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Marlborough Pudding
Six tart apples. Six ounces of sifted sugar. Six ounces of butter, or a pint of thick cream. Six eggs. The grated peel of one lemon, and half the juice. Grate the apples after paring and coring them. Stir together the butter and sugar as for cake. Then add the other ingredients, and bake in a rich paste. Some persons grate in crackers, and add rose water and nutmeg. It is much better to grate than to stew the apples, for this and all pies.
Orange, or Lemon Pudding
Two large lemons, or oranges. One pound of loaf sugar. Four ounces of butter. One pint of cream. Nine eggs. A little rose water. Grate the yellow part of the peel of the fruit, squeeze the juice, mix the butter and sugar thoroughly together, beat the eggs well. Mix all the ingredients except the juice, which must not be added until ready to bake. Line your dishes with a rich paste, and fill and bake three quarters of an hour in a moderate oven.
Sweet Potato Pudding
Grate half a pound of parboiled sweet potatoes, and stir to a cream six ounces of sugar and six of butter, and then add the beaten yolks of eight eggs. Mix the above, and add the grated peel and juice of a lemon, a glass of wine, and a grated nutmeg. The last thing, put in the whites of the eggs beat to a stiff froth. Common potatoes and carrots may be made as above, only they are to be boiled soft, and put through a colander, and more sugar used.
Quince Pudding
Peel and grate six large quinces. Add half a pint of cream, half a pound of sugar, and six well-beaten eggs. Flavor with rose water, and bake in a buttered dish three quarters of an hour.
Healthful Pie Crusts
Good crusts for plain pies are made by wetting up the crust with rich milk turned sour, and sweetened with saleratus. Still better crusts are made of sour cream sweetened with saleratus. Mealy potatoes boiled in salted water, and mixed with the same quantity of flour, and wet with sour milk sweetened with saleratus, make a good crust. Good light bread rolled thin, makes a good crust for pandowdy, or pan pie, and also for the upper crust of fruit pies, to be made without bottom crusts.
Paste made with Butter
Very plain paste is made by taking a quarter of a pound of butter for every pound of flour. Still richer allows three quarters of a pound of butter to a pound of flour. Very rich paste has a pound of butter to a pound of flour.
Directions for making Paste
Take a quarter of the butter to be used, rub it thoroughly into the flour, and wet it with _cold_ water to a stiff paste. Next dredge the board thick with flour, and cut up the remainder of the butter into thin slices, and lay them upon the flour, and dredge flour over thick, and then roll out the butter into thin sheets and lay it aside. Then roll out the paste thin, cover it with a sheet of this rolled butter, dredge on more flour, fold it up, and roll it out, and then repeat the process till all the butter is used up. Paste should be made as quick and as cold as possible. Some use a marble table in order to keep it cold. Roll _from_ you every time.
Puff Paste
Dissolve a bit of sal volatile, the size of a hickory-nut, in cold water. Take three quarters of a pound of butter for every quart of flour, and rub in one quarter of the butter, and wet it up with cold water, adding the salts when cool. Roll all the rest of the butter into sheets as directed above. Roll the paste three times, each time laying over it one-third of the butter sheets, and dredging on flour, as directed above. In rolling it, always roll _from_ you, and not towards you.
Liquid Sauce
Six tablespoonfuls of sugar. Ten tablespoonfuls of water. Four tablespoonfuls of butter. Two tablespoonfuls of wine. Nutmeg, or lemon, or orange peel, or rose water, to flavor. Heat the water and sugar very hot. Stir in the butter till it is melted, but be careful not to let it boil. Add the wine and nutmeg just before it is used.
Hard Sauce
Two tablespoonfuls of butter. Ten tablespoonfuls of sugar. Work this till white, then add wine and spice to your taste.
A Healthful Pudding Sauce
Boil in half a pint of water, some orange or lemon peel, or peach leaves. Take them out and pour in a thin paste, made with two spoonfuls of flour, and boil five minutes. Then put in a pint of brown sugar, and let it boil. Then put in two spoonfuls of butter, and a glass of wine, and take it up before it boils.
An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice
Beat the yolks of three eggs into sugar enough to make it quite sweet. Add a tea-cup of cream, and the grated peel and juice of two lemons. When lemons cannot be had, use dried lemon peel, and a little tartaric acid. This is a good sauce for other puddings, especially for the starch minute pudding. The first receipt for whip syllabub furnishes a very delicate sauce for a delicate pudding, such as the one made of potato starch. Sweetened cream flavored with grated lemon peel or nutmeg is a fine pudding sauce.
