold water. Knead the dough till it quits your hands, and leaves
them clean. Spread some flour on your paste-board, and roll out the
dough into a rather thick sheet. Cut it into round cakes with the edge
of a tumbler, or something similar; dipping the cutter frequently into
flour to prevent its sticking. Butter some large square iron pans or
baking sheets. Lay the cakes in, not too close to each other. Set them
in a brisk oven, and bake them light brown. Have ready a sufficient
quantity of ripe strawberries, mashed and made very sweet with powdered
white sugar. Reserve some of your finest strawberries whole. When the
cakes are cool, split them, place them on flat dishes, and cover the
bottom piece of each with mashed strawberry, put on _thickly_. Then lay
on the top pieces, pressing them down. Have ready some icing, and spread
it thickly over the top and down the sides of each cake, so as to
enclose both the upper and lower pieces. Before the icing has quite
dried, ornament the top of every cake with the whole strawberries, a
large one in the centre, and the smaller ones placed round in a close
circle.
These are delicious and beautiful cakes if properly made. The
strawberries, not being cooked, will retain all their natural flavour.
Instead of strawberries you may use raspberries. The large white or
buff-coloured raspberry is the finest, if to be eaten uncooked.
PEACH CAKES.--Pick clean and wash a quart of dried peaches, and let them
stew all night in as much clear water as will cover them. In the
morning, drain off most of the water, leaving only as much of it about
the peaches as will suffice to prevent them from burning after they are
set over the fire. It will be best to have them soaked in the vessel in
which you intend to stew them. Keep them covered while stewing, except
when you take off the lid to stir them up from the bottom. When they are
all quite soft, and can be mashed into a smooth jam or marmalade, mix in
half a pound of brown sugar, and set the peaches to cool. In the mean
time, soften a quarter of a pound of the best fresh butter in half a
pint of warm milk, heated on the stove, but not allowed to come to a
simmer. Sift a pound of flour into a pan; pour in the warm milk and
butter (first stirring them well together) and a wine-glass of strong,
fresh yeast. Mix the whole into a dough. Cover it, and set it in a warm
place to rise. When quite light and cracked all over the surface, flour
your paste-board, put the dough upon it; mix in a small tea-spoonful of
sub-carbonate of soda, and knead it well; set it again in a warm place
for half an hour. Then divide the dough into equal portions, and make it
up into round cakes about the size in circumference of the top of a
tumbler. Knead each cake. Then roll them out into a thin sheet. Have
ready the peach jam, mashed very smooth, and with a portion of it cover
thickly the half of each cake. Fold over the other half, so as to
enclose the peach jam in the form of a half-moon. Bring the two edges
closely together and crimp them neatly. Lay the cakes in buttered square
pans, and bake them brown. When done grate sugar over the top. These
cakes are nice for children, being very light, if properly made and
baked. They are by no means rich, and are good substitutes for tarts.
Similar cakes may be made with stewed apple, flavoured with lemon and
sweetened. Or with raspberries, or any other convenient fruit stewed to
a jam.
SMALL LEMON CAKES.--Break up a pound of fine loaf-sugar, and on some of
the lumps rub off all the yellow rind of four lemons. Then powder all
the sugar. Beat to a stiff froth the whites of three eggs. Mix the
sugar, gradually (a tea-spoonful at a time) with the beaten white of
egg, so as to make a paste, stirring it very hard. Spread some white
paper (cut exactly to fit) on the bottom of a square shallow baking-pan.
Place equal portions of the paste at regular distances on this paper,
making them into round heaps, and smoothing their surfaces with the back
of a spoon or a broad-bladed knife, dipped frequently in cold water. Put
the cakes into a moderate oven and bake them a light brown. When cool
take them off the paper.
You may make orange cakes in this manner.
Strawberry cakes may be made as above, mixing the juice of ripe
strawberries with the sugar. Raspberry cakes also.
FINE HONEY CAKE.--Mix a quart of strained honey with half a pound of
powdered white sugar, and half a pound of fresh butter, and the juice of
two oranges or lemons. Warm these ingredients slightly, just enough to
soften the butter. Then stir the mixture very hard, adding a grated
nutmeg. Mix in, gradually, two pounds (or less) of sifted flour. Make it
into a dough, just stiff enough to roll out easily. Beat it well all
over with a rolling-pin. Then roll it out into a large sheet, half an
inch thick; cut it into round cakes with the top of a tumbler, (dipped
frequently in flour,) lay them in shallow tin pans, (slightly buttered,)
and bake them well.
CHOCOLATE CAKE.--Scrape down three ounces of the best and purest
chocolate, or prepared cocoa. Cut up, into a deep pan, three-quarters of
a pound of fresh butter; add to it a pound of powdered loaf-sugar; and
stir the butter and sugar together till very light and white. Have ready
fourteen ounces (two ounces _less_ than a pound) of sifted flour; a
powdered nutmeg; and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon--mixed
together. Beat the whites of ten eggs till they stand alone; then the
yolks till they are very thick and smooth. Then mix the yolks and whites
gradually together, beating very hard when they are all mixed. Add the
eggs, by degrees, to the beaten butter and sugar, in turn with the flour
and the scraped chocolate,--a little at a time of each; also the spice.
Stir the whole very hard. Put the mixture into a buttered tin pan with
straight sides, and bake it at least four hours. If nothing is to be
baked afterwards, let it remain in till the oven becomes cool. When
cold, ice it.
LEMON PUFFS.--Take a pound of the best loaf-sugar, and powder it. Grate
upon lumps of the same sugar the yellow rind of four large ripe lemons;
having first rolled each lemon under your hand, upon a table, to
increase the juice. Then powder these pieces of sugar also, and add them
to the rest. Strain the juice of the lemons over the sugar, mixing it
well in. Have ready in a saucer some extra powdered sugar. Beat to a
stiff froth the whites of four eggs, and then gradually and thoroughly
beat into it the lemon and sugar, till the mixture is very thick and
smooth. If too thin, add more sugar; if too thick, more beaten white of
egg. Take a sheet of nice white paper, and lay it smoothly in a square
tin pan; having first cut it to fit exactly. Put on it, at equal
distances, a round spot of thinly-spread powdered loaf-sugar, about the
size of a half-dollar or a little larger. Upon each spot place with a
spoon a pile of the mixture; smoothing it with a knife dipped in water,
and making the surface even. Sift over each a little powdered sugar. Set
the pan in a quick oven, and bake the puffs of a light brown. A few
minutes’ baking will suffice. They should rise very high. When cool,
loosen them carefully from the paper by inserting a broad knife beneath.
