Part 15

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.