Fruitcake

“ Pancakes should be made of half a pint of milk, three great spoonfuls of sugar, one or two eggs, a tea-spoonful of dissolved pearlash, spiced with cinnamon, or cloves, a little salt, rose-water, or lemon-brandy, just as you happen to have it. Flour should be stirred in till the spoon moves round with difficulty. If they are thin, they are apt to soak fat. Have the fat in your skillet boiling hot, and drop them in with a spoon. Let them cook till thoroughly brown. The fat which is left is good to shorten other cakes. The more fat they are cooked in, the less they soak. ”

“ Again, cakes that contain no fruit can, at the same time, be made exceedingly rich, the richness chiefly depending upon the amount of butter and eggs that are used. We will first give a few directions with regard to making what may be termed plain cakes, i.e., cakes that contain no fruit at all. Perhaps the best model we can give to illustrate the general principles will be that of a pound cake. The recipe is a very easy one to recollect, as a pound cake means one that is made from a pound of butter, a pound of sugar, a pound of eggs, and a pound of flour. ”

“ Then commence to fill up the mould in layers of currants, seedless raisins, sliced citron, and chopped almonds, then a layer of cake, until it is full. Make ready a custard of one pint of milk, the yolks of two eggs, a quarter of a pound of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of extract of lemon, rose, or almonds; let it simmer a little, but not enough to curdle, as it will certainly do if allowed to stay too long on the fire. When it simmers, take it off, and let it cool a little. When only lukewarm pour it over the fruit and cake in the mould. Cover tightly, and bury it in ice and salt. ”

“ Another time, if you make this cake, you may put rose-water or peach-water instead of the wine, and chopped candied lemon-peel instead of the grated peel. You see the batter is much thicker than for the cup cake you made, but if at any time you use flour that absorbs more moisture, you must add another egg; this is, as it should be, as thick as pound-cake batter,—which means, as thick as can be stirred. It is more a paste than a batter. Will you remember that, when you have a recipe which says ‘thick as pound-cake batter’? Any cake with baking-powder made as thick as this would be spoiled. ”

“ When the cakes are cool, spread every one thickly over with grape jelly, peach marmalade, or any other sweetmeat that is smooth and thick; currant jelly will be found too thin, and is liable to run off. Lay the cakes smoothly one on another, (each having a layer of jelly or marmalade between,) and either grate loaf-sugar over the top one, or ice it smoothly; marking the icing with cross lines of coloured sugar-sand, all the lines meeting at the centre so as to divide the cake, when cut, into triangular or wedge-shaped slices. If you ice it, add the juice of a lemon to the icing. ”

“ When all are mixed in, and the cake looks very light, add the spice, fruit, almonds, and half a pint of brandy; set it in a well heated oven to bake; when it has risen, and the top is beginning to brown, cover it with paper; let it bake four hours, and when it is nearly cool, ice it. This will keep a long time in a stone pan, covered close.
A cheaper Fruit Cake.
Take four pounds of flour, three of butter, three of sugar, two of raisins, one of currants, two dozen eggs, an ounce of mace, three nutmegs, and a half pint of brandy; if you want it dark, put in a little molasses ”

“ If only you could see the things we made!--apple and lemon tarts, and mince and cranberry 'turnovers,' and doughnuts all twisted into a sort of French bow-knot such as Gabrielle used to make of her back hair, and a queer kind of cake they call 'marble,' all streaky with chocolate and white, and butternut candy made with maple sugar, and an Indian pudding, and little bits of nut-cakes with a small piece of currant jelly inside and all powdered sugar out ”

“ Cake flour is recommended because it makes the finest cakes. But if all-purpose flour is used, add milk and vanilla after dropping in Spry, and beat 200 strokes. Add egg and beat 100 strokes.
[10] Cake flour is recommended because it makes the finest cakes. But if all-purpose flour is used, reduce flour 2 tablespoons, and follow directions in recipe. Transcriber’s Notes “Spry’s” is a mostly-defunct brand of vegetable shortening that competed with the now-better-known Crisco. ”