Then spread them out on a large flat dish, and keep them in a dry, cool
place till wanted.
ORANGE PUFFS may be made in the same manner, omitting the rind, and
using the juice only of _five_ oranges; unless they are all of a very
large size, and then four may suffice. Very nice puffs can be made with
the juice of strawberries, raspberries, currants, or cherries; mixed, as
above, with beaten white of egg and sugar.
ROSE MERINGUES.--Beat to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs, and then
beat in by degrees, a spoonful at a time, a pound or more of
finely-powdered loaf-sugar, till it is of the consistence of very thick
icing or meringue. Have ready a sufficient quantity of freshly-gathered
rosebuds, about half grown. Having removed the stalks and green leaves,
take as many of the buds as will weigh three ounces. With a pair of
sharp scissors clip or mince them as small as possible into the pan of
meringue; stirring them in with a spoon. Then stir the whole very hard.
Have ready some sheets of white paper, laid on baking tins. Drop the
meringues on it, in heaps all of the same size, and not too close
together. Smooth them with the back of a spoon or broad knife, dipped in
cold water. Set them in a moderate cool oven, and bake them about twenty
minutes. Take out one and try it, and if not thoroughly done, continue
them longer in the oven.
To heighten the red colour, add to the white of egg, before you beat it,
a very little water, in which has been steeped a thin muslin bag of
alkanet-root; or you may colour it with a little cochineal powder.
Orange-blossom meringues may be made as above.
WHIPPED CREAM MERINGUES.--Take the whites of eight eggs, and beat them
to a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Then beat into them, gradually,
a tea-spoonful at a time, two pounds or more of finely-powdered
loaf-sugar; continuing to add sugar till the mixture is very thick, and
finishing with a little lemon-juice or extract of rose. Have ready some
sheets of white paper, laid on a baking-board, and with a spoon drop the
mixture on it in long oval heaps, about four inches in length. Smooth
and shape them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped occasionally in cold
water. The baking-board used for this purpose should be an inch thick,
and must have a slip of iron beneath each end to elevate it from the
floor of the oven, so that it may not scorch, nor the bottoms of the
meringues be baked too hard. This baking-board must not be of pine wood,
as a pine board will communicate a disagreeable taste of turpentine. The
oven must be moderate. Bake the meringues of a light brown. When done,
take them off the paper by slipping a knife nicely beneath the bottom
of each. Then push back or scoop out carefully a portion of the inside
of each meringue, taking care not to break them. Have ready some nice
whipped cream, made in the following proportion:--Take a quarter of a
pound of broken-up loaf-sugar, and on some of the lumps rub off the
yellow rind of two large lemons. Powder the sugar, and then mix with it
the juice of the lemons, and grate in some nutmeg. Mix the sugar with a
half-pint of sweet white wine. Put into a pan a pint of rich cream, and
whip it with rods or a wooden whisk, or mill it with a chocolate mill,
till it is a stiff froth. Then mix in, gradually, the other ingredients;
continuing to whip it hard a while after they are all in. As you
proceed, lay the froth on an inverted sieve, with a dish underneath to
catch the droppings; which droppings must afterwards be whipped, and
added to the rest. Fill the inside of each meringue with a portion of
the whipped cream. Then put two together, so as to form one long oval
cake, joining them nicely, so as to unite the flat parts that were next
the paper, leaving the inside filled with the whipped cream. Set them
again in the oven for a few minutes. They must be done with great care
and nicety, so as not to break. Each meringue should be about the usual
length of a middle finger. In dropping them on the paper, take care to
shape the oval ends handsomely and smoothly. They should look like very
long kisses.
CREAM TARTS.--Put into a tea-cup a large table-spoonful of arrow-root
flour. Pour on it a very little cold milk, and mix it very smooth with a
spoon; seeing that it is entirely free from lumps. Boil, in a sauce-pan,
a quart of cream or rich unskimmed milk, with the yellow rind of a large
lemon or orange, pared thin, or cut into slips; or use for flavouring a
handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken up; or,
what is still better, a vanilla bean. The milk must boil slowly
(keeping it closely covered) till it is highly flavoured. Then strain
out the lemon-peel or other flavouring, and set away the milk to cool.
Beat the yolks of eight eggs till very thick and smooth, and stir them
gradually into the milk, alternately with four heaped table-spoonfuls of
powdered loaf-sugar. Add some grated nutmeg. Put the whole into a
sauce-pan, and place it on hot coals or on the stove, and continue to
stir it till it begins to boil. Then remove it immediately, lest it
should curdle, and keep stirring it till it begins to cool. Afterwards
set it in a cold place.
Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour; mix in a quarter of a pound
of white sugar; cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter, and rub it
well into the flour and sugar. Beat two eggs very light, and with them
wet the flour, &c., to a dough, adding a very small level tea-spoonful
of soda, dissolved in a very little cold water. Mix the paste well till
it becomes a lump of dough. Then beat it on all sides with the
rolling-pin. Transfer it to the paste-board, and roll it out thin.
Divide it equally into _square_ pieces. Put thickly on each piece a
portion of the cream or custard mixture, and fold over it the four
corners of the paste, so that they approach each other in the centre.
Dredge each tart with powdered loaf-sugar. Set them into the oven, and
let them bake of a light brown. They are best when fresh, but not warm;
and will be found delicious.
The custard may be coloured green by boiling pistachio nuts in the milk,
with the flavouring.
ICE-CREAM CAKES.--Stir together, till very light, a quarter of a pound
of powdered sugar and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Beat six
eggs very light, and stir into them half a pint of rich milk. Add,
gradually, the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, alternately with
a half pound of sifted flour. Add a glass of sweet wine, and some grated
nutmeg. When all the ingredients are mixed, stir the batter very hard.
