The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory Part 55

_Plum Cake._ No. 2.

One pound of fine flour well dried and sifted, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, also well dried and sifted. Work one pound to a cream with a noggin of brandy; then add to it by degrees your sugar, continuing to beat it very light. Beat the yolks of ten eggs extremely light; then put them into the b.u.t.ter and sugar, a spoonful at a time; beat the whites very light, and when you add the flour, which should be by degrees, put in the whites a spoonful at a time; add a grated nutmeg and a little beaten mace, and a good pound of currants, washed, dried, and picked, with a little of the flour rubbed about them. Work them into the cake. Cut in thin slices a quarter of a pound of blanched almonds, and two ounces of citron and candied orange-peel. Between every layer of cake, as you put it into the hoop, put in the sweetmeats, and bake it two hours.

_Plum Cake._ No. 3.

Rub one pound of b.u.t.ter into two pounds of flour; take one pound of sugar, one pound of currants, and mix them with four eggs; make them into little round cakes, and bake them on tins. Half this quant.i.ty is sufficient to make at a time.

_Clear Plum Cake._

Make apple jelly rather strong, and strain it through a woollen bag. Put as many white pear plums as will give a flavour to the jelly; let it boil; strain it again through the bag, and boil up as many pounds of fine sugar for a candy as you had pints of jelly; and when your sugar is boiled very high, add your jelly; just scald it over the fire; put it in little pots, and let it stand with a constant fire.

_Portugal Cakes._

Put one pound of fine sugar, well beaten and sifted, one pound of fresh b.u.t.ter, five eggs, and a little beaten mace, into a flat pan: beat it up with your hand until it is very light; then put in by degrees one pound of fine flour well dried and sifted, half a pound of currants picked, washed, and well dried; beat them together till very light; bake them in heart pans in a slack oven.

_Potato Cakes._

Roast or bake mealy potatoes, as they are drier and lighter when done that way than boiled; peel them, and beat them in a mortar with a little cream or melted b.u.t.ter; add some yolks of eggs, a little sack, sugar, a little beaten mace, and nutmeg: work it into a light paste, then make it into cakes of what shape you please with moulds. Fry them brown in the best fresh b.u.t.ter; serve them with sack and sugar.

_Pound Cake._

Take a pound of flour and a pound of b.u.t.ter; beat to a cream eight eggs, leaving out the whites of four, and beat them up with the b.u.t.ter. Put the flour in by degrees, one pound of sugar, a few caraway seeds, and currants, if you like; half a pound will do.

_Another._

Take half a pound of b.u.t.ter, and half a pound of powdered lump-sugar; beat them till they are like a cream. Then take three eggs, leaving out the whites of two; beat them very well with a little brandy; then put the eggs to the b.u.t.ter and sugar; beat it again till it is come to a cream. Shake over it half a pound of dried flour; beat it well with your hand; add half a nutmeg, half an ounce of caraway seeds, and what sweetmeat you please. b.u.t.ter the mould well.

_Pound Davy._

Beat up well ten eggs and half a pound of sugar with a little rose-water; mix in half a pound of flour, and bake it in a pan.

_Clear Quince Cakes._

Take the apple quince, pare and core it; take as many apples as quinces; just cover them with water, and boil till they are broken. Strain them through a sieve or woollen bag, and boil up to a candy as many pounds of sugar as you have of jelly, which put in your jelly; just let it scald over the fire, and put it into paste in a stove. The paste is made thus: Scald quinces in water till they are tender; then pare and sc.r.a.pe them fine with a knife and put them into apple jelly; let it stand till you think the paste sufficiently thickened, then boil up to a candy as many pounds of sugar as you have of paste.

_Ratafia Cakes._

Bitter and sweet almonds, of each a quarter of a pound, blanched and well dried with a napkin, finely pounded with the white of an egg; three quarters of a pound of finely pounded sugar mixed with the almonds. Have the whites of three eggs beat well, and mix up with the sugar and almonds; put the mixture with a tea-spoon on white paper, and bake it in a slow heat; when the cakes are cold, they come off easily from the paper. When almonds are pounded, they are generally sprinkled with a little water, otherwise they become oily. Instead of water take to the above the white of an egg or a little more; to the whole of the above quant.i.ty the whites of four eggs are used.

_Rice Cake._

Ground rice, flour and loaf-sugar, of each six ounces, eight eggs, leaving out five of the whites, the peel of a lemon grated: beat all together half an hour, and bake it three quarters of an hour in a quick oven.

