Crisp Oatmeal Cakes

Rub half-a-pound of dripping or lard into half-a-pound of oatmeal into which you have mixed a large pinch of carbonate of soda and of salt. Make into a dough with a gill of cold water, shake meal plentifully on the board, turn your dough on to it, and having sprinkled this also with meal, work it with the backs of your fingers as little as possible. Roll the dough out to the thickness of a crown-piece, cut in shapes - the lid of a saucepan or a glass answers very well for this purpse, - put the cakes on a hot stove, and, when a little brown on the under side, take them off and place on a hanger before the fire in order to brown the upper side; this done, the cakes will be ready for use. If to be kept, put away the cakes in a tin box in a dry place, and when required for table put them in the oven for five minutes to warm them through and re-crisp them.

Wafer Oat Cakes

Pour a gill of boiling water on to half-a-pound of oatmeal into which a large pinch of salt has been mixed, make it into a dough, turn it on to a board well covered with meal, work very slightly, roll it out as thin as possible, cut into shapes, and bake as in foregoing recipe.

Scotch Potato Scones

Rub one pound of cold boiled potatoes through a sieve, put them on the baking-board, and scatter over them seven ounces of flour. Work first with the rolling-pin into a paste, then a little with the hand until smooth. Strew flour heavily on the board and over the paste, which roll out about the thickness of half-a-crown and cut it into shapes. Lay the scones on a hot stove; when a little brown on one side, turn and finish on the other. Serve hot in a folded napkin.

Scotch Soda Scones

Put into a basin one pound of flour, one teaspoonful of carbonate of soda, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and a large pinch of salt. Mix these ingredients well together, then pour in half-a-pint of butter-milk, or sour milk, and make them into a paste. Turn it out on to a baking-board thickly covered with flour, work a little with the hand to make it smooth, then dust the paste well with flour and roll out to the thickness of a quarter-of-an-inch, cut the paste into shapes, which lay on a hot stove, and as soon as a little done on one side turn on the other, and bake until the raised parts are slightly brown. When the scones are done serve, or, if required cold, place them in a cloth, which will soften them, and let them lie until wanted.

In Scotland scones and oat-cakes are baked on a girdle, but as this is not used in England, the hot-plate must be substituted, and will be found to answer very well.

Rich Plum Or Bride Cake

One pound of butter beaten to a cream with a pound of sifted sugar, then twelve eggs beaten in two at a time, and when all are in, and the batter whisked for three-quarters of an hour, stir in gradually and thoroughly one pound of dried and sifted flour, then add a pound-and-a-half of currants and the same quantity of raisins, both chopped, a quarter of a pound of bitter almonds pounded, half-a-pound of candy peel minced very fine, the grated rind of an orange and a lemon, and a gill of brandy. If there is any suspicion that the cake will not be light, a teaspoonful of home-made baking-powder should be mixed in the moment before putting the cake into the tin, but this addition is not legitimate, and should be avoided if possible, as it is apt to make the cake dry. Pour the cake into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake for two hours, or until perfectly done.

Rich plum cakes may, if preferred, be made by the method for Madeira cakes, by altering the proportions, and increasing the quantities of flour and butter to those given above.