CHAPTER XIV.

PLAIN CAKES.

_General Directions for Making Cake._

Tie up your hair so that none can fall, put on a long-sleeved apron, have the kitchen put in order, and then arrange all the articles and utensils you will have occasion to use.

If you are a systematic and thrifty housekeeper, you will have your sugar pounded, all your spices ready prepared in boxes, or bottles, your saleratus sifted, your currants washed and dried, your ginger sifted, and your weights, measures, and utensils all in their place and in order.

Butter your tins before beginning to make the cake, so as not to stop for the purpose. It saves much trouble to have your receipt book so arranged that you can _measure_ instead of weighing. This can be done by weighing the first time, and then have a small measure cup, and fill it with each ingredient you have weighed. Then note it down in your receipt book, and ever after use the same measure cup.

_Always_ sift your flour, for neither bread nor cake should be made with unsifted flour, not merely because there may be dirt in it, but because packing injures its lightness, and sifting restores it, and makes bread and cake lighter.

The day before you wish to make cake, stone your raisins, and blanch your almonds, by pouring hot water on them, to take off the skins, and then throwing them into cold water to whiten them. When ready to make your cake, grate your lemon or orange peel. Next weigh your butter and cut it in pieces, and put it where it will soften, but not melt. Then butter your tins. Next, stir the butter to a cream, and then add the sugar, and work till white. Next, beat the yolks of the eggs, strain them, and put them to the sugar and butter. Meantime another person should beat the whites to a stiff froth, and put them in. Then add the spices and flour, and last of all the fruit, as directed below.

Do not use the hand to make cake, but a wood spoon or spad. Earthen is best to make cake in.

In receipts where milk is used, never _mix_ sweet and sour milk, as it makes cake heavy, even when either alone would not do it.

Butter in the least degree strong, spoils cake.

Try whether cake is done by piercing it with a broom splinter, and if nothing adheres it is done.

An oven, to bake cake well, must have a good heat at bottom, and not be too hot on the top, or the cake will be heavy. As these receipts have all been proved, if they fail to make good cake, the fault is probably in the baking.

Cake that is to be frosted, should be baked in pans with perpendicular instead of slanting sides. Line them with buttered paper, the salt soaked out of the butter. If the oven proves too hot, cover the top with paper before it hardens, or the cake will be heavy.

The best way to put in fruit is to sprinkle flour over it, then put in a layer of cake at the bottom, half an inch thick, then a layer of fruit, taking care that it does not touch the sides of the pan, and thus dry up; then a little more cake, then another layer of fruit, and thus till the cake is three inches thick (not more), and let the top layer be cake.

Always dissolve saleratus, or sal volatile, in hot water, as milk does not perfectly dissolve it, and thus there will be yellow specks made.

Make your eggs cold, and whisk till they will stand in a heap.

Volatile alkali the size of a hickory-nut, and a bit of alum of equal size, powdered and dissolved in cold water, will _ensure_ light bread or cake.

A quick oven is so hot that you can count moderately only twenty; and a slow one allows you to count thirty, while you hold your hand in it.

All cake without yeast should have the flour put in quickly, just as it goes into the oven.

Keep cake in a tin box, or in a stone jar wrapped in clean linen.

_Rose Butter._

Take a glass jar, put on the bottom a layer of butter, and each day put in rose leaves, adding layers of butter, and when full, cover tight, and use the butter for articles to be flavored with rose water.

_Directions for Cleansing Currants._

Put them in warm, not hot water, and rub them thoroughly. Take out all but the bottom part into another pail of water. Then rinse those remaining in the bottom of the first water, through two or three waters, as this part contains most of the impure parts. Then put them into the other pail with the first portion, and rinse all very thoroughly. Take them out with the hands, drain them on a sieve, and spread them on a clean large cloth on a table. Rub them dry with the ends of the cloth, and then sit down and pull off the good ones into a dish in your lap, and push the poor ones aside, being careful to look for the little stones. Spread them to dry on a board, or large dishes, and set them in the sun, or any warm place, to dry. Then tie them up in a jar for future use.

_Frosting for Cake._

For the whites of every two eggs, take a quarter of a pound of sifted loaf sugar. Some use only one egg for this quantity of sugar.