General Directions for Making Cake
Tie up your hair so that none can fall, put on a long-sleeved apron, have the kitchen put in order, and then arrange all the articles and utensils you will have occasion to use. If you are a systematic and thrifty housekeeper, you will have your sugar pounded, all your spices ready prepared in boxes, or bottles, your saleratus sifted, your currants washed and dried, your ginger sifted, and your weights, measures, and utensils all in their place and in order. Butter your tins before beginning to make the cake, so as not to stop for the purpose. It saves much trouble to have your receipt book so arranged that you can _measure_ instead of weighing. This can be done by weighing the first time, and then have a small measure cup, and fill it with each ingredient you have weighed. Then note it down in your receipt book, and ever after use the same measure cup. _Always_ sift your flour, for neither bread nor cake should be made with unsifted flour, not merely because there may be dirt in it, but because packing injures its lightness, and sifting restores it, and makes bread and cake lighter. The day before you wish to make cake, stone your raisins, and blanch your almonds, by pouring hot water on them, to take off the skins, and then throwing them into cold water to whiten them. When ready to make your cake, grate your lemon or orange peel. Next weigh your butter and cut it in pieces, and put it where it will soften, but not melt. Then butter your tins. Next, stir the butter to a cream, and then add the sugar, and work till white. Next, beat the yolks of the eggs, strain them, and put them to the sugar and butter. Meantime another person should beat the whites to a stiff froth, and put them in. Then add the spices and flour, and last of all the fruit, as directed below. Do not use the hand to make cake, but a wood spoon or spad. Earthen is best to make cake in. In receipts where milk is used, never _mix_ sweet and sour milk, as it makes cake heavy, even when either alone would not do it. Butter in the least degree strong, spoils cake. Try whether cake is done by piercing it with a broom splinter, and if nothing adheres it is done. An oven, to bake cake well, must have a good heat at bottom, and not be too hot on the top, or the cake will be heavy. As these receipts have all been proved, if they fail to make good cake, the fault is probably in the baking. Cake that is to be frosted, should be baked in pans with perpendicular instead of slanting sides. Line them with buttered paper, the salt soaked out of the butter. If the oven proves too hot, cover the top with paper before it hardens, or the cake will be heavy. The best way to put in fruit is to sprinkle flour over it, then put in a layer of cake at the bottom, half an inch thick, then a layer of fruit, taking care that it does not touch the sides of the pan, and thus dry up; then a little more cake, then another layer of fruit, and thus till the cake is three inches thick (not more), and let the top layer be cake. Always dissolve saleratus, or sal volatile, in hot water, as milk does not perfectly dissolve it, and thus there will be yellow specks made. Make your eggs cold, and whisk till they will stand in a heap. Volatile alkali the size of a hickory-nut, and a bit of alum of equal size, powdered and dissolved in cold water, will _ensure_ light bread or cake. A quick oven is so hot that you can count moderately only twenty; and a slow one allows you to count thirty, while you hold your hand in it. All cake without yeast should have the flour put in quickly, just as it goes into the oven. Keep cake in a tin box, or in a stone jar wrapped in clean linen.
Rose Butter
Take a glass jar, put on the bottom a layer of butter, and each day put in rose leaves, adding layers of butter, and when full, cover tight, and use the butter for articles to be flavored with rose water.
Directions for Cleansing Currants
Put them in warm, not hot water, and rub them thoroughly. Take out all but the bottom part into another pail of water. Then rinse those remaining in the bottom of the first water, through two or three waters, as this part contains most of the impure parts. Then put them into the other pail with the first portion, and rinse all very thoroughly. Take them out with the hands, drain them on a sieve, and spread them on a clean large cloth on a table. Rub them dry with the ends of the cloth, and then sit down and pull off the good ones into a dish in your lap, and push the poor ones aside, being careful to look for the little stones. Spread them to dry on a board, or large dishes, and set them in the sun, or any warm place, to dry. Then tie them up in a jar for future use.
Frosting for Cake
For the whites of every two eggs, take a quarter of a pound of sifted loaf sugar. Some use only one egg for this quantity of sugar. Make the eggs cold in cold water, and free them from all of the yolk. Beat the whites in a cool place, till a very stiff froth. Sift the sugar, and beat it in _until you can pile it in a heap_. Flavor with lemon or rose water. Allow two whites for each common-sized loaf. Spread on with a knife, after the cake is cool, and then smooth with another knife dipped in water. Set it in a warm place to dry. The ornamental filagree work on frosting is easily done by using a small syringe. Draw it full of the above frosting, and as you press it out make figures to your taste. It must not be put on till the frosting of the cake is hardened. _Cake Frosting_ (_another, which is harder_). To the white of each egg, put one heaping teaspoonful of starch, and nine heaping teaspoonfuls of sifted white sugar. Cut the whites to a stiff froth, mix the sugar and starch, and stir in gradually; continue to stir ten minutes after it is mixed, add two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, and flavor it with rose water. Put it on with a knife when the cake has stood out of the oven twenty minutes, and then set it in a cool place to harden. Allow the whites of three eggs for two cakes of common size.
Good Child’s Cake
Three cups raised dough. One cup of molasses. The juice and grated rind of a lemon, or one nutmeg. Half a cup of melted butter, put with the molasses. Two well-beaten eggs. A teaspoonful of saleratus in two spoonfuls of hot water. Work all together, put into buttered pans, and set into the oven immediately. Put in the lemon juice just before you put it in the pans. If you do not have lemon juice, add a great spoonful of sharp vinegar, after working the ingredients together, and just before putting it into pans. The lemon juice must be added the last minute. Some think this is improved by standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try and see.
Ginger Snaps
One cup of molasses. Half a cup of sugar. Half a cup of butter. Half a cup of warm water, the butter melted with it. A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in the water. Two tablespoonfuls of ginger. The dough should be stiff; knead it well, and roll into sheets, cut into round cakes, and bake in a moderate oven.
Child’s Feather Cake
Three cups of light dough. Two cups rolled sugar. Three well-beaten eggs, mixed with the sugar and butter. Half a cup of warm milk, or a little less. One teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of water, and put in the milk. One cup of melted butter, worked into the sugar. The grated rind and juice of one lemon. Work all together, adding the lemon juice just before putting it in buttered pans. If you have no lemons, use one nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of sharp vinegar, added just before putting it in pans. One and a half, if the vinegar is weak. Some think this improved by standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try it.
