Pound cake

“ 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. ”

“ Ten pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of cotton-seed oil, 90 eggs, 1 quart milk, 11⁄2 ounces gelatine, 1 ounce soda, 1⁄2 ounce mace, vanilla, 12 pounds of cake flour. Rub sugar and lard to a cream; next add the eggs (few at a time) , and dissolve gelatine and soda in the milk with mace and flavor. Mix light and add flour and cream of tartar. Mix and bake in 10-pound cake pans lined with thick waxed paper. Bake in heat of 300 degrees F. Sold at 18 cents per pound.
POUND CAKE FOR WHOLESALE.
The development of the pound cake business in America during the last five years has been rapid. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Have ready twelve eggs beaten in a shallow pan till very smooth and thick. Stir the beaten egg into the beaten butter and sugar, alternately with the flour and citron, a little at a time of each. Then, at the last, stir the whole very hard. Butter a large tin pan (one with a tube in the centre will be best) , put in the mixture, set it directly in a moderate oven, and bake it at least four hours. Put it on an inverted sieve to cool.
When the cake is cool, ice and ornament it.
Common pound cakes are now very much out of use. They are considered old-fashioned. ”

“ Pound cake was a favorite recipe and in the early part of this century the Communipaw housewives carried their butter and eggs to certain bakers in Greenwich street, New York, to have their pound cake baked for them. Their recipe for [Pg 67] crullers was very similar with the addition of a little more flour. In all well regulated houses "Oley Koecks" were indispensable; there was quite a difference in the way of making them, some recipes are plain doughnuts of raised bread dough, sweetened and spiced only. ”

“ Cakes, except those containing very little moisture and much fat, such as Jumbles or Pound Cake, can be made satisfactorily by adding melted fat. It has been estimated that half as much time is required for mixing a cake in which melted fat is used as one in which the fat is creamed. It has been found [Footnote 114: See Journal Home Economics, Vol. X, pp. 542-7, December, 1918.] that the amount of mixing and the preparation of ingredients in a cake are much more important factors than the manner of combining the ingredients. Too little beating makes a cake of coarse, crumbly mixture. ”

“ One-quarter pound of butter, one-quarter pound of sugar, the yolks of seven eggs, six ounces of cake crumbs, the whites of six eggs, and some vanilla flavoring. Mix the butter with the sugar, and work well with a wooden spoon until creamy, then add the yolks, one by one, and mix thoroughly. Add the cake crumbs; which are made by passing left-over cake through a colander with large holes; flavor with the vanilla extract, and mix well. Beat the whites to snow, and add to the batter, mixing very lightly. Put in a buttered pudding mould and bake. ”

“ Paste made slowly is never light or flakey. Mix quick and roll quick. This is a good plain paste for fruit pot-pies or dumplings.
You may make common short cake for very healthy people, with two quarts of flour, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of lard, mixed into the pan of meal with a very little cold water, and a second quarter of lard spread all over the sheet of paste, after rolling it out. Fold, sprinkle, and roll it out again into one round griddle cake, or two if you have enough of dough. ”

“ Dough with good churned milk.
165.—Lafayette Cakes.
1⁄2 lb. of butter, 1⁄2 lb. of sugar, 1⁄2 lb. of flour, 6 eggs, 1⁄4 oz. of volatile salts in powder. Mix same as pound cake. Bake in round flat tins about 1⁄4 of an inch deep, or drop some of the paste on whity-brown paper and spread it out into a round thin cake about 6 inches in diameter. This will make 12 cakes. Bake them in a moderate oven in tins. ”

“ Mix a pound of sugar with three-quarters of a pound of butter. When worked white, stir in the yelks of eight eggs, beaten to a froth, then the whites. Add a pound of sifted flour, and mace or nutmeg to the taste. If you wish to have your cake particularly nice, stir in, just before you put it into the pans, a quarter of a pound of citron, or almonds blanched, and powdered fine in rosewater. ”

“ The first thing to be done in making cake, is to weigh or measure all the ingredients. Next sift the flour, powder the sugar, pound or grind the spice, and prepare the fruit; afterwards mix and stir the butter and sugar, and lastly beat the eggs; as, if allowed to stand any time, they will fall and become heavy. When all the ingredients are mixed together, they should be stirred very hard at the last; and (unless there is yeast in the cake) the sooner it is put into the oven the better. ”

“ Cream together one pound of sugar and one pound of butter very light. Beat the yolks of six eggs, sift one and one-half pound of flour into the eggs, butter, and sugar; one teaspoonful of mixed spices, one-half glassful of rose water. Stir the whole well, and roll it on the board till it is half an inch thick; cut in cakes and bake quickly. When cold, spread the surface of each cake with marmalade. Beat the whites of four eggs light, and add enough powdered sugar to make them as thick as icing. Flavor it with lemon, and put it on top of each cake. ”

“ Add, in the same manner, six ounces of pale brown sugar free from lumps, one pound of sifted flour, and six ounces of good butter, just sufficiently warmed to be liquid, and no more, for if hot, it would render the cake heavy; it should be poured in small portions to the mixture, which should be well beaten up with the back of a wooden spoon as each portion is thrown in: the success of the cake depends almost entirely on this part of the process. When properly mingled with the mass, the butter will not be perceptible on the surface ”

“ Also, (besides a somewhat larger allowance of spice, liquor, &c.) add the juice and grated yellow rind of a lemon or two, and half a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, cut in half and dredged with flour. Butter your small cake tins, and fill to the edge with the batter. They will not run over the edge if well made, and baked with a proper fire, but they will rise high and fine in the centre. Ice them when beginning to cool, flavoring the icing with lemon or rose. Queen cakes made exactly as above are superlative. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Bake in small duchess cake pans and sold by the pound at 10 cents per pound. Take 7 pounds of sugar, 51⁄2 pounds of lard of cottonseed oil, 50 eggs, 1 quart of molasses, 1 pint of good sherry wine, 2 ounces gelatine, 15 pounds of currants, 4 pounds of citron, 5 pounds of raisins, and 5 pounds of strong flour, with 4 ounces cream of tartar. ”

“ Dark Fruit Cake.—2 cups butter, 2 cups sugar, 12 eggs, 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon Royal Baking Powder, 1⁄2 teaspoon salt, 1 pound currants, 1 pound sliced citron, 3 pounds seeded raisins, 1 pound chopped figs, 1⁄2 cup any kind of wine, 2 tablespoons strained lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1⁄2 teaspoon each cloves and mace, 3⁄4 teaspoon each allspice and nutmeg. ”

“ Stir as stiff as you can stir it with a large spoon, cover, set in a warm place to rise until morning, when roll out some of the dough into cakes about one inch thick, put in pie tins to rise, and when light, make half a dozen deep impressions on top of each cake with the forefinger, spread with melted butter and strew light-brown sugar thickly over top, or mix together 1 cup sugar, butter size of an egg, 2 tablespoons flour, 2 tablespoons boiling water, beat well and spread the mixture on cakes just before placing in oven. ”

“ Butter and sugar should be stirred till it looks like thick cream, and till it stands up in the pan.
It should be kept cool. If too warm, it will make the cakes heavy.
Large cakes should be baked in tin or earthen pans with straight sides, that are as nearly perpendicular as possible. They cut into handsomer slices, and if they are to be iced, it will be found very inconvenient to put on the icing, if the cake slopes in towards the bottom.
Before you ice a cake dredge it all over with flour, and then wipe the flour off. This will enable you to spread on the icing more evenly. ”