Make the eggs cold in cold water, and free them from all of the yolk. Beat the whites in a cool place, till a very stiff froth. Sift the sugar, and beat it in _until you can pile it in a heap_. Flavor with lemon or rose water. Allow two whites for each common-sized loaf. Spread on with a knife, after the cake is cool, and then smooth with another knife dipped in water. Set it in a warm place to dry. The ornamental filagree work on frosting is easily done by using a small syringe. Draw it full of the above frosting, and as you press it out make figures to your taste. It must not be put on till the frosting of the cake is hardened.

_Cake Frosting_ (_another, which is harder_).

To the white of each egg, put one heaping teaspoonful of starch, and nine heaping teaspoonfuls of sifted white sugar.

Cut the whites to a stiff froth, mix the sugar and starch, and stir in gradually; continue to stir ten minutes after it is mixed, add two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, and flavor it with rose water. Put it on with a knife when the cake has stood out of the oven twenty minutes, and then set it in a cool place to harden. Allow the whites of three eggs for two cakes of common size.

_Good Child’s Cake._

Three cups raised dough.

One cup of molasses.

The juice and grated rind of a lemon, or one nutmeg.

Half a cup of melted butter, put with the molasses.

Two well-beaten eggs.

A teaspoonful of saleratus in two spoonfuls of hot water.

Work all together, put into buttered pans, and set into the oven immediately.

Put in the lemon juice just before you put it in the pans.

If you do not have lemon juice, add a great spoonful of sharp vinegar, after working the ingredients together, and just before putting it into pans. The lemon juice must be added the last minute. Some think this is improved by standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try and see.

_Ginger Snaps._

One cup of molasses.

Half a cup of sugar.

Half a cup of butter.

Half a cup of warm water, the butter melted with it.

A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in the water.

Two tablespoonfuls of ginger.

The dough should be stiff; knead it well, and roll into sheets, cut into round cakes, and bake in a moderate oven.

_Child’s Feather Cake._

Three cups of light dough.

Two cups rolled sugar.

Three well-beaten eggs, mixed with the sugar and butter.

Half a cup of warm milk, or a little less.

One teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of water, and put in the milk.

One cup of melted butter, worked into the sugar.

The grated rind and juice of one lemon.

Work all together, adding the lemon juice just before putting it in buttered pans. If you have no lemons, use one nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of sharp vinegar, added just before putting it in pans. One and a half, if the vinegar is weak. Some think this improved by standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try it.

_Best Molasses Gingerbread._

One even tablespoonful of strong ginger, and two if weak.

A gill and a half of milk.

One heaping teaspoonful saleratus, very fine, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water, and put into the milk.

Half a pint of molasses, and a small tea-cup full of butter.

Take three pints of flour, and rub the butter and ginger into it thoroughly. Then make a hole in the middle, and pour in the molasses and milk, and begin mixing in the flour, and while doing this, put in a great spoonful of strong vinegar, and if it is weak, a little more. If not stiff enough to roll out, add a little more flour. Roll it into cards an inch thick, and put it into two buttered square pans. Bake it in a flat tin pan, and put it, if the oven is quite hot, on a muffin ring, to keep it from burning at the bottom, and allow from twenty-five to thirty minutes for baking. When done, set it on its edge, or on a sieve, to cool.

_Sponge Gingerbread._

One pint of molasses.

Two great spoonfuls of melted butter.

One even tablespoonful of ginger.

One quart of sifted flour.

A heaping tablespoonful of saleratus dissolved in as much hot water.

Half a pint of milk, the saleratus first dissolved in hot water, and put into it.

Make a hole in the flour, and put in all the other ingredients, and while working them together, add a great spoonful of good vinegar, or if weak, one and a half.

_Cider Cake._

One tea-cup of butter.

Three tea-cups of sugar.

Two tea-cups of sifted flour.

A teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of water.

A grated nutmeg, and half a tea-cup of milk, with the saleratus in it. Make a hole in the flour, and put in all the ingredients, and while mixing them, add a tea-cup of cider and four more cups of flour.

_Cup Cake without Eggs._

One cup of butter.

Two cups of sugar.

