Take of flour half a pound; b.u.t.ter, four ounces; sugar, four ounces; two eggs; carbonate of ammonia, one drachm; white wine, enough to mix to a proper consistence. Cut out with a gla.s.s.

2107. Ginger Cakes.

To two pounds of flour add three quarters of a pound of good moist sugar, one ounce best Jamaica ginger well mixed in the flour; have ready three quarters of a pound of lard, melted, and four eggs well beaten: mix the lard and eggs together, and stir into the flour, which will form a paste; roll out in thin cakes, and bake in a moderately heated oven. Lemon biscuits may be made in a similar way, by subst.i.tuting essence of lemon for ginger.

2108. Sponge Cake (1).

(_Very Easy Method_.)--The following receipt is as excellent as it is simple, it gives less trouble than any other, and has never been known to fail:--Take five eggs and half a pound of loaf sugar, sifted; break the eggs upon the sugar, and beat all together with a steel fork for half an hour. Previously take the weight of two eggs and a half, in their sh.e.l.ls, of flour. After you have beaten the eggs and sugar the time specified, grate in the rind of a lemon (the juice may be added at pleasure), stir in the flour, and immediately pour it into a tin lined with b.u.t.tered paper, and let it be instantly put into rather a cool oven.

2109. Sponge Cake (2).

Take equal weight of eggs and sugar; half their weight in sifted flour; to twelve eggs add the grated rind of three lemons, and the juice of two. Beat the eggs carefully, white and yolks separately, before they are used. Stir the materials thoroughly together, and bake in a quick oven.

2110. Almond Sponge Cake.

Almond Sponge Cake is made by adding blanched almonds to the above.

2111. Yule Cake.

Take one pound of fresh b.u.t.ter; one pound of sugar; one pound and a half of flour; two pounds of currants; a gla.s.s of brandy; one pound of sweetmeats; two ounces of sweet almonds; ten eggs; a quarter of an ounce of allspice; and a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon. Melt the b.u.t.ter to a cream, and put in the sugar. Stir it till quite light, adding the allspice and pounded cinnamon; in a quarter of an hour, take the yolks of the eggs, and work them two or three at a time; and the whites of the same must by this time be beaten into a strong snow, quite ready to work in. As the paste must not stand to chill the b.u.t.ter, or it will be heavy, work in the whites gradually, then add the orange peel, lemon, and citron, cut in fine strips, and the currants, which must be mixed in well, with the sweet almonds; then add the sifted flour and gla.s.s of brandy. Bake this cake in a tin hoop, in a hot oven, for three hours, and put twelve sheets of paper under it to keep it from burning.

2112. Cake of Mixed Fruits.

Extract the juice from red currants by simmering them very gently for a few minutes over a slow fire; strain it through folded muslin, and to one pound of the juice add a pound and a half of freshly gathered cooking apples, pared, and rather deeply cored, that the fibrous part may be avoided. Boil these quite slowly until the mixture is perfectly smooth; then, to evaporate part of the moisture, let the boiling be quickened. In from twenty-five to thirty minutes, draw the pan from the fire, and throw in gradually a pound and a quarter of sugar in fine powder; mix it well with the fruit, and when it is dissolved, continue the boiling rapidly for twenty minutes longer, keeping the mixture constantly stirred; put it into a mould, and store it, when cold, for winter use, or serve it for dessert, or for the second course; in the latter case, decorate it with spikes of almonds, blanched, and heap solid whipped cream round it, or pour a custard into the dish. For dessert, it may be garnished with dice of the palest apple jelly.

[PLAIN WORDS MAKE THE MOST ORNAMENTAL SENTENCES.]

2113. Banbury Cakes.

Roll out the paste about half an inch thick, and cut it into pieces; then roll again till each piece becomes twice the size; put some Banbury meat in the middle of one side; fold the other over it, and pinch it up into a somewhat oval shape; flatten it with your hand at the top, letting the seam be quite at the bottom; rub the tops over with the white of an egg, laid on with a brush, and dust loaf sugar over them: bake in a moderate oven.

2114. Meat for Banbury Cakes.

The meat for Banbury cakes is made thus:--Beat up a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter until it becomes in the state of cream; then mix with it half a pound of candied orange and lemon peel, cut fine; one pound of currants, a quarter of an ounce of ground cinnamon; and a quarter of an ounce of allspice: mix all well together, and keep in a jar till wanted for use.

2115. Bath Buns.

A quarter of a pound of flour; four yolks and three whites of eggs, with four spoonfuls of solid fresh yeast. Beat in a bowl, and set before the fire to rise; then rub into one pound of flour ten ounces of b.u.t.ter; put in half a pound of sugar, and caraway comfits; when the eggs and yeast are pretty light, mix by degrees all together; throw a cloth over it, and set before the fire to rise. Make the buns, and when on the tins, brush over with the yolk of egg and milk; strew them with caraway comfits; bake in a quick oven. If baking powder is used instead of yeast, use two teaspoonfuls, and proceed as directed, omitting to set the dough before the fire to rise, which is useless as regards all articles made with baking powder.

2116. Belvidere Cake for Breakfast or Tea.

Take a quart of flour; four eggs; a piece of b.u.t.ter the size of an egg; a piece of lard the same size: mix the b.u.t.ter and lard well in the flour; beat the eggs light in a pint bowl, and fill it up with cold milk; then pour it gradually into the flour; add a teaspoonful of salt; work it for eight or ten minutes only: cut the dough with a knife to the size you wish it; roll them into cakes about the size of a breakfast plate, and bake in a quick oven.