Then put it into small, deep pans, or cups, that have been
well-buttered, filling them about two-thirds with the batter. Set them,
immediately, into a brisk oven, and bake them brown. When done, remove
them from the cups, and place them, to cool, on an inverted sieve. When
quite cold, make a slit or incision in the side of each cake. If very
light, and properly baked, they will be hollow in the middle. Fill up
this cavity with ice-cream, carefully put in with a spoon, and then
close the slit, with your fingers, to prevent the cream running out.
Spread them on a large dish. Either send them to table immediately,
before the ice-cream melts, or keep them on ice till wanted.
LEMON OR ORANGE KISSES.--Take three large, ripe lemons, or oranges, and
rub off the yellow rind, upon some pieces belonging to a pound of fine
loaf-sugar. Then powder all the pound of sugar, and squeeze among the
sugar (through a strainer) the juice of the lemons or oranges; mixing it
well in. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth, that will stand
alone. Then beat in, very hard, the sugar, &c., a tea-spoonful at a
time. Lay a sheet of white paper on a board. Drop the mixture on it, in
oval piles, smoothing them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped frequently
in cold water. Set them in a moderate oven, and when they are coloured a
light brown, take them out, slip a knife carefully under each, to remove
them from the papers, and place two bottoms together, so as to give them
the form of an egg. If you use oranges, scoop out a small hollow in the
bottom of each half-kiss, as soon as they are baked, and fill the
cavity with orange-pulp, sweetened. Then join the two halves together.
Instead of lemon or orange, they may be finely flavoured, by mixing with
the powdered sugar a sufficient quantity of extract of vanilla.
CHOCOLATE MACCAROONS.--Blanch half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, by
scalding them with boiling water, till the skin peels off easily. Then
throw them into a bowl of cold water, and let them stand awhile. Take
them out and wipe them, separately. Afterwards set them in a warm place,
to dry thoroughly. Put them, one at a time, into a marble mortar, and
pound them to a smooth paste; moistening them, as you proceed, with a
few drops of rose-water, to prevent their oiling. When you have pounded
one or two, take them out of the mortar, with a tea-spoon, and put them
into a deep plate, beside you, and continue removing the almonds to the
plate, till they are all done. Scrape down, as fine as possible, half a
pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker’s prepared cocoa, and mix it,
thoroughly, with the pounded almonds. Then set the plate in a cool
place. Put the whites of eight eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them to
a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Have ready a pound and a half of
finely-powdered loaf-sugar. Stir it, hard, into the beaten white-of-egg,
a spoonful at a time. Then stir in, gradually, the mixture of almond and
chocolate; and beat the whole very hard. Drop the mixture, in equal
portions, upon thin white paper, laid on square tin pans, smoothing
them, with a spoon, into round cakes, about the size of a half-dollar.
Dredge the top of each, lightly, with powdered sugar. Set them into a
quick oven, and bake them a light brown. When done, take them off the
paper.
For the first experiment, in making these maccaroons, it may be well to
try a smaller quantity. For instance, a quarter of a pound of shelled
almonds; a quarter of a pound of chocolate; four eggs; and
three-quarters of a pound of sugar.
LEMON MACCAROONS.--Take four large ripe lemons, and rub off the yellow
surface of the rind, upon a lump of sugar. Then powder that sugar, and
add to it not quite a pound of loaf-sugar, already powdered. Break four
eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them till very thick and light. Then
add the juice of the lemons, squeezed through a strainer, and a
tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and cinnamon, and stir in the sugar, a
little at a time, alternately with three large heaped-up table-spoonfuls
of sifted flour. A little more flour may, probably, be found necessary.
Mix the whole, thoroughly, so as to form a soft paste. Have ready some
shallow, square baking-pans, or sheets of iron, the bottoms covered with
white paper, laid smoothly in. Moisten your hands with water, and then
take up portions of the mixture, and roll them into balls, about the
size of a large plum, laying them, as you proceed, upon the paper, but
rather more than an inch apart. Lastly, with the blade of a knife,
dipped in water, smooth the surface of each. Set them into a moderate
oven, and bake them brown. Try one, when you think they are done. If not
sufficiently baked, let them remain longer in the oven. As soon as they
are cold, loosen them from the paper, by slipping under them a
broad-bladed knife. Orange maccaroons may be made in this manner, using
the grated rind of two oranges only, but the juice of four. To make
vanilla maccaroons, boil, in a covered vessel, a vanilla bean, with as
much milk as will barely cover it. When the milk is strongly flavoured
with the vanilla, strain it, and, when cold, add it to the beaten egg.
Then stir in, gradually, the sugar, spice, and flour, and proceed as
above.
GROUND-NUT MACCAROONS.--Take a sufficiency of ground-nuts, that have
been roasted in an iron pot, over the fire; remove the shells; and weigh
a pound of the nuts. Put them into a pan of cold water, and wash off the
skins. Have ready some beaten white of egg. Pound the ground-nuts, (two
or three at a time,) in a marble mortar, adding, frequently, a little
cold water, to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded to a smooth,
light paste; and, as you proceed, remove the paste to a saucer or a
plate. Beat, to a stiff froth, the whites of four eggs, and then beat
into it, gradually, a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and a large
tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed. Then stir in, by
degrees, the pounded ground-nuts, till the mixture becomes very thick.
Flour your hands, and roll, between them, portions of the mixture,
forming each portion into a little ball. Lay sheets of white paper on
flat baking-tins, and place on them the maccaroons, at equal distances,
flattening them all a little, so as to press down the balls into cakes.
Then sift powdered sugar over each. Place them in a brisk oven, with
more heat at the top than in the bottom. Bake them about ten minutes.
Almond maccaroons may be made as above, mixing one-quarter of a pound of
shelled bitter almonds with three-quarters of shelled sweet almonds. For
almond maccaroons, instead of flouring your hands, you may dip them in
cold water; and when the maccaroons are formed on the papers, go
slightly over every one, with your fingers wet with cold water.
Maccaroons may be made, also, of grated cocoa-nut, mixed with beaten
white of egg and powdered sugar.
