Tea cake

“ Sweet Rusks.—Cut a diet-bread cake into thin long slices; lay on iron plates, and brown quickly in very hot oven; turn when of a light-brown colour; when of same colour on other side, they are done.
Tea Cake.—Break 8 eggs into a warm pan on 1 lb. pounded and sifted loaf sugar; beat together till thick and whitish; stir in lightly 1 lb. sifted flour; with a bag and pipe, as for Savoy biscuits, form mixture into drops about size of half-a-crown, 1 in. apart, on sheets of whited brown paper; dust lightly with powdered loaf sugar; place on tins; bake in good heat till nicely coloured ”

“ When baked, split, and butter them while hot. Lay on a plate half of the cake, put on a layer of well-sugared strawberries, then the other half, then more strawberries, and so on, until there are several layers. Or,
These cakes can be made in the same way with currants, blackberries, cut peaches, chopped pine-apples, raspberries, etc.
TEA.
Two things are necessary to insure good tea: first, that the water should be at the boiling-point when poured on the leaves, water simply hot not answering the purpose at all; and, second, that it should be served freshly made. Tea should never be boiled. ”

“ A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and mace, mixed.
Beat the eggs as light as possible. Eggs for sponge or almond cakes require more beating than for any other purpose. Beat the sugar, by degrees, into the eggs. Beat very hard, and continue to beat some time after the sugar is all in.
No sort of sugar but loaf will make light sponge-cake. Stir in, gradually, the spice and essence of lemon. Then, by degrees, put in the flour, a little at a time, stirring round the mixture very slowly with a knife. If the flour is stirred in too hard, the cake will be tough. ”

“ Tea cakes that are much esteemed in southern households are made from the yolks of six eggs, half a pound of butter, one pound of sugar, one pound of flour and one teaspoonful of baking powder mixed with the flour. They should be rolled thin and baked in a quick oven. Frost with a thin icing or sprinkle while hot with granulated sugar. ”

“ EXCELLENT TEA ROLLS—Scald one cup of milk and turn into the mixing bowl. When nearly cool add a whole yeast cake and beat in one and a half cups of flour. Cover and let rise. Add one-quarter cup of sugar, one level teaspoon of salt, two beaten eggs, and one-third cup of butter. Add flour enough to make a dough that can be kneaded. Cover and let rise. Roll out one-half inch thick, cut in rounds, brush one-half each with melted butter, fold and press together. Set close together in the pan, cover with a cloth, let rise, and bake. ”

“ Make an icing with the whites of three eggs, twenty-four tea-spoonfuls of loaf sugar, and eight drops of essence of lemon.
When the cake is cool, mark it in small squares with a knife. Cover it with icing and ornament it while wet, with nonpareils dropped on in borders, round each square of the cake. When the icing is dry, cut the cake in squares, cutting through icing very carefully with a penknife. Or you may cut it in squares first, and then ice and ornament each square separately.
FRENCH ALMOND CAKE
Six ounces of shelled sweet almonds. ”

“ Sufficient for 1 cake.
3401.—POUND CAKE.
Ingredients.—1 lb. of butter, 11⁄4 lbs. of flour, 1 lb. of castor sugar, 1 lb. of currants, 8 eggs, 1⁄4 of a lb. of mixed candied peel, 2 ozs. of sweet almonds; and if liked, a little pounded mace.
Method.—Shred the peel very finely, taking equal quantities of orange, lemon and citron. Blanch the almonds, and chop them finely. Sieve the flour on to a sheet of paper, and add the peel and almonds to it. Put the butter into a clean bowl, and beat it up to a light cream with the hand; then add the sugar, and give it another
TEA TABLE.
good beating ”

“ Lay close together on a cake rack covered with wax paper and leave in a warm but not a hot place until crisp and dry.
Serve in
Tea with
Sliced lemon and
Loaf sugar.
TEA Half fill a perforated tea spoon or tea ball with
Orange Pekoe, or other preferred tea.
Place in cup, add fresh
Boiling water, until cup is two-thirds full. Remove tea spoon as soon as tea is of the desired strength.
Two or three cups of tea can usually be made without emptying and refilling the tea spoon. ”

