Cakes need a hot oven for the first half-hour.

If possible, they should not be moved from one shelf to another, but the oven should be cooled gradually by opening the ventilators or lowering the gas. A moderate oven is needed to finish the cooking.

All fruit cakes (unless weighing less than 1 lb.) need to be baked from 1-1/2 to 2 hours. The larger the cake the slower should be the baking.

The cake tins should be lined with greased paper.

If a gas oven is used, stand the cake tin on a sand tin (see Cold Water
Bread).

If the cake becomes sufficiently brown on top before it is cooked through, cover with a greased paper to prevent burning.

To test if done, dip a clean knife into hot water. Thrust it gently down the centre of cake. If done, the knife will come out clean and bright.

1. CAKE MIXTURE.

1/4 lb. butter, 1/4 lb. castor sugar, 6 ozs. flour, 2 eggs.

Half butter and half nutter gives just as good results and is more economical.

Beat together the butter and sugar to a cream. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth and add. Stir in the flour gently. Mix well. Add a little milk if mixture is too stiff. This makes a Madeira Cake.

For other varieties, mix with the flour 1 dessertspoon caraway seeds for Seed Cake; 2 tablespoons desiccated cocoanut for Cocoanut Cake; 6 ozs. candied cherries chopped in halves for Cherry Cake; 6 ozs. sultanas and the grated rind of 1 lemon for Sultana Cake; the grated yellow part of 2 lemon rinds for Lemon Cake.

2. SMALL CAKES.

Take 2 small eggs and half quantities of the ingredients given for the cake mixture. Add the grated rind of half a lemon for flavouring. Grease a tin for small cakes with 9 depressions. Put a spoonful of the mixture in each depression. Bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven.

3. COCOANUT BISCUITS.

1/2 lb. desiccated cocoanut, 1/4 lb. sugar, 2 small eggs.

Proceed as for Macaroons, but make the cakes smaller. Bake in a moderate oven for half an hour.

4. "CORN WINE AND OIL" CAKES.

1 lb. wholemeal flour, 3/4 lb. raisins, 4 tablespoons walnut oil, 1/4 pint water.

This recipe was especially concocted for non-users of milk and eggs. Stir the oil well into the flour. Add the washed and stoned raisins (or seedless raisins, or sultanas). Mix to a dough with the water. Divide dough into two portions. Roll out, form into rounds, and cut each round into 6 small scones. Bake in a hot oven for half an hour.

5. CURRANT SANDWICH.

8 ozs. butter, 1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. cane sugar, currants.

Mix flour and sugar, and rub in the butter. Mix with water to plastic dough. Divide dough into two cakes, 1 inch in thickness. Cover one evenly with currants, lay the other on top, and roll out to the thickness of one-third of an inch. Cut into sections, and bake in a hot oven for about 30 minutes.

6. APPLE SANDWICH.

Make a short crust (see recipe). Well grease some shallow jam sandwich tins. Roll out the paste very thin and line with it the tins. Peel, core, and finely chop some good, juicy apples. Spread well all over the paste. Sprinkle with castor sugar and grated lemon rind. Cover with another layer of thin paste. Bake for about 20 minutes in a hot oven. When done, take carefully out of the tin to cool. Cut into wedges, sprinkle with castor sugar, and pile on a plate.

7. FANCY BISCUITS.

8 ozs. flour, 4 ozs. butter, or 3 ozs. butter and 1 egg, 4 ozs. cane sugar, flavouring.

Flavouring may consist of lemon rind, desiccated cocoanut, cooked currants, carraway seed, mace, ginger, etc. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add flavouring and flour. Mix with the beaten egg, if used; it not, treat like the Lemon Short Cake. Roll out, cut into shapes, and bake about 10 minutes.

8. GINGER NUTS.

1/2 lb. nutter, 1/2 lb. sugar, 1 pint molasses or golden syrup, 1/2 oz. ground cloves and all-spice mixed, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, flour to form dough.

Beat the nutter and sugar together; add the molasses, spice, etc., and just enough flour to form a plastic dough. Knead well, roll out, cut into small biscuits, and bake on oiled or floured tins in a very moderate oven.

9. JAM SANDWICH.

Mix ingredients and prepare 2 jam sandwich tins as for Sponge Cake (see recipe). Pour mixture in tins and bake for about 10 minutes in a hot oven. Take out, spread one round with warmed jam, place the other on top, and cut when cold.

10. LEMON SHORT CAKE.

1 lb. flour, 7 ozs. nutter, 1/4 lb. sugar, rind of 1 lemon.

Mix together nutter and sugar, add grated lemon rind, work in flour, and knead well. Press into sheets about 1/2 in. thick. Prick all over. Bake in a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.

