Bread.—Household bread may be made with brewers’ yeast (barm) or with German yeast.

(a) With Brewers’ Yeast.—Take a small quantity—say 2 lb. flour. This should be perfectly dry, or the dough will not rise well. Put it into a bowl—a brown earthenware one glazed on the inside is best—which should also be perfectly dry, and in the winter slightly warmed. Stir in 1 teaspoonful salt, then make a hole about 1½ in. in depth in the centre of the flour. Have ready 1½ tablespoonful fresh brewers’ yeast, mixed in 1 teaspoonful warm—not hot—water; pour this into the hole, and stir a handful of flour lightly into it with a wooden spoon. Then cover with flour again, lightly. Lay a thick cloth over the pan, taking care that it does not press on the flour, and stand it in a warm corner. When the flour at the top of the yeast begins to crack, and the “sponge”—i.e., fermented dough—runs through, which, if the yeast be perfectly fresh and good, it will do in about ½ hour; it is then fit to knead. Now the potatoes may be added, but they must first be finely mashed. A jug of warm water must be ready, and a small quantity at a time poured into a pan; this should be thoroughly mixed with the other ingredients—not with a spoon this time, but the hand. Continue pouring in water and mixing till the mass is perfectly free from lumps, and about the consistency of pastry for pies or puddings. Then turn it out of the pan on to a well-floured pastry board, and roll to and fro for about 3 minutes. Put it back into the pan, again covered with a thick cloth, and leave to rise. Another ½ hour or so will find it fit for the oven. This can easily be ascertained by pulling the dough slightly apart; if it be close and heavy, it must remain a while longer; but if it looks spongy and rises again quickly after the pressure is removed, it is ready for the baking. If tins are to be used, they should be warmed, and a very little butter or dripping should be rubbed over the bottom and sides, to prevent the dough sticking. Many people prefer “cottage” or “batch” loaves as they are called in some countries, made something in the shape of a brioche cake; but a tyro in the art will find it safest to trust to the tins till she has by practice become light-fingered enough to manipulate the dough easily and quickly; for it must be borne in mind that dough, like pastry, becomes heavy by rough or too frequent handling. (Bessie Tremaine.)

Ovens and Baking.—With regard to the baking. The loaves must not be put into too hot an oven at first, or they will not rise; neither must the oven be too cool, or the bread will be underdone, and taste heavy and sodden. A good test is to sprinkle a little flour on the bottom of the oven, and shut the door; if in 5 minutes the flour is found to be coloured a golden brown, the bread may with safety be put in; if, on the contrary, the flour is a deep brown and smells burnt, the oven is too hot, and the fire should be slightly checked, also the oven door left open for a few minutes. The best way of regulating the temperature of the oven is to use a Bailey’s pyrometer (W. H. Bailey and Co., Albion Works, Salford, near Manchester), by which it is easy to see whether the fire should be urged or checked, ensuring the proper degree of heat without wasting fuel.

Bread is generally supposed to have a more pleasant flavour when baked in a brick oven. One reason why this is so is because the brick oven (when there is one attached to a house) is generally so large and cumbrous, besides being troublesome to heat, that it is only used on baking days for bread or cake; so that there is no stale flavour of meat, game, or poultry hanging about it. This should be borne in mind when the baking is to be done in a kitchener, which should be thoroughly ventilated and washed out before the bread is put in. If this is attended to, the difference in the taste will be scarcely perceptible. (Bessie Tremaine.)

Mention may here be made of Perkins’ Patent Steam Oven (Seaford Street, Gray’s Inn Road), in which the baking is remarkably even and regular; and of the portable gas oven (J. Baker and Sons, 58 City Road). See also p. 1003.

Yeast.—(a) First get 6 good-sized potatoes, wash and pare them and boil them in 2 qt. water with a handful of hops (the latter in a small bag kept for the purpose). When quite soft take them out, mash fine, and pour upon them the water in which they were boiled, adding a little water for what may have boiled away, and also ½ cup salt and same of white sugar. When cooled down to a lukewarm temperature add 1 cup yeast to ferment it with. It does not rise, it works like beer, and having been covered closely and kept in a warm place, in the course of 5-6 hours the entire surface will be covered with fine bubbles, which indicate that it is ready for use. It should now be bottled and put in the cellar, where it will keep a long time. The bottles must not be corked tight at first, or they will be liable to burst. If the theory be true that some of the same kind must be used to start with, some difficulty may be encountered in introducing it where it is not used.

(b) Boil and mash 1 lb. potatoes, mix with them ¼ lb. coarse raw sugar and 1 teaspoonful salt, add 1 qt. tepid water, and let the mixture stand in a warm place for 24 hours; then boil a small handful of hops for 10 minutes in ½ pint water, strain, and add the liquor to the yeast. Again let it stand for 24 hours; if it does not then ferment, get a little brewers’ yeast, and let it work for 24 hours; then strain it, and it is fit for use. When cold, put away the yeast in stone bottles, the cork tied down firmly. Keep in a cool dry place until wanted. About ½ pint yeast will be required to ferment 7 lb. flour.

(c) With German Yeast.—The one great point is to knead well. Not only should the dough be well kneaded, but the sponge, where it is placed to rise, should be well and rapidly beaten with a wooden spoon. The effect will be speedily seen, for the grain of the sponge becomes closer and finer, and, when put in a suitable place, will at once begin to rise in very fine bubbles. Potatoes much improve bread, and, in order to use them with a good effect, they must be steamed and beaten to a pulp, or, rather, to a cream; for a little water must be added to the pulp as soon as all the lumps have been beaten away, and this water should be in quantity just sufficient to give the potatoes the consistency of thick cream. This potato cream is to be put in the sponge before the beating commences—in fact, it is part of the sponge. It is advisable to put German yeast in water over night, and in the morning, when you are ready to lay your sponge, you must add to the yeast and water 2 lumps sugar. As the sugar assists the yeast to ferment, it must not be carelessly put in and left. As soon as it is dissolved the sponge should be mixed. Bread mixed with milk is much better than that made with water. Therefore, if you can procure it, place some milk on the fire to boil, and when it has partly cooled it is ready for use. An easy mode of cooling milk that has boiled is to place the can containing it in a pail of cold water.