2117. To Make Gingerbread Cake.

Take one pound and a half of treacle; one and a half ounces of ground ginger; half an ounce of caraway seeds; two ounces of allspice; four ounces of orange peel, shred fine; half a pound of sweet b.u.t.ter; six ounces of blanched almonds; one pound of honey; and one and a half ounces of carbonate of soda; with as much fine flour as makes a dough of moderate consistence.

_Directions for making._ Make a pit in five pounds of flour; then pour in the treacle, and all the other ingredients, creaming the b.u.t.ter; then mix them altogether into a dough; work it well; then put in three quarters of an ounce of tartaric acid, and put the dough into a b.u.t.tered pan, and bake for two hours in a cool oven. To know when it is ready, plunge a fork into it, and if it comes out sticky, put the cake in the oven again; if not it is ready. This is a good and simple test, which may be resorted to in baking bread and all kinds of cakes.

2118. Pic-Nic Biscuits.

Take two ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter, and well work it with a pound of flour. Mix thoroughly with it half a saltspoonful of pure carbonate of soda, two ounces of sugar; mingle thoroughly with the flour, make up the paste with spoonfuls of milk; it will require scarcely a quarter of a pint. Knead smooth, roll a quarter of an inch thick, cut in rounds about the size of the top of a small winegla.s.s; roll these out thin, p.r.i.c.k them well, lay them on lightly floured tins, and bake in a gentle oven until crisp. When cold put into dry canisters. Thin cream used instead of milk, in the mixture will enrich the biscuits. To obtain variety caraway seeds or ginger can be added at pleasure.

[A DUEL IS FOLLY PLAYING AT MURDER.]

2119. Ginger Biscuits and Cakes.

Work into small crumbs three ounces of b.u.t.ter, two pounds of flour, and three ounces of powdered sugar and two of ginger, in fine powder; knead into a stiff paste, with new milk; roll thin, cut out with a cutter: bake in a slow oven until crisp through; keep of a pale colour. Additional sugar may be used when a sweeter biscuit is desired. For good ginger cakes, b.u.t.ter six ounces, sugar eight, for each pound of flour; wet the ingredients into a paste with eggs: a little lemon-peel grated will give an agreeable flavour.

2120. Sugar Biscuits.

Cut the b.u.t.ter into the flour. Add the sugar and caraway seeds. Pour in the brandy, and then the milk. Lastly, put in the soda. Stir all well with a knife, and mix it thoroughly, till it becomes a lump of dough. Flour your pasteboard, and lay the dough on it. Knead it very well. Divide it into eight or ten pieces, and knead each piece separately. Then put them all together, and knead them very well into one lump. Cut the dough in half, and lay it out into sheets, about half an inch thick. Beat the sheets of dough very hard on both sides with the rolling pin. Cut them out into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. b.u.t.ter tins and lay the cakes on them. Bake them of a very pale brown. If done too much they will lose their taste. Let the oven be hotter at the top than at the bottom. These cakes kept in a stone jar, closely covered from the air, will continue perfectly good for several months.

2121. Lemon Sponge.

For a quart mould--dissolve two ounces of isingla.s.s in a pint and three quarters of water; strain it, and add three quarters of a pound of sifted loaf sugar, the juice of six lemons and the rind of one; boil the whole for a few minutes, strain it again, and let it stand till quite cold and just beginning to stiffen; then beat the whites of two eggs, and put them to it, and whisk till it is quite white; put it into a mould, which must be first wetted with cold water. Salad oil is much better than water for preparing the mould for turning out jelly, blancmange, &c., but great care must be taken not to pour the jelly into the mould till _quite cool_, or the oil will float on the top, and after it is turned out it must be carefully wiped over with a clean cloth. This plan only requires to be tried once to be invariably adopted.

2122. Almond Custards.

Blanch and pound fine, with half a gill of rose water, six ounces of sweet and half an ounce of bitter almonds; boil a pint of milk, with a few coriander seeds, a little cinnamon, and some lemon-peel; sweeten it with two ounces and a half of sugar, rub the almonds through a fine sieve, with a pint of cream; strain the milk to the yolks of eight eggs, and the whites of three well beaten; stir it over a fire till it is of a good thickness, take it off the fire, and stir it till nearly cold, to prevent its curdling.

2123. Arrowroot Blancmange.

A teacupful of arrowroot to a pint of milk; boil the milk with twelve sweet and six bitter almonds, blanched and beaten; sweeten with loaf sugar, and strain it; break the arrowroot with a little of the milk as smooth as possible; pour the boiling milk upon it by degrees, stir the while; put it back into the pan and boil a few minutes, still stirring: dip the shape in cold water before you put it in, and turn it out when cold.

2124. Red Currant Jelly.

With three parts of fine ripe red currants mix one of white currants; put them into a clean preserving-pan, and stir them gently over a clear fire until the juice flows from them freely; then turn them in a fine hair sieve, and let them drain well, but without pressure. Pa.s.s the juice through a folded muslin, or a jelly bag; weigh it, and then boil it _fast_ for a quarter of an hour; add for each pound, eight ounces of sugar coa.r.s.ely powdered, stir this to it off the fire until it is dissolved, give the jelly eight minutes more of quick boiling, and pour it out. It will be firm, and of excellent colour and flavour.

Be sure to clean off the sc.u.m as it rises, both before and after the sugar is put in, or the preserve will not be clear. Juice of red currants, three pounds; juice of white currants, one pound: fifteen minutes. Sugar, two pounds: eight minutes. An excellent jelly may be made with equal parts of the juice of red and of white currants, and of raspberries, with the same proportion of sugar and degree of boiling as mentioned in the foregoing receipt.