Best Molasses Gingerbread
One even tablespoonful of strong ginger, and two if weak. A gill and a half of milk. One heaping teaspoonful saleratus, very fine, dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water, and put into the milk. Half a pint of molasses, and a small tea-cup full of butter. Take three pints of flour, and rub the butter and ginger into it thoroughly. Then make a hole in the middle, and pour in the molasses and milk, and begin mixing in the flour, and while doing this, put in a great spoonful of strong vinegar, and if it is weak, a little more. If not stiff enough to roll out, add a little more flour. Roll it into cards an inch thick, and put it into two buttered square pans. Bake it in a flat tin pan, and put it, if the oven is quite hot, on a muffin ring, to keep it from burning at the bottom, and allow from twenty-five to thirty minutes for baking. When done, set it on its edge, or on a sieve, to cool.
Sponge Gingerbread
One pint of molasses. Two great spoonfuls of melted butter. One even tablespoonful of ginger. One quart of sifted flour. A heaping tablespoonful of saleratus dissolved in as much hot water. Half a pint of milk, the saleratus first dissolved in hot water, and put into it. Make a hole in the flour, and put in all the other ingredients, and while working them together, add a great spoonful of good vinegar, or if weak, one and a half.
Cider Cake
One tea-cup of butter. Three tea-cups of sugar. Two tea-cups of sifted flour. A teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of water. A grated nutmeg, and half a tea-cup of milk, with the saleratus in it. Make a hole in the flour, and put in all the ingredients, and while mixing them, add a tea-cup of cider and four more cups of flour.
Cup Cake without Eggs
One cup of butter. Two cups of sugar. One cup of sour cream, or sour milk. Sal volatile, the size of a small nutmeg, or a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in cold water. A gill of brandy or wine, half a grated nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of essence of lemon. Flour enough for a stiff batter. Put in buttered pans an inch thick, and bake in a quick oven.
Cream Cake without Eggs
Four cups of flour. Three cups of sugar. One cup of butter. Two cups of sour cream. Two teaspoonfuls of sal volatile, or three of saleratus, dissolved in a little cold water. A teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and half a grated nutmeg. Work the butter and sugar together, add the cream and spice, and put all into a hole in the middle of the flour. Then add the sal volatile, or saleratus. Mix quick and thoroughly, and set in the oven immediately.
Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs
Three pints of sifted flour, measured after sifting. One teaspoonful super carbonate of soda. A salt spoonful of salt. Two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar. A cup and a half of milk. A pint of rolled sugar. Mix the cream tartar thoroughly with the flour, and add grated lemon peel, or nutmeg; then dissolve the soda in two great spoonfuls of hot water, and put it with the sugar to the milk. When dissolved, wet it up as quick as possible, but so as to mix very thoroughly. Roll it out, cut into round cakes, and bake _immediately_. It must be as soft as can be rolled. Add a little more flour, if needful; bake in a quick oven fifteen or twenty minutes. Try more than once, as you may fail at first. When you get the _knack_ it is easy, sure, and very good.
Fruit Cake without Eggs
Two pounds of flour. One and three quarter pounds of sugar. One pint of milk. Half a pound of butter. Half a teaspoonful of salt. One and a half teaspoonfuls of soda, or saleratus, or two of sal volatile, dissolved in a little hot water. One nutmeg, one pound of raisins, and one wine-glass of brandy. This makes three loaves. Warm the milk, and add the butter and salt to it. Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then add the milk, then the flour, then the saleratus, and lastly the spice and fruit.
Drop Cake
Four and a half tea-cups of flour. Two and a half tea-cups of sugar. Half a cup of butter, and five eggs. Work the butter and sugar to a cream; beat the yolks and whites separately; add the yolks, then the whites, then the flour. Drop them on a buttered tin, and sprinkle caraway sugar plums on the top. _Sugar Gingerbread_ (_rich_). One pound of sugar. One pound of sifted flour. Half a pound of butter. Six eggs. Two even tablespoonfuls of ginger. Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs well beaten, the flour and ginger, and bake in two square tin sheets. _Sugar Gingerbread_ (_plainer_). Two cups of sugar. One cup of butter, rubbed with the sugar. One cup of milk. Two eggs. One teaspoonful of pearlash in hot water. Three tablespoonfuls of ginger. Five cups of flour. Make it a soft dough, and add more flour if needed.
Sponge Cake
Twelve eggs. The weight of ten in powdered loaf sugar. The weight of six in sifted flour. The grated peel, and half the juice of one lemon. Stir the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, until very light, then add the whites of the eggs, after they are beaten to a stiff froth, stir lightly together, flavor with the lemon, sprinkle in the flour just before it is to be put into the oven, stirring it in as quickly as possible. Bake in two square tin pans, the bottom and sides of which should be covered with white paper, well buttered. Weigh it once, then get the _measure_ of the proportions, to save the trouble of weighing afterward. The secret of making good sponge cake lies in putting the flour in the last minute before it goes into the oven, and having a good bake. _Bridget’s Bread Cake_ (_excellent_). Three cups of dough, very light. Three cups of sugar. One cup of butter. Three eggs. A nutmeg. Raisins. One teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little hot water. Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and spice, and mix all thoroughly with the dough. Beat it well, and pour into the pans. It will do to bake it immediately, but the cake will be lighter if it stands a short time to rise, before putting it into the oven. It is an excellent cake for common use. _It is very important_ that the ingredients should be thoroughly mixed with the dough.