“ A lardy-cake is an oblong, flat cake, crossed with lines, and rounded at the corners, made of dough, lard, sugar, and spice. Our ancestors liked something to gnaw at, and did not go in for lightness in their pastry; they liked something to stick to their teeth, and after that to their ribs. The lardy-cake eminently fulfilled these conditions; they put a trifle of sugar and spice in it, to set it going as it were, and the rest depended on the strength of the digestion. But if a ploughboy could get a new, warm lardy-cake, fresh from the oven, he thought himself blessed. ”

“ Spread the flat sides with an icing colored green. Blanch some almonds, split them, and cut them in strips. Arrange them in a circle, and place in the center a little icing mixed with yolk of egg to color it yellow; or the icing can be white and the almonds colored in the oven to a light yellow.
No. 3. Medallion fruit-cakes. Use a sponge- or a cup-cake mixture and bake it in gem-pans. If they rise in the center cut off the tops to even them. Invert them, and with a small cutter stamp a circle in the center of each one and take out a thin layer of the cake. ”

“ Make a meringue quickly as possible and pour over the cakes and bake a light brown.
FRESH PRUNE CAKE (KUCHEN) Line a greased biscuit-pan with some of the coffee cake dough. Roll the dough thin and let it come up on the sides of the pan, then set aside to rise. When risen, cut the prunes in halves (they must be the fresh ones, not dried) , lay in rows thickly and close together all over the bottom of the pan, do not leave any space between the prunes. Sprinkle very thickly with sugar, lightly with cinnamon, and lay bits of fresh butter all over the top. Bake until done in a moderately hot oven. ”

“ Do not cut more at a [301] time than you are likely to use, as it is not good when dry. Jelly-cakes are best set away upon plates, cloths wrapped closely about them, and a box enclosing all.
Cream your sugar and butter, measure milk, spices, etc., before beginning work. For fruit-cake it is best to prepare the materials the day before. Let your icing dry thoroughly before wrapping up the cake.
Sift your flour before measuring, as all the following receipts are for sifted flour.
Icing. ✠ Whites of 4 eggs. 1 pound powdered white sugar. Lemon, vanilla, or other seasoning. ”

“ Stir well and strain into mould or small cups.
=Strawberry Shortcake, No. 1=
1 Pint of Flour 1/3 Cupful of Lard A little Salt Milk enough to make a stiff dough 1 Box of Strawberries 2 Teaspoonfuls of Cream of Tartar 1 Teaspoonful of Soda
Put the salt, soda, lard and cream of tartar, into the dry flour, mix with milk (water will do) , divide into halves and roll large enough for a Washington pie tin. Spread butter over one, lay the other on top, bake twenty minutes. Hull and wash and mash the berries and sweeten to taste. Separate the two cakes, butter, and place the berries between. Serve hot. ”

“ Put the flour in the sieve and cream of tartar, sieve through. Mix and bake in lunch cake pans. Grease heavy. Bake in good heat, 600 degrees F. When baked and cool, ice with chocolate icing. Sold for one cent each, or six for five cents.
Tutti Frutti Cake.
Tutti Frutti Cake is made with ordinary cake mixture, any price you may wish, usually baked in pound moulds, covered on top with assorted fruit glace, including Almonds, Figs, Cherries, Apricots, etc., chopped fine and mixed with water icing. Some use whipped cream and as layer cake.
Velvet Cake. 11⁄2 lbs. Sugar. 3⁄4 lb. Butter. 9 Eggs. ”

“ Two teaspoonfuls of baking powder will serve the same end. Mix as directed in “Practical Preliminaries,” and bake in small tins.
Jelly-cake
Is made by mixing the above cup-cake, leaving out the flavoring, and baking it in “jelly-cake tins,” turning these out when almost cold by running a knife around the edges, and spreading all but that intended for the top with a thick coating of fruit-jelly. Sift white sugar over the upper one or frost it.
Cream-cake.
Mix a cup-cake without spice or other flavoring, bake in jelly-cake tins, and when cold spread between the layers this filling:
One egg. ”