One cup of sour cream, or sour milk.

Sal volatile, the size of a small nutmeg, or a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in cold water.

A gill of brandy or wine, half a grated nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of essence of lemon.

Flour enough for a stiff batter.

Put in buttered pans an inch thick, and bake in a quick oven.

_Cream Cake without Eggs._

Four cups of flour.

Three cups of sugar.

One cup of butter.

Two cups of sour cream.

Two teaspoonfuls of sal volatile, or three of saleratus, dissolved in a little cold water.

A teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and half a grated nutmeg.

Work the butter and sugar together, add the cream and spice, and put all into a hole in the middle of the flour. Then add the sal volatile, or saleratus. Mix quick and thoroughly, and set in the oven immediately.

_Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs._

Three pints of sifted flour, measured after sifting.

One teaspoonful super carbonate of soda.

A salt spoonful of salt.

Two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar.

A cup and a half of milk.

A pint of rolled sugar.

Mix the cream tartar thoroughly with the flour, and add grated lemon peel, or nutmeg; then dissolve the soda in two great spoonfuls of hot water, and put it with the sugar to the milk. When dissolved, wet it up as quick as possible, but so as to mix very thoroughly. Roll it out, cut into round cakes, and bake _immediately_. It must be as soft as can be rolled. Add a little more flour, if needful; bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes. Try more than once, as you may fail at first. When you get the _knack_ it is easy, sure, and very good.

_Fruit Cake without Eggs._

Two pounds of flour.

One and three quarter pounds of sugar.

One pint of milk.

Half a pound of butter.

Half a teaspoonful of salt.

One and a half teaspoonfuls of soda, or saleratus, or two of sal volatile, dissolved in a little hot water.

One nutmeg, one pound of raisins, and one wine-glass of brandy. This makes three loaves.

Warm the milk, and add the butter and salt to it. Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then add the milk, then the flour, then the saleratus, and lastly the spice and fruit.

_Drop Cake._

Four and a half tea-cups of flour.

Two and a half tea-cups of sugar.

Half a cup of butter, and five eggs.

Work the butter and sugar to a cream; beat the yolks and whites separately; add the yolks, then the whites, then the flour. Drop them on a buttered tin, and sprinkle caraway sugar plums on the top.

_Sugar Gingerbread_ (_rich_).

One pound of sugar.

One pound of sifted flour.

Half a pound of butter.

Six eggs.

Two even tablespoonfuls of ginger.

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs well beaten, the flour and ginger, and bake in two square tin sheets.

_Sugar Gingerbread_ (_plainer_).

Two cups of sugar.

One cup of butter, rubbed with the sugar.

One cup of milk.

Two eggs.

One teaspoonful of pearlash in hot water.

Three tablespoonfuls of ginger.

Five cups of flour.

Make it a soft dough, and add more flour if needed.

_Sponge Cake._

Twelve eggs.

The weight of ten in powdered loaf sugar.

The weight of six in sifted flour.

The grated peel, and half the juice of one lemon.

Stir the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, until very light, then add the whites of the eggs, after they are beaten to a stiff froth, stir lightly together, flavor with the lemon, sprinkle in the flour just before it is to be put into the oven, stirring it in as quickly as possible.

Bake in two square tin pans, the bottom and sides of which should be covered with white paper, well buttered.

Weigh it once, then get the _measure_ of the proportions, to save the trouble of weighing afterward.

The secret of making good sponge cake lies in putting the flour in the last minute before it goes into the oven, and having a good bake.

_Bridget’s Bread Cake_ (_excellent_).

Three cups of dough, very light.

Three cups of sugar.

One cup of butter.

Three eggs. A nutmeg. Raisins.

One teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little hot water.

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and spice, and mix all thoroughly with the dough. Beat it well, and pour into the pans. It will do to bake it immediately, but the cake will be lighter if it stands a short time to rise, before putting it into the oven. It is an excellent cake for common use.

_It is very important_ that the ingredients should be thoroughly mixed with the dough.

_Doughnuts._

One pound of butter.

One pound and three quarters of sugar, worked with the butter.

Three pints of milk.

Four eggs.

One pint of yeast, if home-made, or half a pint of distillery yeast.