An easy way of baking for the inexpert cook who may find it difficult to avoid breaking the sheets, is to well grease a shallow jam-sandwich tin, sprinkle it well with castor sugar, as for sponge cakes, and press the short cake into it, well smoothing the top with a knife, and, lastly, pricking it.

II. MACAROONS. 5 ozs. sweet almonds, 5 ozs. castor sugar, 2 eggs.

Blanch the almonds and flake them in a nut mill. Whisk the eggs to a stiff froth adding the sugar a teaspoonful at a time. Add the almonds, and stir lightly. Drop the mixture, a dessertspoon at a time, on to well-oiled paper, or, better still, rice-paper. Shape with a knife into small cakes and put the half of a blanched almond into the centre of each. Bake in a moderate oven.

12. SPONGE CAKE.

Take the weight of two eggs in castor sugar and flour.

For a richer cake take the weight of two eggs in sugar and the weight of one only in flour.

Well grease the cake-tin, and sprinkle with castor sugar until thoroughly covered, and shake out any that remains loose.

Well whisk the eggs with a coiled wire beater. They must be quite stiff when done. Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, while whisking. Or separate the yolks and whites, beating the yolks and sugar together and whisking the whites on a plate with a knife before adding to the yolks. Lastly, dredge in the flour. Stir lightly, but do not beat, or the eggs will go down. Pour mixture into tin, and bake about one hour in a moderate oven.

13. SULTANA SCONES.

1 oz. cane sugar, 3 ozs. nutter, 1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. sultanas, a short 1/2 pint water.

Mix the flour and sugar; rub in the nutter; add sultanas; make it into a dough with the water; roll out about 1/2 in. thick; form into scones; bake in a moderate oven.

14. SUSSEX CAKE.

1 lb. flour, 6 ozs. nutter, 1/4 lb. sultanas, 1/4 lb. castor sugar, grated lemon rind.

This cake is included especially for the non-users of milk and eggs. Of course it does not turn out quite like the orthodox cake; some people might even call it "puddeny," but it is not by any means unlike the substantial household cake if the directions are minutely followed and the baking well done. But if any attempt is made to make it rich, disaster follows, and it becomes as heavy as the proverbial lead. Made as follows, however, I am told it is quite common in some country places:—Beat the nutter and sugar to a cream. Upon the amount of air incorporated during this beating depends the lightness of the cake. Beat the flour into the creamed nutter. Now add enough water to make cake of a consistency to not quite drop off the spoon. Put the mixture into a greased hot qr. qtn. tin. Put in a very hot oven until nicely brown. This will take from 20 minutes to half an hour. Cover top with greased paper, and allow oven to get slightly cooler. The baking will take from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

XI.—JAM, MARMALADE, &c.

Jam simply consists of fresh fruit boiled with a half to two-thirds its weight of white cane sugar until the mixture jellies.

Nearly every housekeeper has her own recipe for jam. One that I know of uses a whole pound of sugar to a pound of fruit and boils it for nearly two hours. The result is a very stiff, sweet jam, much more like shop jam than home-made jam. Its only recommendation is that it will keep for an unlimited time. Some recipes include water. But unless distilled water can be procured, it is better not to dilute the fruit. The only advantage gained is an increase of bulk. The jam may be made just as liquid by using rather less sugar in proportion to the fruit. A delicious jam is made by allowing 1/2 lb. sugar to every pound of fruit and cooking for half an hour from the time it first begins to boil. But unless this is poured immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tied down very tightly with parchment covers, it will not keep. Nevertheless, too much sugar spoils the flavour of the fruit, and too long boiling spoils the quality of the sugar. A copper or thick enamelled iron pan is needed.

The best recipe for ordinary use allows 3/4 lb. sugar to each pound fruit. Put the fruit in the pan with a little of the sugar, and when this boils, add the rest. Boil rather quickly for an hour. Keep well skimmed. Pour into hot, dry jars, and cover.

1. FRUIT NUT FILLING.

For small, open tarts, the following mixture is a good substitute for the lemon curd that goes to make cheese cakes. Peel, core and quarter some juicy apples. Put in a double saucepan (or covered jar) with some strips of lemon peel (yellow part only) and cane sugar to taste. Cook slowly to a pulp and, when cold, remove the lemon rind. Grate finely, or mill some Brazil nuts. Mix apple pulp and ground nut together in such proportions as to make a mixture of the consistency of stiff jam. Fill tarts with mixture and sprinkle top with ground nut. It must be used the same day as made.

