Mix a pinch of salt and a dessertspoonful of baking-powder with one pound of flour. Rub into this a quarter of a pound of good beef-dripping, and add a quarter of a pound of sugar, and half a pound of picked and dried currants, a quarter of an ounce of finely-minced lemon-peel, and half a nutmeg grated. Make the mixture into a stiff dough with new milk, pour it into a buttered tin, and bake immediately for about an hour. Probable cost, lOd. Sufficient for a moderate-sized cake.

Plain Plum Cake Made With Baker's Dough

Those who are not in the habit of making bread at home often find it difficult to make dough. This difficulty may be easily overcome if they will procure a little dough from the baker's, and proceed as follows: - Take two pounds of dough. Put it at once into a basin, cover with a thick cloth, and let it rise. Place it on a floured paste-board, sprinkle over it a teaspoonful of baking-powder, and add a quarter of a pound of lard or butter broken into small pieces, a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, a quarter of a pound of stoned raisins, a quarter of a pound of washed and dried currants, a few caraway seeds, if liked, and a grated nutmeg. Knead thoroughly with as much lukewarm milk as is necessary. Butter some tins; half fill them with the dough, place them on the hearth until the dough has risen so that they are three parts full, then bake the cakes in a well-heated oven. Plunge a knife into the middle of each; when it comes out clean they are done enough. Time to bake, one to two hours, according to the size of the tins. Probable cost, 1s. 3d. Sufficient for three small cakes.

Rich Plum Cake

Put a pound and a half of butter into a good-sized bowl, and beat it to a cream. (See No. 27.) Mix with it the whites of eight fresh eggs (see 15) whisked to a froth, and afterwards the yolks well beaten, and add a dessertspoonful of salt, a pound of powdered sugar, a pound and a half of flour, two pounds of currants washed, picked, and dried, eight ounces each of candied lemon and citron cut into narrow strips, half an ounce of mixed spices, consisting of nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice, all pounded to a powder, half a pound of almonds, blanched (see Almonds, To Blanch) and pounded, the rind of four oranges rubbed upon three or four lumps of sugar and then powdered. Add each ingredient separately, and beat it well in before adding another. A wine-glassful of brandy may be stirred in if liked. If this cake is to be light, it should be beaten fully three quarters of an hour. Line a tin with double folds of buttered paper, pour in the mixture, and bake the cake in a moderate oven. Put twelve folds of paper under the cake, and four or five on the top of it, to prevent it burning. Time to bake, three hours if made in one cake, one hour and a half each if made into two. Probable cost, 5s. 6d., without the brandy. Sufficient for one large or two small cakes.