Never make bread with raw milk, for the chances are that the dough will become sour, and, although a little soda carbonate will counteract the acidity when in the sponge, it is impossible to remedy any such accident in the dough. It is a very difficult thing to tell anyone how much liquid to use to any given quantity of flour. American flour, which makes the finest bread, requires more liquid than English flour. The reason is obvious—the better the flour the drier, and American flour is very dry. Although commanding a higher price than English, it is in reality much more economical, as a stone of American flour will produce a much larger batch of bread than a stone of English flour will.

¼ lb. yeast will be found sufficient for an ordinary baking. It is a general rule to lay the sponge in the centre of the flour that you intend shall form the dough. This is a mistaken idea, and the better plan is to have a bowl about the size of a toilette basin. Warm it; do not quite half fill with flour. Have your yeast and sugar ready dissolved and smoothly mixed with cold water; have also in a jug at your left hand some milk that has been boiled and lost its scalding heat. Your bread will be improved if you provide yourself too with some warm creamed potatoes (you may with advantage have as much potato as flour in your sponge). It is quite out of the question to say when it will have risen—the weather affects it, and it will vary each time. The better way is to keep a watchful eye on it. It is fit to be taken when it has risen to a fine spongy mass, presenting the appearance of froth.

Have a large bowl ready warmed, place in this as much flour as you judge will make the quantity of bread you desire; but do not more than half fill your bowl, or there will be no room for rising. Make a hole in the centre of the flour, and pour in the sponge, add a small quantity of salt, and proceed to knead it up, moistening from time to time with milk, or water, as the case may be. Do not have the dough too stiff. It is as well to use the right hand first, and keep the left free to add the liquid from the jug. The right hand has most power, and vigour is required in kneading bread. We have proof of this in the Italians, who knead their dough with such force as to produce corns on the knuckles of the hand. When you find you have sufficient liquid, let the left hand take its share in pounding and working the dough.

Draw the dough from the sides of the pan to the middle in kneading, and continue to do this until it ceases to stick either to the hands or bowl. Having arrived at this point, place the bread-bowl in a warm position, and cover with a cloth. When the dough is ready to be made into loaves it will be risen and cracked all over. The bread-tins must be rubbed inside with lard before using. Remember, when you cut your dough into loaves, that it is necessary to knead it up again before placing in the tins. It is a good plan to nearly ¾ fill the tins, prick through with a fork, and put to rise again. Stand your tins together, if possible, and place a clean light cloth over them, to keep any dust off, and also to prevent the surface of the dough from drying. The loaves must rise until they nearly reach the tops of the tins. Now place in an oven that has a moderately good heat, and do not open the door during the first 15 minutes. The middle shelf of an oven is the proper place for bread, and the tins should stand on rings; there is then no chance of burning the bottoms of the loaves. After the loaves have been in the oven ½ hour, change their positions. An hour should bake an ordinary loaf. During the last ½ hour the heat of the oven may be allowed to decrease.

As soon as your bread is baked, take the loaves out of the tins and wrap them in a clean old blanket kept especially for the purpose. The object is to prevent hard crust, and the blanket will absorb any moisture caused by the steam. When quite cold the bread may be placed in the bread-pan, which should be kept in a cold damp place. No bread will keep in a good state which is in a dry, warm situation. It is certain to dry, crack, and mould. It will be found a good plan to bake once a week during the winter, and twice during the summer months. Should any difficulty be experienced during very sultry weather, make the dough in the evening with quite cold water or milk, there will be no sponge to lay in this case; all must be kneaded up at once, and in the morning it will be ready for use. Bread made up in this way is excellent if well kneaded, but never has such delicate grain as that made by the above directions.

The only real enemy to success in bread-making is warm sultry weather. When the air is charged with electricity, the housewife may think of danger. Want of attention is, in the majority of cases, the real cause of mishaps. (Harriett Estill.)

The flour called “seconds” makes a more economical loaf for family use than the first quality; when, however, a very white light kind of bread is preferred, “best whites” must be used. German yeast should be perfectly fresh and sweet, in which state it is nearly white and quite dry. Dissolve 1½ oz. in a few spoonfuls of cool water, and then stir into it 3½ pints tepid water; pour it rapidly over 5 lb. flour, in which 1 tablespoonful salt has been mixed; beat it up with the hand or a wooden spoon until well mixed, then gradually work in 2 lb. more of flour, kneading it well. When finished, the dough will be perfectly smooth, and not a particle will adhere to the hands or pan. Set the dough in a warm place to rise for an hour, then work it up with a handful of flour until it is stiff; divide it into 2 or 3 loaves, working them up into a compact shape. Put them on a floured baking sheet, and bake them in an oven as hot as it can be without burning the bread, as it will then keep its shape. In about 10 minutes the heat may be moderated and kept equal until the bread is finished. A 5 lb. loaf will take 1¼ hour to bake. A skewer may be thrust into the loaf, and if it comes out clean the bread is done enough, but generally the appearance of the loaf should indicate this to anyone having the least experience. (Mary Hooper.)

Biscuits, Cakes, and Fancy Breads

Biscuits, Cakes, and Fancy Breads.—Of these there is an endless variety, the majority being well adapted for making at home.

Abernethy Biscuits.—(a) Dissolve ¼ lb. butter in ½ pint warm milk, and with 4 lb. fine flour, a few caraways, and ½ lb. sugar, make a stiff but smooth paste; to render the biscuits short and light, add ½ dr. ammonia carbonate in powder. Roll out very thin; stamp the biscuits, pricking them with a fork, and bake in tins in a quick oven.