2. JAM WITHOUT SUGAR.

To every pound of fresh fruit allow 1/2 lb. dates. Wash the fruit, put it in the preserving pan, and heat slowly, stirring well to draw out the juice. Wash and stone the dates. Add to the fruit, and simmer very gently for 45 minutes. Put immediately into clean, hot, dry jars, and tie on parchment covers at once.

3. LEMON CURD.

1 lb. lump sugar, 3 lemons (the rinds of 2 grated), yolks of 6 eggs, 1/4 lb. butter.

Put the butter into a clean saucepan; melt, but do not let it boil. Add the sugar, and stir until it is dissolved. Then add the beaten yolks, and, lastly, the grated lemon rind and juice. Stir over a slow fire until the mixture looks like honey and becomes thick. Put into jars, cover, and tie down as for jam.

4. MARMALADE.

To 1 large Seville orange (if small, count 3 as 2) allow 3/4 lb. cane sugar and 3/4 pint water. Wash and brush oranges, remove pips, cut peel into fine shreds (better still, put through a mincer). Put all to soak in the water for 24 hours. Boil until rinds are soft. Stand another 24 hours. Add the sugar, and boil until marmalade jellies. If preferred, half sweet and half Seville oranges may be used.

5. VEGETABLE MARROW JAM.

Peel the marrow, remove seeds, and cut into dice. To each pound of marrow allow 1 lb. cane sugar; to every 3 lbs. of marrow allow the juice and grated yellow part of rind of 1 lemon and 1/2 a level teaspoon ground ginger. Put the marrow into the preserving pan, sprinkle well with some of the sugar, and stand for 12 hours. Add the rest of the sugar, and boil slowly for 2 hours. Add the lemon juice, rind, and ginger at the end of 1-1/2 hours.

XII.—SALADS, BEVERAGES, &c.

1. SALAD.

Lettuce, tomatoes, mustard and cress, cucumber, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice.

Wash the green stuff and finely shred it. Peel the cucumber, skin the tomatoes (if ripe, the skins will come away easily) and cut into thin slices. Place in the bowl in alternate layers. Let the top layer be lettuce with a few slices of tomato for garnishing. Slices of hard-boiled egg may be added if desired.

For the salad dressing, to every tablespoonful of oil allow 1 of lemon juice. Drip the oil slowly into the lemon juice, beating with a fork all the time. Pour over the salad.

2. SALAD.

Beetroot, mustard and cress, olive or walnut oil, lemon juice, cold vegetables.

Chop the cold vegetables. French beans and potatoes make the nicest salad. To every 2 cups of vegetables allow 1 cup of chopped beetroot. Mix well together, and pour over salad dressing as for No. 1. A level teaspoonful of pepper is added to a gill of the dressing by those who do not object to its use.

3. FRUIT SALAD.

Take sweet, ripe oranges, apples, bananas, and grapes. Peel the oranges, quarter them, and remove skin and pips. Peel and core the apples and cut into thin slices. Wash and dry the grapes, and remove from stalks. Skin and slice the bananas.

Put the prepared fruit into a glass dish in alternate layers. Squeeze the juice from 2 sweet oranges and pour over the salad.

Any other fresh fruit in season may be used for this salad. Castor sugar may be sprinkled over if desired, and cream used in place of the juice. Grated nuts are also a welcome addition.

4. LEMON CORDIAL.

12 lemons, 1 lb. lump sugar.

Put the sugar into a clean saucepan. Grate off the yellow part of the rinds of 6 lemons and sprinkle over the sugar. Now moisten the sugar with as much water as it will absorb. Boil gently to a clear syrup. Add the juice from the lemons, stir well, and pour into clean, hot, dry bottles. Cork tightly and cover with sealing-wax or a little plaster-of-Paris mixed with water and laid on quickly. Add any quantity preferred to cold or hot water to prepare beverage, or use neat as sauce for puddings.

5. LIME CORDIAL. The same as for Lemon, but use 13 limes.

6. ORANGE CORDIAL.

The same as for Lemon, but use 3/4 lb. sugar.

A detailed list of Fruit and Herb Teas will be found in the companion volume to this, "Food Remedies."

7. WALLACE CHEESE.

1 qt. milk, 6 tablespoons lemon juice.

Strain the lemon juice and pour it into the boiling milk. Lay a piece of fine, well-scalded muslin over a colander. Pour the curdled milk into this. When it has drained draw the edges of the muslin together and squeeze and press the cheese. Leave it in the muslin in the colander, with a weight on it for 12 hours. It will then be ready to serve.

This cheese is almost tasteless, and many people prefer it so. But if the flavour of lemon is liked, use more lemon juice. The whey squeezed from the cheese is a wholesome drink when quite fresh.