WEST INDIA COCOA-NUT CAKE.--Cut up and peel some pieces of a very ripe
cocoa-nut. Lay the pieces for awhile in cold water. Then take them out;
wipe them very dry; and grate, very finely, as much as, when grated,
will weigh half a pound. Powder half a pound of the best loaf-sugar.
Beat eight eggs, till very light, thick, and smooth. Then stir the
grated cocoa-nut and the powdered sugar, alternately, into the pan of
beaten egg, a little at a time of each; adding a handful of sifted
flour, a powdered nutmeg, and a glass of sweet wine. Stir the whole very
hard. Butter a square tin pan. Put in the mixture, set it immediately
into a quick oven, and bake it well; seeing that the heat is well kept
up all the time. When cool, cut it into squares. Have ready a thick
icing, made of powdered sugar and white of egg, flavoured with
rose-water, or extract of roses. Ice each square of the cake, all over
the top and sides.
You may bake it in a loaf, in a deep, circular pan. Ice the whole
surface, and ornament it.
For a large cake, baked in a loaf, allow a pound of grated cocoa-nut; a
pound of sugar; sixteen eggs; two handfuls of flour; two nutmegs, and
two glasses of wine. It will require very long baking.
RICE-FLOUR POUND-CAKE.--Weigh a pound of broken up loaf-sugar of the
best quality. Upon some of the largest lumps rub off the yellow rind of
three large ripe lemons that have been previously rolled under your
hand, on a table, to increase the juice. Then powder finely all the
pound of sugar. Cut up into a deep pan a pound of the best fresh butter;
mix with it the powdered sugar, and stir them together, with a wooden
spaddle, till perfectly light. Squeeze the juice of the lemons through a
strainer into a bowl, mix with it half a grated nutmeg, and add it to
the butter and sugar. Sift a pound (or a quart) of rice-flour into a
pan, and in another shallow pan beat twelve eggs till they are smooth
and thick. Then stir the beaten egg and the rice-flour, alternately,
into the butter and sugar, a little at a time of each. Having stirred
the whole long and hard, put the mixture into a buttered tin pan that
has straight or upright sides; set it immediately into a well-heated
oven, and bake it thoroughly. It will require four or five hours, in
proportion to its thickness. When done, it will shrink a little from the
sides of the pan; and a twig from a corn-broom, or a wooden skewer
plunged down to the bottom of the cake, will come out dry and clean.
When cool, ice it; adding a little rose-water or lemon-juice to the
icing. Heap the icing first on the centre of the top, and then with a
broad-bladed knife, (dipped occasionally into a bowl of cold water,)
spread it evenly all over the surface of the cake.
Instead of lemons, you may use for flavouring this cake, the yellow rind
of _two_ oranges grated on the sugar, and the juice of _three_ mixed
with the spice. Orange-rind being stronger and more powerful in taste
than that of lemon, a smaller quantity of it will suffice.
You may bake the above mixture in little tins, like queen-cakes; taking
care to grease them with _fresh_ butter.
This mixture will make a nice pudding; using only _half_ a pound of
rice-flour, but the above quantities of all the other ingredients. Bake
it in china or handsome white-ware, as it must go to table in the dish
it is baked in.
RICE SPONGE-CAKE.--Put twelve eggs into a scale, and balance them in the
other scale with their weight in broken loaf-sugar. Take out four of the
eggs, remove the sugar, and balance the remaining eight eggs with an
equal quantity of rice-flour. Rub off on some lumps of the sugar, the
yellow rind of three fine large ripe lemons. Then powder all the sugar.
Break the eggs, one at a time, into a saucer, and put all the whites
into a pitcher, and all the yolks into a broad shallow earthen pan.
Having poured the whites of egg from the pitcher through a strainer into
a rather shallow pan, beat them till so stiff that they stand alone.
Then add the powdered sugar, gradually, to the white of egg, and beat it
in well. In the other pan, beat the yolks till very smooth and thick.
Then mix them, gradually, a little at a time, with the white of egg and
sugar. Lastly, stir in, by degrees, the rice-flour, adding it lightly,
and stirring it slowly and gently round till the surface is covered with
bubbles. Transfer it directly to a butter tin pan; set it _immediately_
into a brisk oven; and bake it an hour and a half or more, according to
its thickness. Ice it when cool; flavouring the icing-with lemon or
rose. This cake will be best the day it is baked.
In every sort of sponge-cake, Naples-biscuit, lady-fingers, and in all
cakes made without butter, it is important to know that though the egg
and sugar is to be beaten very hard, the flour, which must _always_ go
in at the last, must be stirred in very slowly and lightly, holding the
whisk or stirring-rods perpendicularly or upright in your hand; and
moving it gently round and round on the surface of the batter without
allowing it to go down deeply. If the flour is stirred in _hard and
fast_, the cake will certainly be tough, leathery, and unwholesome.
Sponge-cake when cut should look coarse-grained and rough.
SWEET POTATOE CAKE.--Half-boil some fine sweet potatoes; peel them; and
when cold, grate as much as will weigh half a pound. If boiled long
enough to become soft, they will render the cake heavy. Stir together
in a deep pan, half a pound of fresh butter, and half a pound of
powdered loaf-sugar, till quite light and creamy. Then add a
tea-spoonful of powdered mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon, all mixed together;
and the juice and grated rind of two large lemons or oranges. Beat in a
shallow pan six eggs till very smooth and thick; and stir them into the
pan of butter and sugar in turn with the grated sweet-potatoe, a little
of each at a time. Then stir the whole very hard. Butter a deep tin pan
with straight sides. Put in the mixture, and bake it well. If you want
more cake than the above quantity, double the proportions of _each_
ingredient; but bake the mixture in two pans, rather than in one. Ice it
when cold, adding a little lemon or orange-juice to the icing. In
spreading the icing, begin by heaping it on the centre of the cake, and
then gradually bringing it all over the top and sides, dipping the
knife, frequently, into a bowl of cold water.
