Christmas Cake

One pound flour, one-half pound almonds, one pound sugar, three-quarters pound butter, six eggs, two teaspoonfuls of cream-tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, and half teacup of milk. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add eggs and milk, in which dissolve the soda, put the cream of tartar in flour, beat this all well, and then stir in the blanched almonds; line a cake-tin with well-buttered paper. Bake in a steady but not too hot oven.

Birthday Cake

Half pound butter, half pound sifted sugar, four eggs, one pound flour, half pound dried currants, half pound raisins, two ounces candied orange-peel or citron, twelve almonds, a tea-spoonful of baking-powder, and a teaspoonful of mixed spice. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs well beaten, the flour, and the fruit picked and floured. When all are well mixed, stir in the baking-powder last. The almonds must be blanched and chopped, and the orange-peel or citron shredded fine. Mix very thoroughly; pour into a well-buttered tin lined with buttered paper, and bake four hours in a moderate oven. The cake may be iced, if desired.

Little Plum Cakes

Two pounds flour, half pound sugar, four eggs, half pound butter, six spoonfuls of cream, and half pound currants. Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, first washing the butter in rose-water; add the eggs well beaten, then the cream a little warm, then the flour and currants, the latter well washed and dried; mix well, and make into small cakes, or bake in very small ound tin pans in a tolerably hot oven. Frostathem, and put a sugar ornament on each one.

Citron Cake

Twelve eggs, one pound sugar, one pound butter, the rind and juice of a lemon, one pound flour, a grated nutmeg. Cut two pounds citron into small, thin pieces, rub them in flour, and, just before baking, add the citron to the cake-batter; divide in two parts, and bake in a rather quick oven in well-buttered moulds.

Scotch Cake

Stir to a cream one pound sugar, three-quarters pound butter, add the grated rind and juice of a lemon; separate the whites and yolks of nine eggs and beat each to a froth; stir into the cake, and add one pound sifted flour; stir fifteen minutes, and just before putting into cake-pans, which must be lined with buttered paper, add one pound raisins; spice to taste, and bake one hour.

A Very Good Plain Cake

Rub eight ounces of butter into two pounds of flour; mix it with three teaspoonfuls of yeast, which must not be bitter; work it to a paste. Let it rise before the fire for an hour and a half, then mix in the whites and yolks of four eggs, beaten apart, one pound of sugar, three parts of a pint of milk, a glass of raisin wine, the grated rind of a lemon, and a small teaspoonful of pounded ginger. You may add currants or carraway seed, whichever may be preferred.

Sponge Cake

Pare a good-sized lemon thin, put the peeling into a quarter of a pint of water, let it stand some hours. When about to make the cake, put three-quarters of a pound of sugar into a saucepan, pour the water and peel upon it, and let it stand by the fire to get hot. Break eight eggs into a deep earthen vessel that has been made quite hot; whisk the eggs for a few minutes with a whisk that has been dipped in hot water; make the sugar and water boil up, and pour it boiling hot over the eggs; continue to whisk them briskly for a quarter of an hour; have one pound of flour well dried and quite warm from the fire; just stir it lightly in. Put the cake into tins lined with white paper, and bake them immediately in a moderately hot oven.

Chocolate Cake

Two small cups of sugar, half a cup of butter, three eggs, one cup of milk, four ounces of chocolate, three cups of flour, one tablespoonful of vanilla extract, one teaspoonful of soda, two of cream of tartar; mix the cake first, and when it is well beaten, take the chocolate, and stir it in carefully. This makes an excellent cake.

Marion Cake

Put together in a pan fourteen ounces of sifted loaf sugar, the yolks of eight eggs, eight ounces of fine white flour, and a table-spoonful of orange-flower water. Beat all together till thoroughly mixed. Whip a pint of cream till light, and whisk the whites of the eight eggs to a thick froth. Beat these into the other ingredients, and put in a pan lined with buttered paper. Bake in a quick oven half an hour.

Plain Cake

To two pounds of flour add half a pound of beef-dripping or bacon-fat, half a pound of sultanas, four ounces of moist sugar, one ounce of lemon-peel, a little salt. Let the flour be dried, then rub into it the dripping, taking care that both are well mixed and free from lumps; shred the lemon-peel finely, and add with the salt, sugar and sultanas, these latter being thoroughly freed from the stalks and gritty matter. Rub all together; make a hole in the centre of the mass, and pour in a tablespoonful of fresh brewers' yeast; then, with warm water, mix the whole well till it is of the consistence of moist dough; well cover, and stand in a warm place to rise, then bake in tins. This quantity will make two large cakes, each of which will take an hour and a half to bake in a moderate oven. If yeast is not procurable, a tablespoonful of Borwick's baking-powder may be substituted; then the cake may be at once put into the tins and consigned to the oven.

Little Almond Cakes

Four ounces sweet almonds and four or five bitter ones, three-quarters pound flour, one pound sugar powdered and sifted, six ounces butter, and the yolk of one egg. Pound the almonds, rub the butter into the flour, and then mix all well together. Bake in buttered tins.