Doughnuts
One pound of butter. One pound and three quarters of sugar, worked with the butter. Three pints of milk. Four eggs. One pint of yeast, if home-made, or half a pint of distillery yeast. Mace and cinnamon to the taste. Flour enough to make the dough stiff as biscuit. Rub the butter and sugar together, add the other ingredients, and set the dough in a warm place to rise. When thoroughly light, roll into sheets, cut with a sharp knife into diamond-shaped pieces, and boil them in fresh lard. Use a good deal of lard, and have it sufficiently hot, or the cake will absorb the fat. _Cookies_ (_plain_). Two cups of sugar. One cup of butter, worked into the sugar. One cup of milk. Two eggs. Caraway seeds. A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little hot water. Flour sufficient to roll. The dough should be well kneaded before it is rolled into sheets.
French Cake
Five cups of flour. Two cups of powdered sugar. Half a cup of butter. One cup of milk. One wine-glass of wine. Three eggs. Spice to the taste. A teaspoonful of pearlash. Rub the butter and sugar together, then add the milk, part of the flour, and the pearlash dissolved in wine; afterward the remainder of the flour and the eggs. The yolks are to be beaten separately, and the whites beaten and put in the last thing. Bake in two square tin pans.
Walnut Hill’s Doughnuts
One tea-cup of sour cream, or milk. Two tea-cups of sugar. One tea-cup of butter. Four eggs, and one nutmeg. Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus. Flour enough to roll. Cut into diamond cakes, and boil in hot lard.
Cocoanut Cup Cake
Two cups of rolled white sugar, and one and a half of butter. One cup of milk, and a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved in hot water. Four eggs well beaten, and a nutmeg. Or flavor with rose water. The white part of one cocoanut, grated. Flour enough to make a stiff batter. Beat it well, put it in buttered tins, an inch thick, in a quick oven, and when done, frost it, and cut it in square pieces.
Cocoanut Sponge Cake
One grated cocoanut, the outer part peeled off. A teaspoonful of salt, and half a grated nutmeg. A pint of sifted white sugar. Six eggs, the yolks beat and strained, the whites cut to a stiff froth. One teaspoonful of essence of lemon. A half a pint of sifted flour. Mix the yolks and the sugar, and then the other ingredients, except the whites and the flour. Just as you are ready to put the cake in the oven, put in the whites, then add the flour by degrees, and stir only just enough to mix it; then put it on buttered paper in cake pans, and set it in. Have a quick oven, but take care not to have the top harden quick. Cover with paper if there is any danger.
Lemon Cake.--No. 1
Four tumblers of flour. Two and a half of _powdered_ white sugar. Three quarters of a tumbler of butter. One tumbler of milk, two lemons, three eggs, and one heaping teaspoonful of soda. Saleratus will do, but is not so good as soda. This serves for two square loaves. Dissolve the soda in the milk, heat the yolks, and strain them. Cut the whites to a stiff froth, work the butter and sugar till they look like cream, then add the yolks, then the milk, then the whites of eggs, and then the flour. When thoroughly mixed, grate in the peel of one lemon, and squeeze in the juice of two, and this must not be done till it is ready to set _immediately_ into the oven. A tumbler and a half of currants improves this cake. Put them in with the lemon juice. This is delicious when first baked, but will not keep so well as No. 2, which is richer.
Gingernuts
Six pounds of flour. One pound and a quarter of butter, rubbed into the sugar. One pound and three quarters of sugar. One quart of molasses. Four ounces of ginger, one nutmeg, and some cinnamon. The dough should be stiff, and then kneaded hard for a long time. Cut into small cakes. They will keep good, closely covered in a stone jar, for many months.
Honey Cake
One quart of strained honey. Half a pint of sugar. Half a pint of melted butter. A teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in half a tea-cup of warm water. Half a nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of ginger. Mix the above, and then work in sifted flour till you can roll it. Cut it into thin cakes, and bake it on buttered tins, in a quick oven.
New Year’s Cookies
One pound of butter. A pound and three quarters of sugar. Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, in a pint of milk (buttermilk is better). Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, and add the milk and saleratus. Then beat three eggs, and add, and grate in one nutmeg. Rub in a heaping tablespoon of caraway seed. Add flour enough to roll. Make it one quarter of an inch in thickness, and bake _immediately_ in a quick oven.
Boston Cream Cake
One pint of butter rubbed into one quart of flour. One quart of hot water, with the butter and flour stirred in. When cool, break in from six to twelve eggs, as you can afford. If needed, add flour till thick enough to drop on buttered tins in round cakes, the size of a tea-cup. When baked, open and fill with soft custard, or mock cream.
Almond, Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake
Half a pound of flour. Half a teaspoonful of salt. A quarter of a pound of butter. One pound of sugar. One tea-cup of sour cream, or sour milk, or buttermilk. Four eggs, and lemon, or any other flavor to your taste. A teaspoonful of saleratus, or better, a bit of sal volatile, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in two spoonfuls of hot water. Mix the above thoroughly, then grate in the white part of a cocoanut, or stir in half a pint of chopped hickory-nuts, chopped fine, or put in a pound of blanched almonds, pounded, but not to a paste. Put it in buttered pans, an inch and a half thick, and bake in a quick oven.
Caraway Cakes
Two quarts of flour. One cup of butter. One quart of rolled sugar. Half a pint of caraway seeds. A teaspoonful of essence of lemon. Mix the sugar and butter to a cream, add the other materials, roll out, and cut into square cakes, and crimp the edges. Sal volatile the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in a little hot water, improves this.
Fruit Drop Cakes
Two pounds of flour. One pound of butter. One pound of currants. One pound of sugar. Three eggs. A teaspoonful each, of rose water, and essence of lemon, and a gill of brandy. Rub the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the eggs, and add them. Then put in the other articles. Strew tin sheets with flour and powdered sugar, and then drop on in small cakes. Bake in a quick oven.