(b) Into 7 lb. flour rub 1 lb. butter; add 1 lb. moist sugar, powdered, and 2 oz. caraway seeds; make into smooth dough with 2½ pints water containing 4 oz. sal volatile; roll into thin sheets; cut into biscuits, place on buttered tins, wash tops with white of egg, bake in quick oven.

Almond Bread.—8 oz. sweet almonds, 1 oz. bitter almonds blanched and dried; pound fine with 18 oz. loaf sugar in a mortar; pass through sieve; mix into soft batter with yolk of egg; grate off the peel of 1 lemon, and add it with 2 oz. flour; mix lightly as for sponge cake; pour the batter into square, flat, tin dishes, turned up about 2 in., and buttered inside; bake in cool oven.

Almond Cakes.—Cover 1 lb. sweet almonds with boiling water in a saucepan; when just boiling, strain off, and rub skins off; slice up 2 oz. of them; put remainder into a mortar with 2¼ lb. loaf sugar, 1 tablespoonful orange-flower water and white of 6 eggs, pound fine; spread wafer-paper on a tin, and drop on pieces of the paste as large as walnuts; sprinkle each with the shredded almonds; bake in slow oven.

Almond Savoy Cake.—Take 1 lb. blanched sweet almonds (4 oz. of them may be bitter), 2 lb. sugar, 1 pint yolk of egg, ½ pint whole eggs, 1 lb. flour, and the whites of 12 eggs beaten to a firm froth. Pound the almonds with the sugar in a mortar, and sift through a wire sieve, or grind in a mill, and mix with the sugar in the mortar. First mix the whole eggs well with the almonds and sugar, then add the yolks by degrees, stirring until quite light; then mix in the whites, and afterwards the flour lightly; prepare some moulds as for Savoy cakes, or only butter them. Fill the moulds ¾ full, and bake in a moderate oven.

American Biscuits.—Rub ½ lb. butter with 4 lb. flour; add 1 pint milk or water; mix well; break up the dough; bake in hot oven.

Apple Bread.—After having boiled 1 lb. peeled apples, bruise them while quite warm into 2 lb. flour, including the proper quantity of leaven, and knead the whole without water, the juice of the fruit being quite sufficient. When this mixture has acquired the consistency of paste, put it into a vessel, in which allow it to rise for about 12 hours. By this process you obtain a very sweet bread, extremely light.

Banbury Cake.—(a) 1½ lb. flour, 1 lb. butter; roll the butter in sheets in part of the flour; wet up the rest of the flour in nearly ½ pint water and a little German or brewers’ yeast; make into a smooth paste, roll in a large sheet, and lay on the butter; double up, and roll out again; do this 5 times; cut into square pieces, about 1½ oz. each. Mix together currants, candied peel chopped fine, moist sugar, and a little brandy; put 2 teaspoonfuls of this mixture on each piece of paste; bring the two corners together in the middle, and close them up of an oval shape; turn the closing downwards; sift finely powdered loaf sugar over the tops; put on a cold tin; let stand awhile in the cold to prove; bake in rather a cool oven.

(b) 2 lb. currants, ½ oz. each ground allspice and powdered cinnamon; 4 oz. each candied orange and lemon peel; 8 oz. butter, 1 lb. moist sugar, 12 oz. flour; mix the whole well together; roll out a piece of puff paste; cut into oval shape; put a small quantity of composition into each, and double up in the shape of a puff; put on a board, flatten down with rolling-pin, and sift powdered sugar over; do not put too close together; bake on iron plates in a hot oven.

Bath Buns.—1 lb. flour, peel of 2 lemons grated fine, ½ lb. butter melted in teacup of cream, 1 teaspoonful yeast, 3 eggs; mix; add ½ lb. powdered loaf sugar; mix well; let stand to rise; quantities will make about 3 dozen buns.

Bath Cake.—Roll 1¾ lb. moist sugar till fine; add ¾ pint water; let stand all night; into 4½ lb. flour rub 3 oz. butter; make a hole in it, and pour in the sugar and water with ½ pint honey water; roll thin; cut out, place on buttered tin, wash over with water, bake in quick oven.

Biscuit Powder.—Dry the biscuits in a slow oven; grind with a rolling-pin on a clean board till the powder is fine; sift through a fine hair-sieve, and it is fit for use.

Bordeaux Cake.—Make a mixture as for pound-cakes, leaving out the fruit, peel, and spices; bake in a round or oval hoop. When baked and cold, cut into slices ½ in. thick; spread each slice with jam or marmalade. The outside of the cake may be cut round, or fluted to form a star; and the centre of the cake is occasionally cut out to about 1½ in. from the edge, leaving the bottom slice whole: this may be filled with preserved wet or dry fruits, creams, or a trifle. The top is ornamented with piping, wet or dry fruits, and peels, or piped with jam and icing.

Brandy Snaps.—(a) Rub ¼ lb. butter into ½ lb. flour, add ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ oz. ground ginger, and the grated rind and juice of a lemon. Mix with a little treacle to a paste thin enough to spread on tins. Bake in a moderate oven, and when done enough cut it into strips whilst still on the tins, and then roll it round the fingers. When cold put in a tin at once, or they will lose their crispness. (b) Take 1 lb. flour, ½ lb. coarse brown sugar, ¼ lb. butter, 1 dessertspoonful allspice, 2 of ground ginger, the grated peel of half, and the juice of a whole lemon; mix altogether, adding ½ lb. treacle; beat it well; butter some sheet tins, and spread the paste thinly over them, bake in rather a slow oven. When done cut it into squares, and roll each square round the finger as it is raised from the tin. (c) ½ lb. salt butter, ½ lb. moist sugar, ½ lb. treacle and flour (more treacle than flour), 1½ oz. finely-powdered ginger. The butter, treacle, and part of the sugar to be made boiling hot, and poured on the remainder of the ingredients well mixed. Spread it very thinly with a knife on a sheet tin which has been buttered, and bake. When done, to be taken off with a knife.

