Take a stale sponge cake, cut it into four or five slices parallel with the bottom, so that the slices can be laid one on the other, and the shape of the cake can be preserved. Spread a thin layer of jam (raspberry or strawberry is best). Lay these slices of cake on the top of one another carefully. Next take, if the cake is a large one, half a pint of sherry, or raisin wine or cowslip wine; sweeten this with some sugar, and soak the cake thoroughly. Take a spoon; and ladle the wine that runs into the dish over the cake again. When the cake has absorbed all the wine, and the dish is almost dry, pour over the cake a rich custard rather thick. (See Custard.) Custard can always be made thicker by using more egg or less milk, and by stirring it for a longer time in the boiling water. Ornament the cake by sticking it all over like a hedgehog with blanched almonds cut into thin strips. (See Almonds, To Blanch.) A tipsy cake can also be ornamented with preserved cherries and angelica, the latter cut into little rounds the same size round as the cherries, which can be pressed rather flat; these can be placed in the custard on the cake, in rings alternate green and red.