“ Frances. "We're going to have two kinds of cake,—and cocoa!"
Then, seeing how disappointed Tea Pot looked:
"Oh, I will have tea, too. Aunt Maria without tea! That will never do!"
"Now for the next recipe:
No. 31.—Sponge Cake.
1. Separate yolks of eggs and beat in a large bowl.
2. Add gradually half the sugar, stirring well.
3. Add the boiling water slowly.
4. Add remaining sugar, and the flavoring.
5. Sift together twice flour, baking powder and salt. ”

“ Yet the method of drinking tea at this stage was primitive in the extreme. The leaves were steamed, crushed in a mortar, made into a cake, and boiled together with rice, ginger, salt, orange peel, spices, milk, and sometimes with onions! ”

“ You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Unless otherwise specified the general rule in making cakes is to cream the butter and sugar together, then add the eggs, then flour and baking powder (mix the baking powder with the flour) and then add fruit or other ingredients and beat well. If fruit is to be added do not make the cake very soft, or currants, &c., will be liable to sink, but they are less likely to do so if previously rubbed in flour.
Always grease cake tins with lard as the cakes will be less liable to burn than if the tins are rubbed with butter. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ Cream the butter, stir in the sugar gradually, add the eggs unbeaten, and continue beating. Add the molasses, milk, and flour with which the soda and spices have been sifted, and then fold the fruits, which have been prepared, into this mixture. Another way of adding the fruit is to pour a layer of the cake mixture into the cake pan, sprinkle this generously with the fruit, then another layer of dough and another layer of fruit, and finally a layer of dough with just a little fruit sprinkled on top. ”

“ As it was the custom for the more intimate friends to bring a cake, a pan of cookies, or a great jug of strong lemonade to such an affair, there was more food than twice this surging group of men, women, and children could possibly consume, so that the boys and girls could keep their mouths full of oily, nutty, walnut wafers and broken bits of layer cake without any conscientious scruples. One of the large kitchen tables was entirely covered with plates bearing layer cakes, with chocolate, maple, shining white, and streaky orange icings, or topped with a deadly coating of fluffy cocoa-nut. ”

“ After bringing to the table, when ready to begin, the sugar can, the butter jar, the egg dish, the milk, the vanilla and the baking powder, so that everything will be convenient, and having well greased a pan for the gold cake (which will be baked in a loaf) and the two jelly tins for the white cake, she can then separate three eggs, and to the three yolks add one whole egg. On account of the baking it is best to make the white cake first, and then it can be iced and the dishes cleaned away while the loaf cake bakes. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Put the egg whites into a bowl, add a little of the sugar, and beat. Continue adding sugar until the mixture becomes too thick to beat well, and then add the lemon juice. Add the remainder of the sugar, and continue beating until the icing is thick enough to spread. Spread a thin layer over the cake and allow it to harden. When this is dry, cover it with another layer to make a smooth surface, and add more sugar to the remaining icing until it is of a very stiff consistency. Color and flavor as desired, place in a pastry bag, and force through pastry tubes to make any desired designs. ”

“ Beat up the whites of 2 eggs; then add 1⁄2 lb. castor sugar and the juice of a lemon or a few drops of orange-flower water. Beat the mixture until it hangs upon the fork in flakes, then spread over the cake, dipping the knife in cold water occasionally. Stand it before the fire, and keep turning the cake constantly, or the sugar will catch and turn brown. As soon as it begins to harden it may be removed. The icing must not be put on until the cake itself is cold, otherwise it will not set. A few drops of cochineal will colour it if desired. ”

“ Successful cake making means constant care. In recipes in which milk is used as one ingredient, either sweet or buttermilk may be used but not a mixture of both. Buttermilk makes a light, spongy cake, and sweet milk makes a cake which cuts like pound cake. In creaming shortening and sugar, when the shortening is too hard to blend easily warm the bowl slightly, but do not heat the shortening, as this will change both the flavor and texture of the cake. For small cakes have a quick oven, so that they set right through, and the inside is baked by the time the outside is browned. ”

“ One mix or dough from which can be derived a large benefit and satisfaction is the ordinary wine cake or layer cake mix, from which you can make layers for layer cakes, ten and five cent wine cakes, loaf cakes; adding chopped nuts and nut flavor to part of the mix, you can make nut cakes. By adding melted chocolate to a certain part of the mix, you can make devil’s food cakes, lemon cakes, Boston squares, chocolate and maple squares, raspberry and chocolate drops, cup and currant cakes, and other cakes like nut and cocoanut slices, penny golden-rod squares, etc., can also be made. ”