Breakfast Cake.—Mix ½ oz. German yeast with ½ pint warm milk in a pan; weigh 2 lb. flour and take sufficient of it to make the milk the consistence of batter. When this sponge has risen, take a little milk—melt in it 3 oz. butter; add a teaspoonful of salt, and the yolks of 8 eggs; mix well with the sponge, and make into a dough with the remaining portion of flour. Do not use more milk with the eggs than will make ½ pint, or the dough will be too soft. 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 ½ in. thick and butter each.

Bride Cake.—Cleanse and dry 2½ lb. currants; stone ½ lb. muscatel raisins; pound ¼ oz. mace, ? oz. cinnamon; scald ¼ 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 1¼ lb. flour; in a warmed pan beat 1 lb. butter by hand till it melts, then add the sugar and beat again; add ? of the flour, stir, and add nearly half the eggs; beat up, add more flour and remainder of eggs; beat again and stir in rest of flour and currants; next add the raisins, almonds, candied peel, spices, and ½ gill brandy; thoroughly mix; double paper the tin, and bake in a very slow oven.

Brighton Biscuits.—Take 1¼ lb. good moist sugar; roll fine; mix with 2½ lb. flour, and sift through a flour sieve; rub in 2 oz. butter; make a hole in the middle, and strew in a few caraway seeds; pour in ½ pint each honey-water and milk; mix into dough, but do not work too much; roll out in thin sheets; cut into biscuits and put 2 in. apart on buttered tin; wash with milk; bake steadily.

Buttered Biscuits.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good yeast; break smooth; prove; cut into biscuits; bake in strong heat.

Captain’s Biscuits.—Rub 6 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. water; break smooth; bake in good strong heat.

Chelsea Buns.—Take ½ or 1 quartern light bread dough; dust the dresser or table with flour, and roll out with a rolling-pin into a sheet about ¼ in. thick; over the surface put 4-6 oz. butter, in little bits, work up and roll out 2 or 3 times, the same as for making puff paste. The last time it is rolled out, spread thinly and evenly over the surface, either moist or powdered loaf sugar; moisten by sprinkling with water; cut into strips, ½-¾ in. wide; roll up so as to form a coil or roll of dough about 2 in. in diameter. Lay these pieces (when rolled up) on a clean baking-tin, with some butter rubbed over the surface, to prevent the buns adhering when baked. Place rather more than ¼ in. asunder, with one of the cut edges downward. Put in a warm place, covered with a cloth, to prove, or rise; bake in a moderately warm oven. May be made richer by using more butter and sugar, and seeds or spice may be added at pleasure. When baked, some sugar may be sifted over the surface.

Cheese Cake.—Beat 4 oz. butter with the hand in a warm pan, till it comes to a fine cream; add 4 oz. powdered sugar; beat well; add yolks of 2 eggs; beat again; add a little milk; beat all well together, and mix in 4 oz. clean currants; lay puff paste in the patty-pans; fill half full; shake a little sugar over, and bake in a good heat.

Cinnamon Buns.—Same as saffron, omitting the caraway seeds and saffron, and substituting ground cinnamon.

Cinnamon, Currant, and Caraway Cake.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; then wet up with ½ pint each honey-water and milk. Divide the dough into 3 parts; add to one part a little powdered cinnamon; to another a few currants; to another a few caraway seeds. Roll in sheets to the thickness of the currants; cut to about the size of a penny; wash with a little milk, and bake in a steady heat.

Colchester Bread.—(a) Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; cut with a Colchester cutter to about the thickness of a penny; wash with milk; bake quick; wash with egg and milk while hot; when cold cut apart.

(b) Put ¾ lb. loaf sugar into a saucepan, with ¼ pint water over steady fire; stir till dissolved; beat 6 eggs with a whisk in a pan; when the sugar boils pour it gently on the eggs, beating till cold; stir in ¾ lb. fine sifted flour; paper frames; fill ¾ full with the batter; sift sugar over; bake in steady oven.

Cracknel Biscuits.—Rub 6 oz. butter into 3½ lb. flour; in a hole put 6 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 8 eggs and ¼ pint water; break dough smooth; make and dock like captain’s biscuits; form on the reel; drop into a stew-pan of water boiling over the fire; when they swim, take out with a skimmer, and put into a pailful of cold water; let remain 2 hours before baking; drain in a cloth or sieve; bake on clean tins in a brisk oven.

Crumpets.—These are made of batter composed of flour, water (or milk), and a small quantity of yeast. To 1 lb. best wheaten flour add 3 tablespoonfuls yeast. A portion of the liquid paste, not too thin (after being suffered to rise), is poured on a heated iron plate, and baked, like pancakes in a pan.

Curd Cheese Cake.—Warm 1 pint new milk; stir in a little rennet; keep warm till a nice curd appears; break and strain the whey through a hair-sieve; put mixture prepared as for cheese-cakes, but without any currants, into sieve with curd; rub all through together; mix in currants; fill out, and bake in a good heat.

Derby Cake.—Rub 1 lb. butter in 2½ lb. flour; in a hole put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat 2 eggs with 3 tablespoonfuls honey-water, and milk to make up ½ pint; add ½ lb. currants; mix; bake in a steady oven.

Diet Bread.—Whisk the yolks of 12 and the whites of 6 eggs, together, so as just to break them; put ¼ pint water into a saucepan or small stew-pan, add 1 lb. loaf sugar, and put on the fire; take it off just before it boils; put in the eggs, and whisk well till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. flour; put mixture into papered square tins; sift sugar over tops; bake in cool oven till dry and firm on top.

Drop Biscuits.—Warm the pan; put in 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar and 8 eggs; beat with a whisk till milk warm; then beat till cold; stir in lightly 1 lb. sugar, 2 oz. fine sifted flour, ½ oz. caraway seeds; put batter into a bladder, drop through the pipe, in quantities about the size of a nutmeg, on wafer-paper; sift sugar over the top; bake in quick oven.

