Knutsford Cake

Take half a pound of butter, a quarter-ounce of ground ginger, the finely-chopped zest of two oranges, a pinch of turmeric powder and ground cinnamon, mix up into a creamy consistency; then add six ounces of castor sugar and mix again for several minutes; add by degrees ten ounces of fine flour that has been sifted and the strained juice of the two oranges, a saltspoonful of vanilla essence, and five whole eggs that have been well beaten up with a whisk; when well mixed together add half an ounce of Cowan's Baking Powder. Take a plain cake-tin, brush it over with warm butter, then line it with a well-greased paper, and put the prepared cake mixture into it in layers with very thinly-cut slices of candied lemon and citron peel, putting the cake mixture about one inch deep and then the peel, and continuing in the same way till the mixture is used up. Bake in a moderate oven for about one hour till a nice golden colour; then turn out, remove the paper, and use when cold for tea, etc.

Milan Cakes

Work half a pound of butter to a creamy consistency with the peels of one lemon and of two oranges, then add half a pound of castor sugar, mix well together for about ten minutes; then stir into it four raw yolks of eggs and ten ounces of fine flour, mixing by degrees; flavour with a tablespoonful of orange-flower water and a teaspoonful of vanilla essence, and mix in a quarter-pound of finely-chopped cocoanut, or have the whites of the eggs whipped stiff with a pinch of salt and mix into the cake; put half an ounce of Cowan's Baking Powder and two tablespoonfuls of cold milk to the other ingredients just before baking. Take some greased baking-tins and cover them with buttered foolscap paper, and then put the prepared mixture into a forcing bag with a plain pipe and force it out at a good distance apart into little rounds on the tins; stick some shredded cocoanut on the top of each, and dust over with icing sugar, and bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes till a nice golden colour; then remove from the paper, and when cold dish up on a paper and serve for tea, dessert, etc.

Mexican Cake

Put half a pound of butter into a basin with the finely-chopped peel of two lemons, four ounces of crystallised ginger chopped very fine, an eighth of an ounce each of ground ginger and mixed spice, stir together till the mixture presents a creamy appearance, then mix in a half-pound of castor sugar and continue the mixing for about six minutes; add four whole well-beaten-up raw eggs, a quarter-pound of golden syrup, one wineglassful of brandy and one of Noyeau or Maraschino, half a pound of corn meal, and a quarter of whole meal, half a pound of candied peel cut into long thin slices, a quarter-pound of dried cherries cut into quarters, and one ounce of Cowan's Baking Powder. Put the mixture in a large buttered brioche cake-tin about three inches deep, cover the top entirely with halves of blanched Jordan almonds, and put it to bake for rather more than one hour in a moderate oven till a nice golden colour. The cooking of the cake can be tested by piercing the cake with a skewer, if the skewer leaves the cake clear the mixture is done; then turn out and brush over the top of the cake with golden syrup, using a paste brush for the purpose. When cold serve for tea, etc. The mixture is also very nice baked in small moulds.