Preliminary Hints And Observations

BefoRe you begin to make any cake, take care that all your ingredients are ready to your hand. Beat up your eggs well, and then do not leave them to go about any thing else till your cake is finished, as the eggs, by standing unmixed, will require beating again, which will contribute to make the cake heavy. If butter is put into the cakes, be sure to beat it to a fine cream before sugar is added, otherwise it will require double the beating, and after all will not answer the purpose so well. Cakes made with rice, seeds, or plumbs, are best baked in wooden garths; for when baked either in pots or tins, the outside of the cakes will be burned, and will besides be so much confined, that the heat cannot penetrate into the middle of the cake, which will prevent it from rising. All kinds of cakes must be baked in a good oven, heated according to the size of the cake.

A Rich Cake

Take seven pounds of currants washed and rubbed, four pounds of flour dried and sifted, six pounds of the best fresh butter, and two pounds of Jordan almonds, blanched and beat-en with orange flower water till fine; four pounds of eggs, but leave out the whites; three pounds of double-refined sugar beaten and sifted ; a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same of cloves and cinnamon, and three large nutmegs, all beaten fine ; a little ginger, half a pint of sack, half a pint of French brandy, and sweetmeats, such as orange, lemon, and citron, to the liking. Before mixing the ingredients, work the butter to a cream. Then add the sugar, and work them well together. Let the eggs be well beaten and strained through a sieve : work in the almonds, then put in the eggs, and beat them together till they look white and thick. Then put in the sack, brandy, and spices ; shake in the flour by degrees, and when the oven is ready, put in the currants and sweetmeats, as it is put into the hoop. Put it into a quick oven, and four hours will bake it. Remember to keep beating it with the hand whilst mixing it; and when the currants are well washed and cleaned, let them be kept before the fire, that they may go warm into the cake. This quantity will bake best in two hoops, it being too large for one.

Plum Cake

To a pound and a half of fine flour, well dried, put the same quantity of butter, three quarters, of a pound of currants washed and well picked; stone and slice half a pound of raisins, eighteen ounces of sugar beat and sifted, and fourteen eggs, leaving out half the whites; shred the peel of a large lemon exceeding fine, three ounces of candied orange, the same of lemon, a tea spoonful of beaten mace, half a nutmeg grated, a tea-cupful of brandy, or white wine, and four ' spoonsful of orange flower. First work the butter with the hand to a cream, then beat the sugar well in, whisk the eggs for half an hour, then mix them with the sugar and butter, and put in the flour and spices. The whole will take an hour and a half beating. When the oven is ready, mix in lightly the brandy, fruit, and sweetmeats, then put it into the hoop, and bake it two hours and a half.