Dr. B.’s Loaf Cake
Two pounds of dried and sifted flour. A pint of new milk, blood warm. A quarter of a pound of butter. Three quarters of a pound of sugar. A pint of home-brewed yeast, or half as much distillery yeast. Three eggs, and one pound of stoned raisins. A glass of wine and a nutmeg. Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then rub them well into the flour. Then add the other things, and let it rise over night. Bake an hour and a half, in a slack oven. Put the fruit in as directed in the receipt for raised loaf cake.
Fancy Cakes
Beat the yolks of four eggs into half a pound of powdered sugar. Add a little less than a half a pound of flour. Beat fifteen minutes, and then put in some essence of lemon, and the whites of the eggs cut to a stiff froth. Bake in small patties, and put sugar plums on the top.
Fried Curd Cakes
Stir four well-beaten eggs into a quart of boiling milk. Make it very sweet, and cool it. Then stir in two even tea-cups full of sifted flour, a teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and two more well-beaten eggs. Fry these in sweet butter as drop cakes.
Wine Cake
Put six ounces of sugar into a pint of wine, and make it boiling hot. When blood warm, pour it on to six well-beaten eggs, and stir in a quarter of a pound of sifted flour. Beat it well, and bake immediately in a quick oven.
Egg Rusk
Melt three ounces of butter into a pint of milk. Beat six eggs into a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix these with flour enough for a batter, and add a gill of distillery yeast, and half a teaspoonful of salt. When light, add flour enough to make a dough stiff enough to mould. Make them into small cakes, and let them rise in a warm place while the oven is heating.
Citron Tea Cakes
One tea-cup of sugar. Two-thirds of a cup of butter. Two cups of flour. A bit of volatile salts, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in hot water (the same quantity of alum dissolved with it, improves it), and put to half a cup of milk. Beat till light, then add a teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and small thin strips of citron, or candied lemon peel. Bake in shallow pans, or small patties.
French Biscuit (Mrs. Dr. C.)
Six pounds of flour. One pint and a half of new milk. Six ounces of butter. A cup and a half of sugar. A teaspoonful of salt. Six eggs, and half a pint of distillery yeast, or twice as much home-brewed. Melt the butter in the milk, and beat the eggs. Then add all the ingredients, set it to rise, and when very light, mould it into small biscuits, and bake in a quick oven.
Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old)
Five pounds of dried and sifted flour. Two pounds of butter. Two pounds of sugar. Three gills of distillery yeast, or twice the quantity of home-brewed. Four eggs. A gill of wine and a gill of brandy. Half an ounce of nutmegs, and two pounds of fruit. A quart of milk. Rub the butter very fine into the flour, add half the sugar, then the yeast, then half the milk, hot in winter, and blood warm in summer, then the eggs well beaten, the wine, and the remainder of the milk. Beat it well, and let it stand to rise all night. Beat it well in the morning, adding the brandy, the sugar, and the spice. Let it rise three or four hours, till very light. When you put the wood into the oven, put the cake in buttered pans, and put in the fruit as directed previously. If you wish it richer, add a pound of citron.
Raised Loaf Cake
Six pounds of dried and sifted flour. Three pounds of sugar. Two pounds and a half of butter. Four eggs, and two pounds of raisins. Four nutmegs. Two gills of wine, and two gills of brandy. In the afternoon, mix the butter and sugar, take half of it and rub into the flour; take about a quart of milk, blood warm, put the yeast into the flour, then wet it up. When fully light, add the rest of the butter and sugar, beat the eggs, and put them in, and set the whole to rise till morning. Add the brandy, wine, and spice, in the morning, and put it in the pans. The fruit is to be added in this way:--First dredge it with flour, then put in enough cake to cover the bottom of the pans, then sprinkle some fruit, and do not let any of it rest against the pan, as it burns, and is thus wasted. Then continue to add a layer of fruit and a layer of cake, having no fruit on the top. This saves those that usually burn on the pan, and secures a more equal distribution.
Mrs. H.’s Raised Wedding Cake (very fine)
Nine pounds of dried and sifted flour. Four and a half pounds of white sugar. Four and a half pounds of butter. Two quarts of scalded milk. One quart of the yeast, fresh made as below. Six eggs. Six pounds of raisins. Two pounds of citron. One ounce of mace. One gill of brandy. One gill of wine. Put the ingredients together as directed in the Raised Loaf Cake.
Yeast for the above Cake
Nine large potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed fine. One quart of water, a very small pinch of hops. Boil all together, strain through a sieve, add a small tea-cup of flour, and, when blood warm, half a pint of distillery yeast, or twice as much home-brewed. Strain again, and let it work till very light and foaming.
Fruit Cake, or Black Cake
One pound of powdered white sugar. Three quarters of a pound of butter. One pound of flour, sifted. Twelve eggs. Two pounds of raisins, stoned, and part of them chopped. Two pounds of currants, carefully cleaned. Half a pound of citron, cut into strips. A quarter of an ounce each, of cinnamon, nutmegs, and cloves, mixed. One wine-glass of wine, and one wine-glass of brandy. Rub the butter and sugar together, then add the yolks of the eggs, part of the flour, the spice, and the whites of the eggs well beaten, then add the remainder of the flour, and the wine and brandy. Mix all thoroughly together. Cover the bottom and sides of two square tin pans with white paper, well buttered, pour the mixture in, adding the fruit as formerly directed, first dredging it with flour, and bake four hours. After it is taken from the oven, and a little cooled, ice it thickly.