CHOCOLATE PUFFS.--Beat very stiff the whites of two eggs, and then beat
in, gradually, half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Scrape down very
fine, an ounce and a half of the best chocolate, (prepared cocoa is
better still,) and dredge it with flour to prevent its oiling; mixing
the flour well among it. Then add it, gradually, to the mixture of white
of egg and sugar, and stir the whole very hard. Cover the bottom of a
square tin pan with a sheet of fine white paper, cut to fit exactly.
Place upon it thin spots of powdered loaf-sugar about the size of a
half-dollar. Pile a portion of the mixture on each spot, smoothing it
with the back of a spoon or a broad knife, dipped in cold water. Sift
white sugar over the top of each. Set the pan into a brisk oven, and
bake them a few minutes. When cold, loosen them from the paper with a
broad knife.
COCOA-NUT PUFFS.--Break up a large ripe cocoa-nut. Pare the pieces, and
lay them awhile in cold water. Then wipe them dry, and grate them as
finely as possible. Lay the grated cocoa-nut in well-formed heaps on a
large handsome dish. It will require no cooking. The heaps should be
about the circumference of a dollar, and must not touch each other.
Flatten them down in the middle, so as to make a hollow in the centre of
each heap; and upon this pile some very nice sweetmeat. Make an
excellent whipped cream, well sweetened and flavoured with lemon and
wine, and beat it to a stiff froth. Pile some of this cream high upon
each cake over the sweetmeats. If on a supper-table you may arrange them
in circles round a glass stand.
PALMER CAKES.--Sift a pound of flour into a pan, and rub into it half a
pound of butter, and a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Add a
tea-spoonful of mixed spice, powdered cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. Wet
the mixture with two well-beaten eggs; the juice of a large lemon or
orange; and sufficient rose-water to make it into a dough just stiff
enough to roll out easily. Sprinkle a little flour on the paste-board;
lay the lump of dough upon it, roll it out rather thin, and cut it into
round cakes with the edge of a tumbler dipped every time in flour to
prevent stickiness. Lay the cakes in buttered square pans. Set them in a
rather brisk oven, and bake them brown.
LIGHT SEED CAKE.--Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour; cut up in
it a pound of fresh butter, and rub it well into the flour with your
hands. Mix in six table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast; add gradually
as much warm milk as will make it a soft dough, and knead it well. Cover
it with a double cloth and set it in a warm place to rise. When quite
light, and cracked all over the surface, mix in, alternately, a quarter
of a pound of powdered white sugar, and a quarter of a pound of carraway
seeds, a little of each at a time. Knead the dough well a second time,
adding a small tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in a very little warm
water. Cover it and set it to rise again. It will probably require now
but half an hour. Transfer it to a circular tin pan, slightly buttered,
and bake it in a loaf. It is best when eaten fresh, but not warm. It may
be baked in a square pan, and cut into square pieces when cool.
CARRAWAY CAKE.--Sift half a pound of rice flour into a dish. In a deep
pan cut up half a pound of fresh butter, and mix with it half a pound of
powdered loaf-sugar. Having warmed them slightly, stir together the
butter and sugar till very light and creamy. Break five eggs, and beat
them in a shallow pan till thick and smooth. Then stir them, gradually,
into the pan of beaten sugar and butter, alternately with the flour; a
little of each at a time. Add, by degrees, a tea-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon and nutmeg mixed; a wine-glass of rose water or of rose-brandy,
and half an ounce or more of carraway seeds thrown in a few at a time,
stirring hard all the while. Butter a square iron pan; put in the
mixture; set it in a rather brisk oven, and bake it well. When done,
sift powdered sugar over it; and when cool, cut it into long squares.
WONDERS.--Cut up half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of sifted
flour, and rub them well together with your hands. Mix in three-quarters
of a pound of white sugar, and a large tea-spoonful of cinnamon. Add a
glass of good white wine, and a glass of rose-water. Beat six eggs very
light, and mix them gradually with the above ingredients, so as to form
a dough. If you find the dough too soft, add by degrees a little more
flour. Roll out the dough into a thick sheet, and cut it into long slips
with a jagging-iron. Then form each strip into the figure 8. Have ready
over the fire a pot of boiling lard. Throw the cakes into it, a few at a
time, and let them cook till they are well browned all over. Then take
them out, with a perforated skimmer, draining back into the pot the lard
that is about them. As you take them out lay them on a flat dish, the
bottom of which is strewed with powdered sugar. They will keep a week,
but like most other cakes are best the day they are baked.
SOFT CRULLERS.--Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, and powder half
a pound of loaf-sugar. Heat a pint of water in a round-bottomed
sauce-pan, and when quite warm, mix the flour with it gradually. Set
half a pound of fresh butter over the fire in a small vessel; and when
it begins to melt, stir it gradually into the flour and water. Then add
by degrees the powdered sugar, and half a grated nutmeg. Take the
sauce-pan off the fire, and beat the contents, with a wooden spaddle or
spatula, till they are thoroughly mixed. Then beat six eggs very light,
and stir them gradually into the mixture. Beat the whole very hard, till
it becomes a thick batter. Flour a paste-board very well, and lay out
the batter upon it in rings, (the best way is to pass it through a screw
funnel.) Have ready, on the fire, a pot of boiling lard of the very best
quality. Put in the crullers, removing them from the board by carefully
taking them up, one at a time, on a broad-bladed knife. Boil but a few
at a time. They must be of a fine brown. Lift them out on a perforated
skimmer, draining the lard from them back into the pot. Lay them on a
large dish, and sift powdered white sugar over them.
Soft crullers cannot be made in warm weather.
NOTIONS.--Put into a sauce-pan a pint of milk, and two table-spoonfuls
of fresh butter. Set it over the fire, and when the butter begins to
melt, stir it well through the milk. As soon as it comes to a boil,
begin to stir in a pint of sifted flour, a little at a time; making the
mixture very smooth, and pressing out all the lumps. Let it continue to
boil five minutes after the flour is all in. Then pour it into a deep
pan, and set it to cool. In another pan beat six eggs very light. When
it is nearly cool, stir the beaten egg into the mixture, a little at a
time; stirring the whole very hard, till it is as light as possible.