“ Never stir cake after the final beating, remembering that beating motion should always be the last used. Fruit, when added to cake, is usually floured to prevent its settling to the bottom. This is not necessary if it is added directly after the sugar, which is desirable in all dark 499cakes. If a light fruit cake is made, fruit added in this way discolors the loaf. Citron is first cut in thin slices, then in strips, floured, and put in between layers of cake mixtures. Raisins are seeded and cut, rather than chopped. To seed raisins, wet tips of fingers in a cup of warm water. ”

“ Or, having lined a basin or mould, or small tin cups with any convenient cake, such as lady fingers, sliced savoy cake, or yellow lady cake, fill them with mock cream, blanc-mange or custard, made from the yolks of eggs; let them become cold, then turn them out and serve.
ANOTHER WAY
Break an ounce of isinglass small, and pour on it a teacup of hot milk or water; let it dissolve, then strain it through muslin, on half a pound of fine white sugar. When nearly cold add to it a quart of rich cream, already beaten to a froth; continue to beat it for a few minutes, holding the pan on ice. ”

“ There were little individual molds of pink apple tapioca, topped with whipped cream and accompanied by small home-made cakes, frosted uniquely. Each one had in the center of its white icing a miniature apple bough as a decoration, made from two red maraschino cherries, two leaf-shaped pieces of green angelica and a bit of citron.
As a surprise for each girl, the hostess had provided a tiny bunch of apple sachets, easily made from scraps of apple-colored silks.
"I like apples more than ever now that I've begun to see their possibilities," the guest of honor declared. ”

“ Butter these paper plates, and lay them on baking tins. Spread over each a layer of the above mixture not thicker than a thin pancake. Bake them in a moderate oven a nice yellow, but do not let them tinge brown. When cold cut away the paper round, turn the cakes over, and peel off the bottom paper, but take great care not to break the cakes. Lay one cake over the other, with preserve between each, till all are piled up. It may be all of one sort of preserve, or varied, one layer of marmalade if liked. Dissolve powdered sugar with a little lemon juice. ”

“ When the dough is proved, make it into cakes about 2 in. thick; put them into buttered hoops; lay the hoops on iron plates, and when they are lightly risen, bake them in a warm oven; cut into slices 1⁄2 in. thick and butter each.
Bride Cake.—Cleanse and dry 21⁄2 lb. currants; stone 1⁄2 lb. muscatel raisins; pound 1⁄4 oz. mace, 1⁄8 oz. cinnamon; scald 1⁄4 lb. sweet almonds, remove skins, and shred; slice up 2 oz. each candied citron, lemon, and orange peel; break 8 new eggs into a basin; sift 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar into 11⁄4 lb. flour; in a warmed pan beat 1 lb. ”

“ Should the cakes stick, they cannot be got out without breaking.
For queen-cakes, &c. the small tins of a round or oval shape are most convenient. Fill them but little more than half.
After the mixture is completed, set it in a cool place till all the cakes are baked.
In rolling oat cakes made of dough, use as little flour as possible. When you lay them in the pans, do not place them too close together, lest they run into each other.
When you are cutting them out, dip the cutter frequently in flour, to prevent its sticking.
QUEEN CAKE.
One pound of powdered white sugar. ”

“ I wish the name "Honey Cakes" were universally adopted by Bee-masters. It would supply a meaning which the word "comb" does not at all. A honey comb may be as dry as dust, whilst the "honey cake" places before the eyes of the imagination a full comb well sealed over, with here and there a drop of clear honey oozing out, as a sample of the store within. Perfectly sealed honey cakes may be kept without deterioration through the winter, by wrapping them up separately in clean writing paper, and then packing them away in a tin, each cake being placed as it stood in the hive. ”

“ Ingredients.—1⁄2 a lb. of ripe raspberries, 2 ozs. of cakecrumbs or breadcrumbs, 2 ozs. of castor sugar, 2 ozs. of rice flour or cornflour, 1⁄2 an oz. of butter, 1⁄2 a gill of cream, 4 eggs.
Method.—Put the raspberries, cream, rice flour, and sugar into a basin, and reduce them to a pulp by means of a wooden spoon. Beat in the yolks of the eggs, add the cakecrumbs, stir in lightly the stiffly-whisked whites of eggs, and turn the mixture into a well-buttered mould. Bake in a hot oven from 25 to 30 minutes, and serve as quickly as possible. ”