Drops.—Whisk ½ teacup water, 6 eggs, and 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar together till thick; add a few caraway seeds, and 18 oz. flour; mix lightly together; drop on wafer-paper, about the size of a small walnut; sift sugar over, and bake in a hot oven.

Filbert Biscuits.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 3½ lb. flour; make a hole, and put in 10 oz. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with 4 tablespoonfuls honey-water, 1 of orange-flower water, and ¾ pint milk; break dough smooth; mould as large as a nutmeg, and round; cut twice across the top each way, about half through, with a sharp knife; place on tin; bake in steady heat.

French Rolls.—Set a sponge with 1 qt. warm water, and ½ pint good small-beer yeast; let sponge rise and drop; melt 1 oz. butter in 1 pint warm milk, and 1 oz. salt; wet up about 7 lb. flour; let lie ½ hour; put on warm tins; prove well; bake in quick oven.

Ginger Cake.—Prepare dough as for Bath cakes; add as much ground ginger as will give a pleasant taste; cut as thick as a shilling and as large as a penny; wash with water; bake quick.

Hot Cross Buns.—Take 1 qt. milk, 12 oz. butter, 12 oz. sugar, ½ oz. mixed spice, 2 eggs, 2 oz. German yeast, or ½ teacupful of good thick small-beer yeast, and 4 lb. flour. If to be made with currants, add 1 or 1½ lb. currants, clean washed, picked, and dried. Make the milk blood-warm; if the weather is cold, rather warmer; put it into a gallon pan, with half the sugar, 6 oz. of flour, the yeast and eggs; mix together, cover the pan, and put in a warm place. When this has risen with a high, frothy head, and again fallen and become nearly flat, it is ready for the remaining portion of the ingredients to be mixed with it; but while rising, the butter should be rubbed in with the flour between the hands, until reduced to small crumbles. Mix the whole together into a nice mellow dough. If the flour is not very good and strong, about 4-6 oz. more may be required to make the dough of the required consistence. Cover the pan; let remain in a warm place for about ½ hour, or until the dough has risen 4 in. Make into buns by moulding the dough up into small balls lightly under the hands, and place on warm tins, slightly rubbed over with butter, about 3-4 in. asunder. Half-prove, and cross; brush the tops over with milk, and finish proving; bake in a hot oven; when done, brush the tops over again with milk. The best method for proving is to put the tins on shelves in a warm cupboard near the fire. Place a pan with hot water at the bottom, but put no tin on the pan. Put a piece of heated iron or brick into the water in the pan occasionally, to cause a steam to ascend, which will keep the surface of the buns moist, when they will expand or prove to their full size, otherwise the surface will be hardened, and prevent expansion. Keep the cupboard door close shut until ready to bake.

Italian Bread.—Take 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar, 18 oz. flour, 12 eggs, ½ lb. citron and lemon peel. Mix as for pound-cake. If the mixture begins to curdle, which is most likely from the quantity of eggs, add a little of the flour. When the eggs are all used, and it is light, stir in the remainder of the flour lightly. Bake in long, narrow tins, either papered or buttered; first put in a layer of the mixture, and cover with the peel cut in large thin slices; proceed in this way until ¾ full, and bake in a moderate oven.

Lemon Biscuits.—Prepare dough as for filbert biscuits, but leave out orange-flower water and use 6 drops essence of lemon; cut out, dock with lemon docker; bake in good steady heat.

Lemon Cheese Cake.—Prepare as for common cheese-cakes; grate rind of fresh lemon; squeeze the juice, and mix.

Lord Mayor’s Cake.—Whisk 1 lb. sifted loaf sugar and 8 eggs in a warm earthen pan for 15 minutes, or until quite thick; add a few caraway seeds and 1 lb. flour; mix lightly with a spoon, and drop on paper, about the size of a small teacup; place on iron plates; sift sugar or caraway seeds on top; bake in hot oven; when done, take off the papers, and stick two together.

Lunch or School Cake.—Mix ½ lb. moist sugar with 2 lb. flour; in a hole in the middle put 1 tablespoonful good thick yeast (not bitter); warm ½ pint milk rather more than blood warm, but not hot enough to scald the yeast; mix ? with the yeast and a little of the flour; when it has risen (say ¾ hour if the yeast is good) melt ½ lb. butter in a little more milk; add 1½ lb. currants, a little candied peel, and grated rind of lemon, and 1 teaspoonful powdered allspice; mix; butter hoop or tin, put in, and set in warm place to rise; bake in warm oven. This cake should be mixed up rather softer than bread dough.

Macaroons.—Pound 1 lb. blanched and dried sweet almonds fine in a mortar; pass through wire sieve; make into softish batter, with whites of 5 or 6 eggs, and a spoonful or two of orange-flower water; beat well; lay on oval wafer-paper; dredge tops with powdered loaf sugar; bake in rather cool oven.

Madeira Cake.—Whisk 4 eggs very light, and, still whisking, throw in by slow degrees the following ingredients in the order named—6 oz. each sifted sugar and flour, 4 oz. butter, slightly dissolved but not heated, the rind of a fresh lemon, and ? teaspoonful soda carbonate; beat well just before moulding; bake for 1 hour in moderate oven. Each portion of butter must be beaten into the mixture until no appearance of it remains, before the next is added.

Muffins.—These should be baked on a hot iron plate. To 1 peck flour add ¾ pint good small-beer yeast, 4 oz. of salt, and water (or milk) slightly warmed, sufficient to form a dough of rather soft consistency; when light, small portions of the dough are put into holes, made in a layer of flour about 2 in. thick, placed on a board; cover up with a blanket, and stand near a fire, to cause the dough to rise to a semi-globular shape; place on heated iron plate, and bake; when bottoms begin to acquire brownish colour, turn, and bake opposite side.

Naples Biscuits.—Take 6 oz. each moist and loaf sugar, ¼ pint water; proceed as for diet cake, with 6 eggs and ¾ lb. flour; have tins papered: fill nearly full of the batter; sugar the tops; bake in rather slow oven. These biscuits are diet-bread batter, fancifully dropped into tins, papered with white paper, and baked in a warm oven, with a little sugar sifted over the top.