Have ready, over the fire, a pot with a pound or more of fresh lard
melting in it. When the lard comes to a boil, take up portions of the
batter in a large spoon, or a small ladle, and drop them into the
boiling lard, so as to form separate balls. When they are well browned,
take them out with a perforated skimmer, draining the lard from them
back into the pot. Lay them on a flat dish, and when all are done, sift
over them a mixture of powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon or nutmeg.
They should be eaten quite fresh.
CROSS-BUNS.--Pick clean a pound and a half of Zante currants; wash,
drain, and dry them; spreading them on a large flat dish, placed in a
slanting position near the fire or in the sun. When they are perfectly
dry, dredge them thickly with flour to prevent their sinking or clodding
in the cakes. Sift into a deep pan two pounds of fine flour, and mix
thoroughly with it a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, (or of mixed
nutmeg and cinnamon,) and half a pound of powdered white sugar. Cut up
half a pound of the best fresh butter in half a pint of rich milk. Warm
it till the butter is quite soft, but not till it melts. While warm,
stir into the milk and butter two wine-glasses (or a jill) of strong
fresh yeast. Make a hole in the centre of the pan of flour; pour in the
mixed liquid; then, with a spoon or a broad knife, mix the flour
gradually in; beginning round the edge of the hole. Proceed thus till
you have the entire mass of ingredients thoroughly incorporated;
stirring it hard as you go on. Cover the pan with a clean flannel or a
thick towel, and set it in a warm place near the fire to rise. When it
has risen well, and the surface of the dough is cracked all over, mix in
a small tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved; flour your paste-board; divide
the dough into equal portions, and mixing in the currants, knead it into
round cakes about the size of a small saucer. Place them on a large flat
dish, cover them, and set them again in a warm place for about half an
hour. Then butter some square tin or iron baking-pans; transfer the buns
to them; and brush each bun lightly over with a glazing of beaten white
of eggs, sweetened with a little sugar. Then, with the back of a knife,
mark each bun with a cross, deeply indented in the dough, and extending
entirely from one edge to another. Let the oven be quite ready; set in
it the buns; and bake them of a deep brown colour. In England, and in
other parts of Europe, it is customary to have hot cross-buns at
breakfast on the morning of Good Friday. They are very good cakes at any
time; but are best when fresh.
TO ICE A LARGE CAKE.--It requires practice to ice cakes smoothly. It is
a good rule to allow a _large_ quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar
to the white of every egg. The whites of four eggs and a pound of sugar
will ice a large cake. Having strained the white of egg into a broad,
shallow pan, beat it to a stiff froth with hickory rods or a large
silver fork. It must be beaten till it stands alone. Have ready the
powdered sugar in a bowl beside you; add it, gradually, to the beaten
white of egg, a tea-spoonful at a time, and beat it very hard. Perhaps
some additional sugar may be required to make the icing sufficiently
thick. Flavour it by beating in at the last a few drops of oil of lemon,
or a spoonful of fresh lemon or orange-juice, or a few drops of extract
of vanilla, or extract of roses. Lemon-juice will make it more adhesive,
so that it will stick on better. Turn bottom-upwards the empty pan in
which the cake was baked, and place this pan on a large flat dish, or an
old server. Dredge the cake all over with flour, to take off the
greasiness of the outside, which greasiness may otherwise prevent the
icing from sticking well. Then wipe off the flour with a clean towel.
Take up the icing with a spoon, and begin by heaping a large quantity of
it on the middle of the top of the cake. Then, with a broad-bladed
knife, spread it down evenly and smoothly, till the top and sides are
all covered with it of an equal thickness. Have beside you a bowl of
cold water, into which dip the knife-blade, occasionally, as you go on
spreading and smoothing the icing. Put it into a warm place to harden.
When nearly dry, have ready sufficient icing to ornament or flower the
cake. This must be done by means of a small syringe. By working and
moving this syringe skilfully, the icing will fall from it so as to form
borders, beadings, wreaths, and centre-pieces, according to your taste.
If you cannot procure a syringe, a substitute may be formed by rolling
or folding a piece of thick, smooth writing paper into a conical or
sugar-loaf form. At the large end of this cone leave paper enough to
turn down all round, so as to prevent the side opening, and the icing
escaping. The pointed end must be neatly cut off with scissors, leaving
a small round hole, through which the icing is to be pressed out when
ornamenting the cake. The hole must be cut perfectly even; otherwise the
icing will come out crooked and unmanageable. These paper cones, in
skilful hands, may succeed tolerably; but they must be continually
renewed, and are far less convenient than a syringe, which can be bought
at a small cost, and is always ready for use. Where much icing is to be
done, it is well to have a set of syringes with the points of different
patterns.
To decorate cakes with ornamental icing, requires practice, skill, and
taste. A person that has a good knowledge of drawing can generally do it
very handsomely.
To colour it of a beautiful pink, tie up a little alkanet in a thin
muslin bag, and let it infuse in the icing after it is made, squeezing
the bag occasionally. When sufficiently coloured, take out the bag, and
give the icing a hard stirring or beating before you put it on. Cover
the cake all over with the pink icing, and then have ready some white
icing for the border and other ornaments,--to be put on with the
syringe.
Icing may be made stiffer and more adhesive by mixing with it,
gradually, a small portion of dissolved gum tragacanth. This solution is
prepared by melting gum tragacanth in _boiling_ water, (if wanted for
immediate use,) having first picked the gum quite clean. The proportion
is half an ounce of the gum to half a pint of water. It is slow in
dissolving. To keep it from spoiling, add to the gum (before the water)
a few drops of strong oil of lemon, or oil of cinnamon.
FRENCH ICING FOR CAKES.--Dissolve some fine white gum arabic (finely
powdered) in rose-water. The proportion should be, as much of the
gum-arabic powder as will lie on a ten-cent piece to a tea-spoonful of
rose-water. Beat some white of egg to a stiff froth that will stand
alone. Stir in, gradually, sufficient double-refined powdered loaf-sugar
to make it very thick, (a good proportion is four ounces of sugar to
the white of one egg,) add to this quantity a tea-spoonful of the
rose-water with the gum arabic dissolved in it, and beat the whole very
hard. Instead of rose-water you may dissolve the gum in fresh
lemon-juice. Previous to icing the cake, dredge it with flour, and in a
few minutes wipe it off with a clean towel. This, by removing the
greasiness of the outside, will make the icing stick on the better. Heap
the icing first on the middle of the top of the cake; then with a
broad-bladed knife spread it evenly all over the surface. Dip the knife
frequently in a bowl of cold water as you proceed, and smooth the icing
well. If not thick enough, wait till it dries, and then add a second
coat.