Pound Cake
One pound of powdered loaf sugar. One pound of sifted flour. Three quarters of a pound of fresh butter. Eight eggs, and one nutmeg. Rub the butter and sugar together until very light, then add the yolks of the eggs, the spice, and part of the flour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and stir in with the remainder of the flour. Mix all well together, and bake in small tins, icing the cakes when they are a little warm.
French Loaf Cake
Five cups of powdered sugar. Three cups of fresh butter. Two cups of milk. Six eggs. Ten cups of dried and sifted flour. One wine-glass of wine, one wine-glass of brandy. Three nutmegs, a small teaspoonful of pearlash. One pound of raisins, a quarter of a pound of citron. Stir the sugar and butter to a cream, then add part of the flour, with the milk a little warm, and the beaten yolks of the eggs. Then add, with the remainder of the flour, the whites of the eggs well beaten, the spice, wine, brandy, and pearlash. Mix all thoroughly together, add the fruit, as you put it into the pans. This will make four loaves. Bake about an hour, and then ice them.
Portugal Cake
One pound powdered loaf sugar. One pound of dried and sifted flour. Half a pound of butter. Eight eggs. Two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, or white wine. One pound of fruit. One nutmeg. One and a half pounds of almonds, weighed before shelling. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the whites and yolks of the eggs separately. Then, by degrees, put in the flour, and add the lemon juice last, stirring all lightly together. If almonds are to be used, they should be blanched. Pound the almonds, or cut into shreds.
Golden Cake
This and the following cake are named from gold and silver, on account of their color as well as their excellence. They should be made together, so as to use both portions of the eggs. To make _golden cake_, take One pound of flour, dried and sifted. One pound of sugar. Three quarters of a pound of butter. The yolks of fourteen eggs. The yellow part of two lemons grated, and the juice also. Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, and add the yolks, well beaten and strained. Then add the lemon peel and flour, and a teaspoonful of sal volatile, dissolved in a little hot water. Beat it well, and just before putting it into the oven add the lemon juice, beating it in very thoroughly. Bake in square flat pans, ice it thickly, and cut it in square pieces. It looks finely on a dish with the silver cake.
Silver Cake
One pound of sugar. Three quarters of a pound of dried and sifted flour. Six ounces of butter. Mace and citron. The whites of fourteen eggs. Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, add the whites cut to a stiff froth, and then the flour. It is a beautiful-looking cake.
Shrewsbury Cake
One pound of dried and sifted flour. Three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. Half a pound of butter. Five eggs. Rose water, or grated lemon peel. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream. Then add the eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, and add the flour.
Queen’s Cake
One pound of dried and sifted flour. One pound of sugar. Half a pound of butter. Four eggs. One nutmeg. One gill of wine. One gill of brandy. One gill of thin cream. One pound of fruit. Rub the butter and sugar together. Beat separately the yolks and whites of the eggs. Mix all the ingredients, except the flour and fruit, which must be put in just before putting in the oven. This makes two three-pint pans full. It requires one hour and a half to bake.
Crullars
Five cups of flour. One cup of butter. Two cups of sugar. Four eggs. One spoonful of rose water. Nutmeg. Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, then the flour. Roll into a sheet about half an inch thick, cut this with a jagging-iron into long narrow strips. Twist them into various shapes, and fry them in hot lard, of a light brown. The fat must be abundant in quantity, and very hot, to prevent the lard from soaking into the cake.
Lemon Cake.--No. 2
One pound of dried and sifted flour. One pound of sugar. Three quarters of a pound of butter. Seven eggs. The juice of one lemon, and the peel of two. This makes two loaves. Beat and strain the yolks, cut the whites hard, work the butter and sugar to a cream. Fruit if wished. A tumbler and a half of currants is enough. This is richer than No. 1, and keeps well.
Almond Cake
One pound of sifted sugar. The yolks of twelve eggs, beat and mixed with the sugar. The whites of nine eggs, added to the above in a stiff froth. A pound of dried and sifted flour, mixed after the above has been stirred ten minutes. Half a pound of sweet almonds, and half a dozen bitter ones, blanched and pounded with rose water to a cream. Six tablespoonfuls of thick cream. Use the reserved whites of eggs for frosting. This makes one large, or two small loaves.
Lemon Drop Cakes
Three heaping tablespoonfuls of sifted white sugar. A tablespoonful of sifted flour. The grated rinds of three lemons. The white of one egg well beaten; all mixed. Drop on buttered paper, and bake in a moderate oven.
Jelly Cake
Half a pound of sifted white sugar. Six ounces of butter. Eight eggs, whites beat to a stiff froth. Yolks beat and strained. Juice and grated rind of one lemon. One pound of dried and sifted flour. Work the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the eggs, then the flour, and then the lemon juice. Butter tin scolloped pans, and put in this a quarter of an inch thick. Bake a light brown, and pile them in layers, with jelly or marmelade between.
Cocoanut Drops
One pound grated cocoanut, only the white part. One pound sifted white sugar. The whites of six eggs, cut to a stiff froth. You must have enough whites of eggs to wet the whole stiff. Drop on buttered plates the size of a cent, and bake immediately.
Sugar Drops
Twelve spoonfuls of butter. Twenty-four spoonfuls of sifted white sugar. A pint of sifted flour. Half a nutmeg, and three eggs, the whites beaten separately. Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, then the flour, drop on buttered tins, and put sugar plums on the top. Bake ten or fifteen minutes.