Oatmeal Cakes.—These are composed of oatmeal and water; and the difficulties lie, first, in wetting, with sufficient quickness, the whole of the meal, without drenching any portion of it; secondly, in properly kneading and rolling out the cakes with dexterity and despatch; and, finally, in turning them while baking, or “firing.” They are sometimes baked on a “girdle” or “griddle”—a flat piece of cast iron, placed over a bright fire; sometimes on a “toaster,” which is similar to a hanger, with a sliding back, which supports the cake in front of the fire; and sometimes in an American oven.

The process of making is as follows:—Put 2 or 3 handfuls of meal into a 3 pint basin; stir while pouring in boiling water; when all is moistened, having scattered a handful of dry meal over the paste-board, turn out the “leaven” with a spoon or your hand, dusted with meal; take a piece, according to the size of cake required, and knead out, using the rolling-pin if wanted thin; shape with a knife or tin cutter 4-5 in. in diameter. As oatmeal swells and dries very rapidly, to have cakes that will stick together, and, at the same time, eat short or “free,” this process cannot be done too expeditiously. Each of the three modes of baking gives a different flavour. For toasting let the cakes be 10 or 12 in. in diameter, nip up the edge all round, and cut them across twice, which makes a square edge for them to stand on. In this form they are called “farls.” For turning, use a broad, supple knife, or a piece of tin plate. A little butter melted in the water is an improvement.

Parkin.—(a) 4 lb. oatmeal, 4 lb. treacle, 1 lb. sugar, 1 lb. butter, 2 oz. powdered ginger. Set a pan before the fire with the treacle and butter in it. When dissolved, add the other ingredients, and stir it as stiff as you can with a knife, but do not knead it. Add 1 teacupful brandy (if liked), and bake it in a cool oven in dripping pans or flat dishes about 2 in. thick. Do not turn it out till quite cold, or it will break, but cut it across with a knife where you would like it divided. It must be baked in a cool oven. Some people make it in round cakes. (b) 1 lb. Yorkshire oatmeal, 1 lb. thick treacle (not golden syrup), ¼ lb. butter, ¼ lb. moist sugar, mixed spice and ginger to taste. Rub the butter into the meal with the sugar and spice, then add the treacle (melted, if too thick), mix all well together, and bake in flat tins, such as are used for Yorkshire puddings, in a slow oven, for 2 hours or more. Parkin is not fit for eating for 2-3 days, till it has become perfectly soft. (c) 7 lb. oatmeal, 1 lb. butter, 2 lb. treacle, 3 tablespoonfuls soda carbonate; to be baked in hoops the same as teacakes. The butter to be melted and mixed with the treacle warm. (d) 4 lb. oatmeal, ¾ lb. butter, ¾ lb. lard; currants, raisins (candied lemon peel if approved), ginger, and cayenne pepper to taste. Add sufficient treacle to make the whole into a soft paste. Bake in a slow oven. The treacle, butter, and lard should be warmed a little together. Butter and lard keep the cake moist longer than if only butter were used.

Plum Cake.—(a) Set a sponge with 1 lb. flour, ½ pint warm milk, and 3 tablespoonfuls good yeast; beat up 4 oz. butter, 4 oz. powdered sugar, 2 eggs, and 4 oz. flour as for pound cake; put in sponge, and beat all well together; add 1 lb. currants; bake without proving in a slow oven.

(b) Beat 1 lb. butter with your hand in a warm pan till it comes to a fine cream, add 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar; beat together to a nice cream; have 1¼ lb. flour sifted, put in a little, and stir; add 4 eggs; beat well; add a little more flour and 4 more eggs; beat it well again; stir in remainder of flour; for small cakes, butter the tins; for large ones, paper; sugar over the top, and bake in moderate heat.

(c) Sift 1 lb. loaf sugar; add 1 lb. fresh butter, melted a little, and worked by hand to consistency of cream; beat together; while doing so, add 10 eggs; beat till well incorporated; mix 4 oz. candied orange or lemon peel, shred or cut small, a few currants and 1 lb. flour well together; put in a hoop; sift sugar on top; bake in warm oven.

Porridge.—Put on the fire a pan, of the size that will hold the quantity required, about ? full of water; when the water is quick boiling take a handful of meal, and holding the hand over the pan—of course high enough to avoid being burned by the steam—let the meal slide slowly through the fingers into the water, the other hand stirring all the time with a wooden spoon, or what Scotch cooks call the “spurtle.” Continue this till enough of meal is put into the water, then add salt to taste, and, allow the porridge to boil for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally lest it stick to the pan and scorch. Porridge is not good if boiled less than 20 minutes; but for children, or delicate stomachs it should be boiled the full ½ hour, by which time the meal is so well swelled and softened that it becomes a digestible and most nutritious article of food. Letting the meal slide slowly into the water is an important element in making good porridge. If it is thrown in too quickly, or the water allowed to cease boiling, it forms into lumps, and is not so good. It is not easy to give any rule as to the proportion of meal to water, as the thickness of porridge is quite a matter of taste. Of course it must be still thin when one stops putting in the meal, as it swells to more than half as much again with the boiling.

Pound Cake.—The following table gives the ingredients necessary for rich pound-, Twelfth-, or bride-cakes of different prices:—

* Nutmegs, mace, and cinnamon, of equal parts, in powder.