_Another._

Take one pound of sifted rice flour, one pound of fine sugar finely beaten and sifted, and sixteen eggs, leaving out half the whites; beat them a quarter of an hour at least, separately; then add the sugar, and beat it with the eggs extremely well and light. When they are as light as possible, add by degrees the rice-flour; beat them all together for an hour as light as you can. Put in a little orange-flower water, or brandy, and candied peel, if you like; the oven must not be too hot.

_Rock Cakes._

One pound of flour, half a pound of clarified b.u.t.ter, half a pound of currants, half a pound of sugar; mix and pinch into small cakes.

_Royal Cakes._

Take three pounds of very fine flour, one pound and a half of b.u.t.ter, and as much currants, seven yolks and three whites of eggs, a nutmeg grated, a little rose-water, one pound and a half of sugar finely beaten; knead it well and light, and bake on tins.

_Savoy or Sponge Cake._

Take twelve new-laid eggs, and their weight in double refined sugar; pound it fine, and sift it through a lawn sieve; beat the yolks very light, and add the sugar to them by degrees; beat the whole well together till it is extremely light. Whisk the whites of the eggs to a strong froth; then mix all together by adding the yolks and the sugar to the whites. Have ready the weight of seven eggs in fine flour very well dried and sifted; stir it in by degrees, and grate in the rind of a lemon. b.u.t.ter a mould well, and bake in a quick oven. About half an hour or forty minutes will do it.

_Another._

Take one pound of Jordan and two ounces of bitter almonds; blanch them in cold water, and beat them very fine in a mortar, adding orange-flower and rose-water as you beat them to prevent their oiling. Then beat eighteen eggs, the whites separately to a froth, and the yolks extremely well, with a little brandy and sack. Put the almonds when pounded into a dry, clean, wooden bowl, and beat them with your hand extremely light, with one pound of fine dried and sifted sugar; put the sugar in by degrees, and beat it very light, also the peels of two large lemons finely grated. Put in by degrees the whites of the eggs as they rise to a froth, and in the same manner the yolks, continuing to beat it for an hour, or until it is as light as possible. An hour will bake it; it must be a quick oven; you must continue to beat the cake until the oven is ready for it.

_Seed Cake._ No. 1.

Heat a wooden bowl, and work in three pounds of b.u.t.ter with your hands, till it is as thin as cream; then work in by degrees two pounds of fine sugar sifted, and eighteen eggs well beaten, leaving out four of the whites; put the eggs in by degrees. Take three pounds of the finest flour, well dried and sifted, mixed with one ounce and a half of caraway seeds, one nutmeg, and a little mace; put them in the flour as you did the sugar, and beat it well up with your hands; put it in your hoop; and it will take two hours' baking. You may add sweetmeats if you like. The dough must be made by the fire, and kept constantly worked with the hands to mix it well together. If you have sweetmeats, put half a pound of citron, a quarter of a pound of lemon-peel, and put the dough lightly into the hoop, just before you send it to the oven, without smoothing it at top, for that makes it heavy.

_Seed Cake._ No. 2.

Take a pound and a half of b.u.t.ter; beat it to a cream with your hand or a flat stick; beat twelve eggs, the yolks in one pan and the whites in another, as light as possible, and then beat them together, adding by degrees one pound and a half of well dried and sifted loaf-sugar, and a little sack and brandy. When the oven is nearly ready, mix all together, with one pound and a half of well dried and sifted flour, half a pound of sliced almonds, and some caraway seeds: beat it well with your hand before you put it into the hoop.

_Seed Cake._ No. 3, _called Borrow Brack._

Melt one pound and a half of b.u.t.ter in a quart of milk made warm. Mix fourteen eggs in half a pint of yest. Take half a peck of flour, and one pound of sugar, both dried and sifted, four ounces of caraway seeds, and two ounces of beaten ginger. Mix all well together. First put the eggs and the yest to the flour, then add the b.u.t.ter and the milk. Make it into a paste of the substance of that for French bread; if not flour enough add what is sufficient; and if too much, put some warm new milk.

Let it stand for above half an hour at the fire, before you make it up into what form you please.

_Shrewsbury Cakes._

Take three pounds and a half of fresh b.u.t.ter, work the whey and any salt that it may contain well out of it. Take four pounds of fine flour well dried and sifted, one ounce of powdered cinnamon, five eggs well beaten, and two pounds of loaf-sugar well dried and sifted. Put them all into the flour, and work them well together into a paste. Make it into a roll; cut off pieces for cakes and work them well with your hands. This quant.i.ty will make above six dozen of the size of those sold at Shrewsbury. They require great care in baking; a short time is sufficient, and the oven must not be very hot.