In rolling out cakes made of dough, use as little flour as possible. When you lay them in the pans, do not place them too close together, lest they run into each other.
When you are cutting them out, dip the cutter frequently in flour, to prevent its slicking.
QUEEN CAKE.
One pound of powdered white sugar.
One pound of fresh butter--washed.
Fourteen ounces of sifted flour.
Ten eggs.
One wine-glass of wine and brandy, mixed.
Half a glass of rose-water, or twelve drops of essence of lemon.
One tea-spoonful of mace and cinnamon, mixed.
One nutmeg, beaten or grated.
Pound the spice to a fine powder, in a marble mortar, and sift it well.
Put the sugar into a deep earthen pan, and cut the butter into it.
Stir them together, till very light.
Beat the eggs in a broad shallow pan, till they are perfectly smooth and thick.
Stir into the butter and sugar a little of the beaten egg, and then a little flour, and so on alternately, a little egg and a little flour, till the whole is in; continuing all the time to beat the eggs, and stirring the mixture very hard. Add by degrees, the spice, and then the liquor, a little at a time. Finally, put in the rose-water, or essence of lemon. [Footnote: In buying essence or oil of lemon, endeavour to get that which is white, it being much the strongest and best. When it looks greenish, it is generally very weak, so that when used, a double or treble quantity is necessary.] Stir the whole very hard at the last.
Take about two dozen little tins, or more, if you have room for them in the oven. Rub them very well with fresh butter. With a spoon, put some of the mixture in each tin, but do not fill them to the top as the cakes will rise high in baking. Bake them in a quick oven, about a quarter of an hour. When they are done, they will shrink a little from the sides of the tins.
Before you fill your tins again, scrape them well with a knife, and wash or wipe them clean.
If the cakes are scorched by too hot a fire, do not scrape off the burnt parts till they have grown cold.
Make an icing with the whites of three eggs, beaten till it stands alone, and twenty-four tea-spoonfuls of the best loaf-sugar, powdered, and beaten gradually into the white of egg. Flavour it with a tea-spoonful of rose-water or eight drops of essence of lemon, stirred in at the last. Spread it evenly with a broad knife, over the top of each queen-cake, ornamenting them, (while the icing is quite wet) with red and green nonpareils, or fine sugar-sand, dropped on, carefully, with the thumb and finger.
When the cakes are iced, set them in a warm place to dry; but not too near the fire, as that will cause the icing to crack.
[Footnote: You may colour icing of a fine pink, by mixing with it a few drops of liquid cochineal; which is prepared by boiling very slowly in an earthen or china vessel twenty grains of cochineal powder, twenty grains of cream of tartar, and twenty grains of powdered alum, all dissolved in a gill of soft water, and boiled till reduced to one half. Strain it and cork it up in a small phial. Pink icing should be ornamented with white nonpareils.]
POUND CAKE.
One pound of flour, sifted.
One pound of white sugar, powdered and sifted.
One pound of fresh butter.
Ten eggs.
Half a glass of wine Half a glass of brandy }mixed.
Half a glass of rose-water / Twelve drops of essence of lemon.
A table-spoonful of mixed mace and cinnamon.
A nutmeg, powdered.
Pound the spice and sift it. There should be twice as much cinnamon as mace. Mix the cinnamon, mace, and nutmeg together.
Sift the flour in a broad pan, or wooden bowl. Sift the powdered sugar into a large deep pan, and cut the butter into it, in small pieces. If the weather is very cold, and the butter hard, set the pan near the fire for a few minutes; but if the butter is too warm, the cake will be heavy. Stir the butter and sugar together, with a wooden stick, till they are very light, and white, and look like cream.
Beat the eggs in a broad shallow pan with a wood egg-beater or whisk. They must be beaten till they are thick and smooth, and of the consistence of boiled custard.
Pour the liquor and rose-water, gradually, into the butter and sugar, stirring all the time. Add, by degrees, the essence of lemon and spice.
Stir the egg and flour alternately into the butter and sugar, a handful of flour, and about two spoonfuls of the egg (which you must continue to beat all the time,) and when all is in, stir the whole mixture very hard, for near ten minutes.
Butter a large tin pan, or a cake mould with an open tube rising from the middle. Put the mixture into it as evenly as possible.
Bake it in a moderate oven, for two, or three, or four hours, in proportion to its thickness, and to the heat of the fire.
When you think it is nearly done, thrust a twig or wooden skewer into it, down to the bottom. If the stick come out clean and dry, the cake is almost baked. When quite done, it will shrink from she sides of the pan, and cease making a noise. Then withdraw the coals (if baked in a dutch oven), take off the lid, and let the cake remain in the oven to cool gradually.
You may ice it either warm or cold. Before you put the icing on a large cake, dredge the cake all over with flour, and then wipe the flour off; this will make the icing stick on better--If you have sufficient time, the appearance of the cake will be much improved by icing it twice. Put on the first icing soon after the cake is taken out of the oven, and the second the next day when the first is perfectly dry. While the last icing is wet, ornament it with coloured sugar-sand or nonpareils.
BLACK CAKE, OR PLUM CAKE.
One pound of flour sifted.
One pound of fresh butter.
One pound of powdered white sugar.
Twelve eggs.
Two pounds of the best raisins.
Two pounds of currants.
Two table-spoonfuls of mixed spice, mace and cinnamon.
Two nutmegs powdered.
A large glass of wine A large glass of brandy }mixed together.
Half a glass of rose-water / A pound of citron.
Pick the currants very clean, and wash them, draining them through a colander. Wipe them in a towel. Spread them out on a large dish, and set them near the fire, or in the hot sun, to dry, placing the dish in a slanting position. Having stoned the raisins, cut them in half, and, when all are done, sprinkle them well with sifted flour, to prevent their sinking to the bottom of the cake. When the currants are dry, sprinkle them also with flour.
Pound the spice, allowing twice as much cinnamon as mace. Sift it, and mix the mace, nutmeg, cinnamon together. Mix also the liquor and rose-water in a tumbler or cup. Cut the citron in slips. Sift the flour into a broad dish. Sift the sugar into a deep earthen pan, and cut the butter into it. Warm it near the fire, if the weather is too cold for it to mix easily. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream.
Beat the eggs as light as possible. Stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately with the flour. Stir very hard. Add gradually the spice and liquor. Stir the raisins and currants alternately into the mixture, taking care that they are well floured. Stir the whole as hard as possible, for ten minutes after the ingredients are in.
Cover the bottom and sides of a large tin or earthen pan, with sheets of white paper well buttered, and put into it some of the mixture. Then spread on it some of the citron, which must not be cut too small. Next put a layer of the mixture, and then a layer of citron, and so on till it is all in, having a layer of the mixture at the top.
This cake is always best baked in a baker's oven, and will require four or five hours, in proportion to its thickness. [Footnote: After this cake is done, it will be the better for withdrawing the fire (if baked in an iron oven) and letting it stay in the oven all night, or till it gets quite cold.] Ice it the next day.
SPONGE CAKE.
Twelve eggs.
Ten ounces of sifted flour, dried near the fire.
A pound of loaf sugar, powdered and sifted.
Twelve drops of essence of lemon.
A grated nutmeg.
A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace, mixed.
Beat the eggs as light as possible. Eggs for sponge or almond cakes require more beating than for any other purpose. Beat the sugar, by degrees, into the eggs. Beat very hard, and continue to beat some time after the sugar is all in.