Mace and cinnamon to the taste.

Flour enough to make the dough stiff as biscuit.

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the other ingredients, and set the dough in a warm place to rise. When thoroughly light, roll into sheets, cut with a sharp knife into diamond-shaped pieces, and boil them in fresh lard. Use a good deal of lard, and have it sufficiently hot, or the cake will absorb the fat.

_Cookies_ (_plain_).

Two cups of sugar.

One cup of butter, worked into the sugar.

One cup of milk.

Two eggs.

Caraway seeds.

A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little hot water.

Flour sufficient to roll.

The dough should be well kneaded before it is rolled into sheets.

_French Cake._

Five cups of flour.

Two cups of powdered sugar.

Half a cup of butter.

One cup of milk.

One wine-glass of wine.

Three eggs. Spice to the taste.

A teaspoonful of pearlash.

Rub the butter and sugar together, then add the milk, part of the flour, and the pearlash dissolved in wine; afterward the remainder of the flour and the eggs. The yolks are to be beaten separately, and the whites beaten and put in the last thing. Bake in two square tin pans.

_Walnut Hill’s Doughnuts._

One tea-cup of sour cream, or milk.

Two tea-cups of sugar.

One tea-cup of butter.

Four eggs, and one nutmeg.

Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus.

Flour enough to roll.

Cut into diamond cakes, and boil in hot lard.

_Cocoanut Cup Cake._

Two cups of rolled white sugar, and one and a half of butter.

One cup of milk, and a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved in hot water.

Four eggs well beaten, and a nutmeg. Or flavor with rose water.

The white part of one cocoanut, grated.

Flour enough to make a stiff batter.

Beat it well, put it in buttered tins, an inch thick, in a quick oven, and when done, frost it, and cut it in square pieces.

_Cocoanut Sponge Cake._

One grated cocoanut, the outer part peeled off.

A teaspoonful of salt, and half a grated nutmeg.

A pint of sifted white sugar.

Six eggs, the yolks beat and strained, the whites cut to a stiff froth.

One teaspoonful of essence of lemon.

A half a pint of sifted flour.

Mix the yolks and the sugar, and then the other ingredients, except the whites and the flour. Just as you are ready to put the cake in the oven, put in the whites, then add the flour by degrees, and stir only just enough to mix it; then put it on buttered paper in cake pans, and set it in. Have a quick oven, but take care not to have the top harden quick. Cover with paper if there is any danger.

_Lemon Cake.--No. 1._

Four tumblers of flour.

Two and a half of _powdered_ white sugar.

Three quarters of a tumbler of butter.

One tumbler of milk, two lemons, three eggs, and one heaping teaspoonful of soda. Saleratus will do, but is not so good as soda.

This serves for two square loaves. Dissolve the soda in the milk, heat the yolks, and strain them. Cut the whites to a stiff froth, work the butter and sugar till they look like cream, then add the yolks, then the milk, then the whites of eggs, and then the flour. When thoroughly mixed, grate in the peel of one lemon, and squeeze in the juice of two, and this must not be done till it is ready to set _immediately_ into the oven.

A tumbler and a half of currants improves this cake. Put them in with the lemon juice.

This is delicious when first baked, but will not keep so well as No. 2, which is richer.

_Gingernuts._

Six pounds of flour.

One pound and a quarter of butter, rubbed into the sugar.

One pound and three quarters of sugar.

One quart of molasses.

Four ounces of ginger, one nutmeg, and some cinnamon.

The dough should be stiff, and then kneaded hard for a long time. Cut into small cakes. They will keep good, closely covered in a stone jar, for many months.

_Honey Cake._

One quart of strained honey.

Half a pint of sugar.

Half a pint of melted butter.

A teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in half a tea-cup of warm water.

Half a nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of ginger.

Mix the above, and then work in sifted flour till you can roll it. Cut it into thin cakes, and bake it on buttered tins, in a quick oven.

_New Year’s Cookies._

One pound of butter.

A pound and three quarters of sugar.

Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, in a pint of milk (buttermilk is better).

Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, and add the milk and saleratus. Then beat three eggs, and add, and grate in one nutmeg. Rub in a heaping tablespoon of caraway seed. Add flour enough to roll. Make it one quarter of an inch in thickness, and bake _immediately_ in a quick oven.