General Directions for making Preserves and Jellies
Gather fruit when it is dry. Long boiling hardens the fruit. Pour boiling water over the sieves used, and wring out jelly-bags in hot water the moment you are to use them. Do not squeeze while straining through jelly-bags. Let the pots and jars containing sweetmeats just made remain uncovered three days. Lay brandy papers over the top, cover them tight, and seal them, or, what is best of all, soak a split bladder and tie it tight over them. In drying, it will shrink so as to be perfectly air-tight. Keep them in a dry, but not warm place. A thick leathery mould helps to preserve fruit, but when mould appears in specks, the preserves must be scalded in a warm oven, or be set into hot water, which then must boil till the preserves are scalded. Always keep watch of preserves which are not sealed, especially in warm and damp weather. The only sure way to keep them without risk or care, is to make them with enough sugar and seal them, or tie bladder covers over.
To Clarify Syrup for Sweetmeats
For each pound of sugar, allow half a pint of water. For every three pounds of sugar, allow the white of one egg. Mix when cold, boil a few minutes, and skim it. Let it stand ten minutes, and skim it, then strain it.
Brandy Peaches
Prick the peaches with a needle, put them into a kettle with cold water, scald them until sufficiently soft to be penetrated with a straw. Take half a pound of sugar to every pound of peach; make the syrup with the sugar, and while it is a little warm, mix two-thirds as much of white brandy with it, put the fruit into jars, and pour the syrup over it. The late white clingstones are the best to use.
Peaches (not very rich)
To six pounds of fruit, put five of sugar. Make the syrup. Boil the fruit in the syrup till it is clear. If the fruit is ripe, half an hour will cook it sufficiently.
Peaches (very elegant)
First take out the stones, then pare them. To every pound of peaches, allow one-third of a pound of sugar. Make a thin syrup, boil the peaches in the syrup till tender, but not till they break. Put them into a bowl, and pour the syrup over them. Put them in a dry, cool place, and let them stand two days. Then make a new rich syrup, allowing three quarters of a pound of sugar to one of fruit. Drain the peaches from the first syrup, and boil them until they are clear, in the last syrup. The first syrup must not be added, but may be used for any other purpose you please, as it is somewhat bitter. The large white clingstones are the best.
To preserve Quinces Whole
Select the largest and fairest quinces (as the poorer ones will answer for jelly). Take out the cores and pare them. Boil the quinces in water till tender. Take them out separately on a platter. To each pound of quince, allow a pound of sugar. Make the syrup, then boil the quinces in the syrup until clear.
Quince Jelly
Rub the quinces with a cloth, until perfectly smooth. Remove the cores, cut them into small pieces, pack them tight in your kettle, pour cold water on them until it is on a level with the fruit, but not to cover it; boil till very soft, but not till they break. Then dip off all the liquor you can, then put the fruit into a sieve, and press it, and drain off all the remaining liquor. Then to a pint of the liquor add a pound of sugar, and boil it fifteen minutes. Pour it, as soon as cool, into small jars, or tumblers. Let it stand in the sun a few days, till it begins to dry on the top. It will continue to harden after it is put up.
Calf’s Foot Jelly
To four nicely-cleaned calf’s feet, put four quarts of water; let it simmer gently till reduced to two quarts, then strain it, and let it stand all night. Then take off all the fat and sediment, melt it, add the juice, and put in the peel of three lemons, and a pint of wine, the whites of four eggs, three sticks of cinnamon, and sugar to your taste. Boil ten minutes, then skim out the spice and lemon peel, and strain it. The American gelatine, now very common, makes as good jelly, with far less trouble, and in using it you only need to dissolve it in hot water, and then sweeten and flavor it.
To preserve Apples
Take only tart and well-flavored apples, peel, and take out the cores without dividing them, and then parboil them. Make the syrup with the apple water, allowing three quarters of a pound of white sugar to every pound of apples, and boil some lemon peel and juice in the syrup. Pour the syrup, while boiling, on to the apples, turn them gently while cooking, and only let the syrup simmer, as hard boiling breaks the fruit. Take it out when the apple is tender through. At the end of a week boil them once more in the syrup.
Pear
Take out the cores, cut off the stems, and pare them. Boil the pears in water, till they are tender. Watch them, that they do not break. Lay them separately on a platter as you take them out. To each pound of fruit, take a pound of sugar. Make the syrup, and boil the fruit in the syrup till clear.
Pineapple (very fine)
Pare and _grate_ the pineapple. Take an equal quantity of fruit and sugar. Boil them slowly in a sauce-pan for half an hour.
Purple Plum.--No. 1
Make a rich syrup. Boil the plums in the syrup very gently till they begin to crack open. Then take them from the syrup into a jar, and pour the syrup over them. Let them stand a few days, and then boil them a second time, very gently.
To preserve Oranges
Boil the oranges in soft water till you can run a straw through the skin. Clarify three quarters of a pound of sugar for each pound of fruit, take the oranges from the water, and pour over them the hot syrup, and let them stand in it one night. Next day, boil them in the syrup till it is thick and clear. Then take them up, and strain the syrup on to them.
Purple Plum.--No. 2
Take an equal weight of fruit, and nice brown sugar. Take a clean stone jar, put in a layer of fruit and a layer of sugar, till all is in. Cover them tightly with dough, or other tight cover, and put them in a brick oven after you have baked in it. If you bake in the morning, put the plums in the oven at evening, and let them remain till the next morning. When you bake again, set them in the oven as before. Uncover them, and stir them carefully with a spoon, and do as not to break them. Set them in the oven thus _the third_ time, and they will be sufficiently cooked.
White, or Green Plum
Put each one into boiling water, and rub off the skin. Allow a pound of fruit to a pound of sugar. Make a syrup of sugar and water. Boil the fruit in the syrup until clear, about twenty minutes. Let the syrup be cold before you pour it over the fruit. They can be preserved without taking off the skins, by pricking them. Some of the kernels of the stones boiled in give a pleasant flavor.