These proportions allow for the cake being iced. If more sugar is preferred, it may be the same as the butter; less is used that the cake may be light, and to allow for the sweet fruit. Double the quantity of almonds may be used. To make: warm a smooth pan, large enough for the mixture; put in the butter, and reduce it to a fine cream, by working it about the pan with your hand. In summer the pan need not be warmed; but in winter keep the mixture as warm as possible, without oiling the butter. Add the sugar and mix it well with the butter, until it becomes white and feels light in the hand. Break in 2 or 3 eggs at a time, and work the mixture well before more is added. Continue doing this until all are used and it becomes light; then add the spirit, currants, peel, spice, and almonds, most of the almonds being previously cut in thin slices, and the peel into small thin strips and bits. When these are incorporated, mix in the flour lightly; put it in a hoop with paper over the bottom and round the sides, and place on a baking-plate. Large cakes require 3 or 4 pieces of stiff paper round the sides; and if the cake is very large, a pipe or funnel, made either of stiff paper or tin, and well buttered, should be put in the centre, and the mixture placed round it; this is to allow the middle of the cake to be well baked, otherwise the edge would be burnt 2 or 3 in. deep before it could be properly done. Place the tin plates containing the cake on another, the surface of which is covered 1 or 2 in. thick with sawdust or fine ashes to protect the bottom. Bake it in an oven at a moderate heat. The time required to bake it will depend on the state of the oven and the size of the cake. A guinea cake in an oven of a proper heat will take 4 to 5 hours. When the cake is cold proceed to ice it. Wedding-cakes have generally, first, a coating on the top of almond icing; when this is dry, the sides and top are covered with royal or white icing. Fix on gum paste or other ornaments while it is wet; and when dry, ornament with piping, orange-blossoms, ribbon, &c.; the surface and sides are often covered with small knobs of white sugar candy whilst the icing is wet. Twelfth-cakes are iced with white or coloured icing, and decorated with gum paste, plaster ornaments, piping-paste, rings, knots, and fancy papers, &c., and piped.

Prussian Cake.—Rub 4 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. warm milk, 1 pint warm water, 4 yolks of eggs, and ½ pint good thick yeast; if obliged to take more yeast, leave out some of the water; let dough lie 10-20 minutes; mould up round, ½-¾ lb. each; place on tins, about 2 in. from each other; put in warm place, and prove well; bake in steady heat; melt a little butter and wash over when done.

Queen’s Biscuits.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 2 lb. flour; add 1 lb. powdered sugar; make a hole and pour in ¼ pint milk, to mix it up with; add a few caraways, if you choose; roll the paste in sheets of the thickness of a halfpenny, cut into biscuits with a small round or oval cutter: place on clean tins, see that they do not quite touch; prick with a fork, and bake in a quick oven till they begin to change colour; when cold, they will be crisp.

Queen’s Cake.—Warm 1 lb. butter a little in an earthen pan, and work it by hand to a smooth cream; add 1 lb. finely-powdered and sifted loaf sugar; stir well with the butter for 5 minutes; add 8 eggs and 2 spoonfuls water gradually, continuing the beating until the whole is well mixed: stir in lightly 20 oz. flour, and a handful of currants; fill some small round buttered tins; dust tops with powdered loaf sugar; bake in warm oven.

Queen’s Drops.—Prepare as for pound cakes; add 2 oz. more flour, 1½ lb. currants; drop on whited brown paper, about the size of large nutmegs, about 2 inches from each other; put sheets on tins; bake in steady oven.

Queen’s Gingerbread.—Take 2 lb. honey, 1¾ lb. moist sugar, 3 lb. flour, ½ lb. sweet almonds blanched, ½ lb. preserved orange peel cut in thin fillets, the yellow rinds of 2 lemons grated off, 1 oz. cinnamon, ½ oz. each cloves, mace, and cardamoms, mixed and powdered; put the honey into a pan over the fire, with a wineglassful of water, and make quite hot; mix other ingredients together; make a bay, pour in the honey, and mix; let stand till next day; make into cakes, and bake; rub a little clarified sugar until it will blow into bubbles through a skimmer, and with a paste-brush rub over gingerbread when baked.

Rice Pound-cake.—Take 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar, 12 oz. flour, ½ lb. ground rice, and 12 eggs. Mix as Italian bread, and bake in a papered hoop. If required with fruit, put 2 lb. currants, ¾ lb. peel, 1 grated nutmeg, and a little pounded mace.

Rout Biscuits.—Put 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar into a basin, with 3 gills milk, and let stand 2 hours, stirring occasionally; rub ½ lb. butter into 2 lb. flour; make a hole in it, add a little sal volatile pounded fine, and an egg, with the dissolved sugar; stir together, and mix into smooth dough; let lie 10 minutes; cut out; place on buttered tins; wash with milk; bake quickly.

Rout Cake.—Pound 1 lb. sweet almonds, blanched and dried, and 1 lb. loaf sugar in a mortar; sieve; put what will not pass into a mortar again, with 4 yolks of eggs, and the rind of a lemon; pound very fine, put in what has passed through sieve, and mix all together; make any shape; sprinkle lightly with a little water; sift sugar over, and put on tins that have been rubbed with a bit of butter, so as not to touch each other; bake in rather brisk oven till lightly coloured over; if coloured too deep at bottom, put cold tins under to finish baking.

(c) Take shape, butter it, sift sugar into it, and turn out all the sugar that does not stick to the butter; mix ½ lb. sifted sugar, and 6 oz. sifted flour; warm pan, put in sugar, break in 4 whole eggs and 1 yolk; whisk till warm and then cold; stir in flour, turn batter into the shape, and bake in slow oven about 1 hour; when done, turn out bottom uppermost.

Rusks.—Put 1 qt. warm milk into a pan, with 1 oz. German yeast, 4 oz. moist sugar, and about 6 oz. flour; mix, and put aside in warm place to rise. Rub 6 oz. butter into 3½ lb. flour, and make into a dough with the ferment as soon as ready; prove a little, and divide in pieces of about 1½ lb. each; roll in long rolls about size of rolling-pin; place on buttered tins, 3-4 in. apart; flat down a little with the hand; prove well; bake in moderately heated oven; when cold, cut across in slices; place on tins, and brown off on both sides in brisk oven.

Saffron Buns.—Made with the same mixture as hot cross buns, but with the addition of 1 oz. caraway seeds, and colouring with saffron.