_Boston Cream Cake._

One pint of butter rubbed into one quart of flour.

One quart of hot water, with the butter and flour stirred in.

When cool, break in from six to twelve eggs, as you can afford.

If needed, add flour till thick enough to drop on buttered tins in round cakes, the size of a tea-cup.

When baked, open and fill with soft custard, or mock cream.

_Almond, Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake._

Half a pound of flour. Half a teaspoonful of salt.

A quarter of a pound of butter.

One pound of sugar.

One tea-cup of sour cream, or sour milk, or buttermilk.

Four eggs, and lemon, or any other flavor to your taste.

A teaspoonful of saleratus, or better, a bit of sal volatile, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in two spoonfuls of hot water.

Mix the above thoroughly, then grate in the white part of a cocoanut, or stir in half a pint of chopped hickory-nuts, chopped fine, or put in a pound of blanched almonds, pounded, but not to a paste. Put it in buttered pans, an inch and a half thick, and bake in a quick oven.

_Caraway Cakes._

Two quarts of flour.

One cup of butter.

One quart of rolled sugar.

Half a pint of caraway seeds.

A teaspoonful of essence of lemon.

Mix the sugar and butter to a cream, add the other materials, roll out, and cut into square cakes, and crimp the edges.

Sal volatile the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in a little hot water, improves this.

_Fruit Drop Cakes._

Two pounds of flour.

One pound of butter.

One pound of currants.

One pound of sugar. Three eggs.

A teaspoonful each, of rose water, and essence of lemon, and a gill of brandy.

Rub the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the eggs, and add them. Then put in the other articles. Strew tin sheets with flour and powdered sugar, and then drop on in small cakes. Bake in a quick oven.

_Dr. B.’s Loaf Cake._

Two pounds of dried and sifted flour.

A pint of new milk, blood warm.

A quarter of a pound of butter.

Three quarters of a pound of sugar.

A pint of home-brewed yeast, or half as much distillery yeast.

Three eggs, and one pound of stoned raisins.

A glass of wine and a nutmeg.

Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then rub them well into the flour. Then add the other things, and let it rise over night. Bake an hour and a half, in a slack oven. Put the fruit in as directed in the receipt for raised loaf cake.

_Fancy Cakes._

Beat the yolks of four eggs into half a pound of powdered sugar. Add a little less than a half a pound of flour. Beat fifteen minutes, and then put in some essence of lemon, and the whites of the eggs cut to a stiff froth. Bake in small patties, and put sugar plums on the top.

_Fried Curd Cakes._

Stir four well-beaten eggs into a quart of boiling milk. Make it very sweet, and cool it. Then stir in two even tea-cups full of sifted flour, a teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and two more well-beaten eggs. Fry these in sweet butter as drop cakes.

_Wine Cake._

Put six ounces of sugar into a pint of wine, and make it boiling hot. When blood warm, pour it on to six well-beaten eggs, and stir in a quarter of a pound of sifted flour. Beat it well, and bake immediately in a quick oven.

_Egg Rusk._

Melt three ounces of butter into a pint of milk. Beat six eggs into a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix these with flour enough for a batter, and add a gill of distillery yeast, and half a teaspoonful of salt. When light, add flour enough to make a dough stiff enough to mould. Make them into small cakes, and let them rise in a warm place while the oven is heating.

_Citron Tea Cakes._

One tea-cup of sugar.

Two-thirds of a cup of butter.

Two cups of flour.

A bit of volatile salts, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in hot water (the same quantity of alum dissolved with it, improves it), and put to half a cup of milk.

Beat till light, then add a teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and small thin strips of citron, or candied lemon peel.

Bake in shallow pans, or small patties.

_French Biscuit (Mrs. Dr. C.)._

Six pounds of flour.

One pint and a half of new milk.

Six ounces of butter.

A cup and a half of sugar.

A teaspoonful of salt.

Six eggs, and half a pint of distillery yeast, or twice as much home-brewed.

Melt the butter in the milk, and beat the eggs. Then add all the ingredients, set it to rise, and when very light, mould it into small biscuits, and bake in a quick oven.