Citron Melon
Two fresh lemons to a pound of melon. Let the sugar be equal in weight to the lemon and melon. Take out the pulp of the melon, and cut it in thin slices, and boil it in fair water till tender. Take it out and boil the lemon in the same water about twenty minutes. Take out the lemon, add the sugar, and, if necessary, a little more water. Let it boil. When clear, add the melon, and let it boil a few minutes.
Strawberries
Look them over with care. Weigh a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. Put a layer of fruit on the bottom of the preserving kettle, then a layer of sugar, and so on till all is in the pan. Boil them about fifteen minutes. Put them in bottles, hot, and seal them. Then put them in a box, and fill it in with dry sand. The flavor of the fruit is preserved more perfectly, by simply packing the fruit and sugar in alternate layers, and sealing the jar, without cooking. But the preserves do not look so well.
Blackberry Jam
Allow three quarters of a pound of brown sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil the fruit half an hour, then add the sugar, and boil all together ten minutes.
To preserve Currants to eat with Meat
Strip them from the stem. Boil them an hour, and then to a pound of the fruit, add a pound of brown sugar. Boil all together fifteen or twenty minutes.
Cherries
Take out the stones. To a pound of fruit, allow a pound of sugar. Put a layer of fruit on the bottom of the preserving kettle, then a layer of sugar, and continue thus till all are put in. Boil till clear. Put them in bottles, hot, and seal them. Keep them in dry sand.
Currants
Strip them from the stems. Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of currants. Boil them together ten minutes. Take them from the syrup, and let the syrup boil twenty minutes, and pour it on the fruit. Put them in small jars, or tumblers, and let them stand in the sun a few days.
Raspberry Jam.--No. 1
Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Press them with a spoon, in an earthen dish. Add the sugar, and boil all together fifteen minutes.
Raspberry Jam.--No. 2
Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil the fruit half an hour, or till the seeds are soft. Strain one quarter of the fruit, and throw away the seeds. Add the sugar, and boil the whole ten minutes. A little currant juice gives it a pleasant flavor, and when that is used, an equal quantity of sugar must be added.
Currant Jelly
Pick over the currants with care. Put them in a stone jar, and set it into a kettle of boiling water. Let it boil till the fruit is very soft. Strain it through a sieve. Then run the juice through a jelly-bag. Put a pound of sugar to a pint of juice, and boil it together five minutes. Set it in the sun a few days.
Quince Marmalade
Rub the quinces with a cloth, cut them in quarters. Put them on the fire with a little water, and stew them till they are sufficiently tender to rub them through a sieve. When strained, put a pound of brown sugar to a pound of the pulp. Set it on the fire, and let it cook slowly. To ascertain when it is done, take out a little and let it get cold, and if it cuts smoothly it is done. Crab-apple marmalade is made in the same way. Crab-apple jelly is made like quince jelly. Most other fruits are preserved so much like the preceding, that it is needless to give any more particular directions, than to say that a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit is the general rule for all preserves that are to be kept through warm weather, and a long time.
Preserved Watermelon Rinds
This is a fine article to keep well without trouble for a long time. Peel the melon, and boil it in just enough water to cover it till it is soft, trying with a fork. (If you wish it green, put green vine leaves above and below each layer, and scatter powdered alum, less than half a teaspoonful to each pound.) Allow a pound and a half of sugar to each pound of rind, and clarify it as directed previously. Simmer the rinds two hours in this syrup, and flavor it with lemon peel grated and tied in a bag. Then put the melon in a tureen, and boil the syrup till it looks thick, and pour it over. Next day, give the syrup another boiling, and put the juice of one lemon to each quart of syrup. Take care not to make it bitter by too much of the peel. Citrons are preserved in the same manner. Both these keep through hot weather with very little care in sealing and keeping.
Preserved Pumpkin
Cut a thick yellow pumpkin, peeled, into strips two inches wide, and five or six long. Take a pound of white sugar for each pound of fruit, and scatter it over the fruit, and pour on two wine-glasses of lemon juice for each pound of pumpkin. Next day, put the parings of one or two lemons with the fruit and sugar, and boil the whole three quarters of an hour, or long enough to make it tender and clear without breaking. Lay the pumpkin to cool, strain the syrup, and then pour it on to the pumpkin. If there is too much lemon peel, it will be bitter.
To Pickle Tomatoes
As you gather them, throw them into cold vinegar. When you have enough, take them out, and scald some spices tied in a bag, in good vinegar, and pour it hot over them.
To Pickle Peaches
Take ripe but hard peaches, wipe off the down, stick a few cloves into them, and lay them in _cold_ spiced vinegar. In three months they will be sufficiently pickled, and also retain much of their natural flavor.
To Pickle Peppers
Take green peppers, take the seeds out carefully, so as not to mangle them, soak them nine days in salt and water, changing it every day, and keep them in a warm place. Stuff them with chopped cabbage, seasoned with cloves, cinnamon, and mace; put them in cold spiced vinegar.
To Pickle Nasturtions
Soak them three days in salt and water as you collect them, changing it once in three days, and when you have enough, pour off the brine, and pour on scalding hot vinegar.
To Pickle Onions
Peel, and boil in milk and water ten minutes, drain off the milk and water, and pour scalding spiced vinegar on to them.
To Pickle Gherkins
Keep them in strong brine till they are yellow, then take them out and turn on hot spiced vinegar, and keep them in it in a warm place, till they turn green. Then turn off the vinegar, and add a fresh supply of hot, spiced vinegar.