ALMOND ICING.--Take half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and three
ounces of shelled bitter almonds. Put them, a few at a time, into a
large bowl, and pour on boiling water to loosen the skins. As you peel
them, throw the almonds into a bowl of cold water. When they are all
blanched, pound them one at a time in a marble mortar, adding frequently
a few drops of rose-water to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded
to a smooth paste without the smallest particles of lumps. As you pound
the almonds, remove this paste with a tea-spoon to a deep plate. Beat
the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth. Then, gradually beat in a
pound of the best double-refined sugar. Lastly, add, by degrees, the
almond paste, a little at a time, and beat the whole very hard. If too
thick, thin it with lemon-juice.
APPLE CAKE.--Make a nice light paste with the proportion of three
quarters of a pound of fresh butter to a pound and a quarter of sifted
flour. Roll it out into a large round sheet. Have ready a sufficiency of
fine juicy apples, pared, cored, and sliced thin; mixed with one or two
sliced quinces; and half a pound, or more, of the best raisins, seeded
and cut in half. Make the mixture very sweet with brown sugar; and add
some grated nutmeg; and a wine-glass, or more, of rose-water; or else
the juice and grated yellow rind of one or two lemons. Mix all
thoroughly, and put it on the sheet of paste; which must then be closed
over the heap of mixture so as to form a very large dumpling. Put it
into a small dutch-oven, and set it over hot coals, having previously
heated the oven-lid by standing it upright before the fire. Then lay on
the lid, with hot coals spread over it. Have ready a sufficient quantity
of butter, brown sugar, and powdered cinnamon, stirred together till
very light. Spread a portion of it on the bottom of the oven. While the
cake is baking, remove the oven-lid frequently, and baste the cake with
this mixture, which will form a sort of thick brown crust, covering it
all over. It should bake from two to three hours; or longer if it is
large. When thoroughly done, turn it out on a dish. It should be eaten
fresh, the day it is baked; either warm or cold.
This is a German cake, and will be found very good.
CINNAMON CAKES.--Make a paste as above, and roll it out thin into a
square sheet. Have ready a mixture of brown sugar; fresh butter; and a
large portion of ground cinnamon; all stirred together till very light.
Spread this mixture thickly over the sheet of paste; then roll it up, as
you would a rolled up marmalade pudding. After it is rolled up, cut it
down into pieces or cakes of equal size, and press them rather flat.
Have ready over the fire a skillet or frying-pan with plenty of fresh
butter boiling hard. Put in some of the cakes and fry them brown. As
fast as they are done, take them out on a perforated skimmer; drain off
the butter, and lay them on a hot dish. Then put in more cakes, till all
are fried. They should be eaten warm, first sifting powdered white
sugar over them.
These cakes, also, are German. They may be conveniently prepared when
you are making pies, as the same paste will do for both.
GINGER POUND CAKE.--Cut up in a pan three quarters of a pound of butter;
mix with it a pint of West India molasses, and a tea-cup of brown sugar.
If in winter, set it over the fire till the butter has become soft
enough to mix easily with the molasses and sugar. Then take it off, and
stir them well together. Sift into a pan a pound of flour. In another
pan, beat five eggs very light. Add gradually the beaten eggs and the
flour, to the mixture of butter, sugar, and molasses, with two large
table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon. Then stir in a glass of brandy, and lastly a small
tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or sub-carbonate of soda melted in a very
little milk. Stir the whole very hard. Transfer the mixture to a
buttered tin-pan, and bake it in a moderate oven from two to three
hours, in proportion to its thickness.
This cake will be much improved by the addition of a pound of sultana or
seedless raisins, well dredged with flour to prevent their sinking, and
stirred in, gradually, at the last.
You may add also the yellow rind of a lemon or orange grated fine.
FLEMINGTON GINGERBREAD.--Stir together till quite light, a quarter of a
pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Then mix
in half a pint of West India molasses. Sift rather less than a pint and
a half of flour. Beat four eggs till very light, and stir them gradually
into the mixture, alternately with the sifted flour. Add a heaping
table-spoonful of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir
all well. Dissolve a level tea-spoonful of soda or pearlash in as much
warm water as will melt it; then stir it in at the last. Put the mixture
into a buttered tin-pan, (either square or round,) set it _immediately_
into the oven, which must be brisk but not too hot; and bake it well.
When you think it done, probe it to the bottom with a knife or a
broom-twig, stuck down into the centre; and do not take the cake from
the oven unless the knife comes out clean and dry. It requires long
baking.
GINGER CRACKERS.--Mix together in a deep pan, a pint of West India
molasses; half a pound of butter; and a quarter of a pound of brown
sugar; two large table-spoonfuls of ginger; a tea-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon; a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda, dissolved in a
little warm water; and sufficient sifted flour to make a dough just
stiff enough to roll out conveniently. Let the whole be well
incorporated into a large lump. Knead it till it leaves your hands
clean; then beat it hard with a rolling-pin, which will make it crisp
when baked. Divide the dough, and roll it out into sheets half an inch
thick. Cut it into cakes with a tin cutter about the usual size of a
cracker-biscuit, or with the edge of a teacup dipped frequently into
flour to prevent its sticking. Lay the cakes at regular distances in
square pans slightly buttered. Set them directly into a moderately brisk
oven, and bake them well, first pricking them with a fork.
Ginger crackers are excellent on a sea voyage. If made exactly as above
they will keep many weeks.
In greasing all cake-pans use only the best fresh butter: otherwise the
outside of a thick cake will taste disagreeably, and the whole of a thin
cake will have an unpleasant flavour.
SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up
in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into
the flour, and then mix in a pint of West India molasses and a pound of
the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the
beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a
teacup-full of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon,
with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the
flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a
little flour on your paste-board, and with a broad knife spread portions
of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal
all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will
be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in
flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly
buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their
running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and
bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.
You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something
similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.
These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried
to sea. Many persons find highly-spiced gingerbread a preventive to
sea-sickness.
SPICED GINGERBREAD.--Sift into a deep pan a pound and a half of flour,
and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter. Rub them
together, with your hands, till thoroughly incorporated. Then add half a
pound of brown sugar, crushed fine with the rolling-pin; a
table-spoonful of mixed spice, consisting of equal quantities of
powdered cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Also, a table-spoonful of ground
ginger, and two table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Mix the whole
together, and wet it with a pint of West India molasses. Dissolve a
small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda in a very little warm water. Mix
it into the other ingredients. Spread some flour on your paste-board,
take the dough out of the pan, flour your hands, and knead the dough
till it ceases entirely to be sticky. Roll it out into a very thick
square sheet; cut it into long straight slips; twist every two slips
together, rounding off the ends nicely. Lay them (not too closely) in
buttered square pans, and bake them well. As gingerbread burns easily,
take care not to have the oven too hot. Instead of forming it into
twisted strips, you may cut the sheet of gingerbread-dough into round
cakes with the edge of a tumbler, which, as you proceed, must be
frequently dipped in flour.
CARRAWAY GINGERBREAD.--Cut up half a pound of fresh butter in a pint of
West India molasses and warm them together slightly, till the butter is
quite soft. Then stir them well, and add, gradually, a pound of good
brown sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and two heaped
table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, or three, if the ginger is not very
strong. Sift two pounds or two quarts of flour. Beat four eggs till very
thick and light, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture, in turn
with the flour, and five or six large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds,
a little at a time. Dissolve a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or
soda in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Then stir it in at the
last. Stir all very hard. Transfer it to a buttered tin pan with
straight sides, and bake it in a loaf in a moderate oven. It will
require a great deal of baking.
MOLASSES GINGERBREAD.--Mix together a quart of West India molasses, and
a pint of milk. Cut up in them a pound of fresh butter. Set the pan on
a stove, or in a warm place till the butter becomes soft enough to stir
and mix well into the molasses and milk. They must be merely warmed but
not made hot. Then stir in a small teacup of ginger, and a
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Add, gradually, a little at a time,
three pounds of sifted flour. The whole should be a thick batter.
Lastly, stir in a large tea-spoonful of soda, or a smaller one of
pearlash or sal-eratus, dissolved in a very little lukewarm water. Bake
the mixture either in little tins, or in a large loaf. If the latter, it
will require very long baking; as long as a black-cake.
MOLASSES CAKE.--Cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into a pint
of West India molasses. Warm it just sufficiently to soften the butter,
and make it mix easily. Stir it well into the molasses, and add a
table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat three eggs very light, and
stir them, gradually, into the mixture, in turn with barely enough of
sifted flour (not more than a pint and a half) to make it about as thick
as pound-cake batter. Add, at the last, a small or level tea-spoonful of
pearlash, or a full one of soda, dissolved in a very little warm water.
Butter some small tin cake-pans, or patty-pans, put in the mixture, and
set them immediately into the oven, which must not be too hot, as all
cakes made with molasses are peculiarly liable to scorch on the outside.
SUGAR CAKE.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a
pound of fresh butter. Rub with your hands the butter into the flour
till it is thoroughly mixed. Then rub in a pound of sugar, and a grated
nutmeg. Wet the whole with half a pint of rich milk (or a jill of
rose-water, and a jill of milk) mixed with a well-beaten egg. Add, at
the last, a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda, dissolved in a
little vinegar or warm water. Roll out the dough thick, and beat it well
on both sides with the rolling-pin. Then roll it thin, and cut it into
square cakes, notching the edges with a knife. Put them into a shallow
pan slightly buttered, (taking care not to place them too near, lest
they run into each other,) and bake them a light brown.
You may mix into the dough two table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.
MOLASSES BREAD CAKE.--On a bread-making day, when the wheat-bread has
risen perfectly light and is cracked on the surface, take as much of the
dough as will fill a quart bowl, and place it in a broad pan. Cut up a
quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and set it over the fire to warm and
soften, but do not let it melt to an oil. When quite soft, mix with it
half a pint of West India molasses, a small table-spoonful of powdered
cinnamon, and the finely-grated yellow rind of a large orange or lemon;
adding also the juice. Have ready three eggs, well beaten, and add them
gradually to the mixture. It must form a lump of soft dough; but not too
thin to knead with your hands. Knead it well on the paste-board for a
quarter of an hour. Butter some tin pans; put an equal portion of the
dough into each; cover them; and set them in a warm but not a hot place
for a quarter of an hour before baking. Then bake the cakes well.
Instead of small pans you may bake the whole of the dough in one large
one. This cake should be eaten the day it is baked; fresh but not warm.
All _sweet_ cakes in which yeast is an ingredient are best and most
wholesome when fresh, as the next day they become hard, dry, and
comparatively heavy.
BREAD MUFFINS.--Take some bread dough that has risen as light as
possible, and knead into it some well-beaten egg in the proportion of
two eggs to about a pound of dough. Then mix in a tea-spoonful of soda
that has been dissolved in a very little lukewarm water. Let the dough
stand in a warm place for a quarter of an hour. Then bake it in
muffin-rings. You can thus, with very little trouble, have muffins for
tea whenever you bake bread in the afternoon.
TO FRESHEN CAKES.--Cakes when stale may be much improved, if about an
hour before they are wanted for tea, you enclose them in a circular
_wooden_ box with a tight-fitting lid, and place it on the marble hearth
before a good coal fire; but not so close as to be in danger of
scorching the box, which must be turned round, occasionally, so as to
receive the heat equally on all sides. A tin or stone-ware box will not
answer at all for this purpose, being too cold. If you burn wood-fires,
set the box with the cake into a plate-warmer, or place it on a tall
skillet, so as to be out of the way of coals or ashes falling on it,
should the sticks break on the fire.