Part 46 (2/2)

Almond icing, for a very fine cake, is made by mixing gradually with the white of egg and sugar, some almonds, half bitter and half sweet, that have been pounded in a mortar with rose water to a smooth paste. The whole must be well incorporated, and spread over the cake near half an inch thick. It must be set in a cool oven to dry, and then taken out and covered with a smooth plain icing of sugar and white of egg.

Whatever icing is left, may be used to make maccaroons or kisses.

POUND CAKE.

Prepare a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of powdered mace, and two nutmegs grated or powdered. Mix together in a tumbler, a gla.s.s of white--wine, a gla.s.s of brandy, and a gla.s.s of rose water. Sift a pound of the finest flour into a broad pan, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar into a deep pan, and cut up in it a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter. Warm them by the fire till soft; and then stir them to a cream. When they are perfectly light, add gradually the spice and liquor, a little at a time.

Beat ten eggs as light as possible, and stir them by degrees into the mixture, alternately with the flour. Then add twelve drops of oil of lemon; or more, if it is not strong. Stir the whole very hard; put it into a deep tin pan with straight or upright sides, and bake it in a moderate oven from two to three hours. If baked in a Dutch oven, take off the lid when you have ascertained that the cake is quite done, and let it remain in the oven to cool gradually. If any part is burnt, sc.r.a.pe it off as soon as cold.

It may be iced either warm or cool; first dredging the cake with flour and then wiping it off. It will be best to put on two coats of icing; the second coat not till the first is entirely dry.

Flavour the icing with essence of lemon, or with extract of roses.

This cake will be very delicate if made with a pound of rice flour instead of wheat.

INDIAN POUND CAKE.

Sift a pint of fine yellow Indian meal, and half a pint of wheat flour, and mix them well together. Prepare a nutmeg beaten, and mixed with a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir together till very light, half a pound of powdered white sugar; and half a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter; adding the spice, with a gla.s.s of white wine, and a gla.s.s of brandy. Having beaten eight eggs as light as possible, stir them into the b.u.t.ter and sugar, a little at a time in turn with the meal. Give the whole a hard stirring at the last; put it into a well-b.u.t.tered tin pan, and bake it about an hour and a half.

This cake (like every thing else in which Indian meal is an ingredient) should be eaten quite fresh; it is then very nice.

When stale, (even a day old,) it becomes dry and rough as if made with saw-dust.

QUEEN CAKE.

Sift fourteen ounces of the finest flour, being two ounces less than a pound. Cakes baked in little tins, should have a smaller proportion of flour than those that are done in large loaves.

Prepare a table-spoonful of beaten cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of mace, and two beaten nutmegs; and mix them all together when powdered. Mix in a tumbler, half a gla.s.s of white wine, half a gla.s.s of brandy, and half a gla.s.s of rose water. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar, and sift it into a deep pan; cut up in it a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter; warm them by the fire, and stir them to a cream. Add gradually the spice and the liquor. Beat ten eggs very light, and stir them into the mixture in turn with the flour. Stir in twelve drops of essence of lemon, and beat the whole very hard. b.u.t.ter some little tins; half fill them with the mixture; set them into a brisk oven, and cake them about a quarter of an hour. When done, they will shrink from the sides of the tins. After you turn them out, spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. If you have occasion to fill your tins a second time, sc.r.a.pe and wipe them well before they are used again.

Make an icing flavoured with oil of lemon, or with extract of roses; and spread two coats of it on the queen cakes. Set them to dry in a warm place, but not near enough the fire to discolour the icing and cause it to crack.

Queen cakes are best the day they are baked.

FRUIT QUEEN CAKES.

Make them in the above manner, with the addition of a pound of currants, (picked, washed, dried, and floured,) and the juice and grated peel of two large lemons, stirred in gradually at the last.

Instead of currants, you may put in sultana or seedless raisins, cut in half and floured.

You may make a fruit pound cake in this manner.

LADY CAKE.

Take a quarter of a pound of sh.e.l.led bitter almonds, or peach-kernels.

Put them into a bowl of boiling water, (renewing the water as it cools) and let them lie in it till the skin peels off easily; then throw them, as they, are blanched, into a bowl of cold water, which will much improve their whiteness. Pound them, one at a time, in a mortar; pouring in frequently a few drops of rose water to prevent them from oiling and being heavy. Cut up three quarters of a pound of fresh b.u.t.ter into a whole pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Having warmed it, stir it to a light cream, and then add very gradually the pounded almonds, beating them in very hard. Sift into a separate pan half a pound and two ounces of flour, and beat in another pan to a stiff froth, the, whites only of seventeen eggs. Stir the flour and the white of egg alternately into the pan of b.u.t.ter, sugar and almonds, a very little at a time of each. Having beaten the whole as hard as possible, put it into a b.u.t.tered tin pan, (a square one is best,) and set it immediately into a moderate oven. Bake it about an hour, more or less, according to its thickness. When cool, ice it, flavouring the icing, with oil of lemon. It is best the day after it is baked, but it may be eaten fresh. When you put it away wrap it in a thick cloth.

If you bake it in little tins, use two ounces less of flour.

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