Peach Sponge

Strain the juice from a can of preserved peaches and pass the fruit through a fine hair-sieve, then beat it up with the juice and a small quantity of sugar. Put one ounce of isinglass in a basin with one-half pint of cream, let it steep for some time, then stand the basin in a stewpan containing boiling water, and stir the contents until the isinglass has dissolved. Mix the fruit pulp with the cream and stir it, out of the water, until nearly cold. Whisk the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, stir them in with the cream, and pile it up high in the center of a glass dish. Select several small thickly-berried sprays of holly and brush each leaf carefully over with a strong solution of gum arabic, strew powdered sugar over and leave them until dry. Arrange the sprays of holly round the sponge, and serve.

Strawberry Sponge

Pick the stems from one quart of strawberries, mash and mix one teacupful of powdered sugar with them. Put one teacupful of crushed loaf-sugar in a saucepan with one-half pint of water and boil it gently for twenty minutes, then mix with it one ounce of gelatine that has been soaked for two hours in a teacupful of water, and remove it from the fire at once, Pass the strawberries through a fine hair-sieve and mix them with the syrup. Stand the bowl containing the above mixture on ice, and beat it for five minutes, then add the whipped whites of four eggs and continue beating until the mixture begins to thicken. Turn the sponge out of the moulds onto fancy dishes, dust a little powdered sugar on the top, pour a little whipped cream round, and serve.