Sally Lunns.—Take flour, a little salt and butter, 2 or 3 eggs, a small quantity of yeast, and milk and water; make light dough; set to rise after kneading; make dough into cakes, large enough to slice into rounds for toasting; bake slightly and quickly in hot oven.

Savoy Biscuits.—Powder and sift 1 lb. loaf sugar; sift 1 lb. flour; warm a pan, and put in the sugar; break 1 lb. eggs upon it; beat both together with a whisk till warm; beat till cold; stir in your flour; have a bladder and pipe ready; put batter into the bladder, and force through on sheets of paper; sift sugar over, and bake in quick oven; when cold, turn up, and wet bottom of paper; turn back again, and in 5 minutes they will come off easily.

Savoy Cake.—(a) Hot Mixture.—Take 1 lb. powdered loaf sugar, 1 pint good eggs, and 14 oz. flour. Warm a pan, free from grease, with the sugar in it, in the oven until you can scarcely bear your hand against it; then take out and pour in the eggs; whisk with a birch or wire whisk until quite light and cold, when it will be white and thick. If it should not whisk up well, warm again and beat as before; or it may be beat over the stove fire until it is of the warmth of new milk. When finished, sift the flour and stir it in lightly with a spoon, adding a few drops of essence of lemon to flavour it. Butter some tin or copper moulds regularly, with rather less on the top than the sides. Dust with loaf sugar sifted through a lawn sieve. Knock out all that does not adhere, and again dust with fine flour; turn out, and knock the mould on the board. Tie or pin a piece of buttered paper round the mould, so as to come 2 or 3 in. above the bottom. Fix the mould in a stand and nearly fill it. Bake in a moderate oven. When done, the top should be firm and dry. Try it by pushing in a small piece of stick or whisk, and if it comes out dry, it is done. The surface of the cake should be quite smooth. There is as much art in buttering the mould properly as in preparing the mixture.

(b) Cold Mixtures.—Separate the yolks from the whites when you break the eggs. Put the yolks into a clean pan with the sugar, and the whites in another by themselves. Let the pans be quite free from grease. If they are rubbed round with a little flour, it will take off any which may be left. Wipe out with a clean cloth. Beat up the yolks and sugar by themselves, with a wooden spoon, and afterwards whip up the whites to a very strong froth. If they should happen to be rather weak, a bit of powdered alum may be added. When the whites are whisked up firm, stir in the yolks and sugar. Sift the flour and mix it lightly with the spatula, adding a little essence of lemon to flavour. Fill the moulds and bake as before. When cakes are made in this way, the eggs should be quite fresh and good, otherwise the whites cannot be whipped up. When weak, pickled eggs are used. A good method is to beat the eggs first by themselves, over a fire, until they are warm; then add the sugar, and whip it over the fire until again warm, or make as for hot mixtures, and heat twice.

Scones.—Warm fresh milk almost to boiling; stir in as much flour as will make a mass that will turn clean out of the bowl without leaving anything adhering to the sides, roll out thin; cut into rounds; bake lightly and quickly.

Seed Cake.—As for pound cakes, but instead of currants and candied lemon peel, substitute a few caraway seeds; omit sugar on top.

Short-Bread.—Rub 1 lb. butter into 3 lb. flour; add 1½ lb. powdered loaf sugar; wet up with ¼ pint each honey-water and milk, and 2 eggs; break in pieces about 1½ oz. each; roll oval or round to size of tea-saucer; pinch round edge; place 1 in. from each other on clean tins, not buttered; cut ½ lb. candied orange or lemon peel into pieces, and lay on top; bake in steady oven.

Shrewsbury Cake.—Mix ¾ lb. powdered loaf sugar with 1¼ lb. flour; rub ¾ lb. butter in with the flour and sugar; add 1 white and 3 yolks of eggs; mix together to a smooth paste; roll into thin sheets; cut out cakes about size of half-a-crown; place on clean tins; bake in slow oven till they begin to change colour.

Simnel Cake.—In some counties these are called “Mothering” cakes, it being the custom to have them on mid-Lent or Mothering Sunday. A simnel cake is really neither more nor less than any other very rich plum cake, the only difference being that it is first boiled and then baked (very slowly) in a crust of flour and water, with which has been mixed some saffron to make it look yellow. To make the cake, beat up 1½ lb. butter with the hand till it becomes a cream, and whip the whites of 8 fresh eggs to a froth; mix these with the creamed butter, and afterwards add the 8 yolks well beaten; add 1 lb. castor sugar, 2 teaspoonfuls salt, 2 lb. well cleaned and dried currants, 1½ lb. flour, ½ lb. candied lemon peel, and the same of citron, cut very thin, ½ oz. pounded nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice, ½ lb. blanched almonds pounded, 6 large lumps of sugar rubbed on the rinds of 4 oranges and then pounded, beating each of the above ingredients into the flour before adding the next; also stir in 1 wineglassful brandy, continuing to beat the cake for more than ½ hour. Roll out the paste, made as directed, somewhat less than ½ in. thick; put a cloth wrung out of boiling water and floured into a large basin, over this put the rolled-out paste, and into the paste put the cake mixture when sufficiently beaten. Close the paste by folding it over, and then tie it up in the cloth. Remove it from the basin, which was merely to support the cake while tying it up, and put it on to boil for 3 hours. Remove the cloth, and place the cake on a baking tin the smooth side upwards. When nearly cold, brush it well over with egg, and put it to bake in a very slow oven until the crust is as hard as wood. The crust should be a light colour.

Soda Scones.—To 2 lb. flour add 1 oz. butter, ½ oz. soda bicarbonate, ¼ oz. tartaric acid, and 1 qt. milk or butter-milk; mix and bake as scones.

Spice Gingerbread.—Take 3 lb. flour, 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. moist sugar, 4 oz. candied lemon or orange peel cut small, 1 oz. powdered ginger, 2 oz. powdered allspice, ½ oz. powdered cinnamon, 1 oz. caraway seeds, and 3 lb. treacle; rub the butter with your hand into the flour; add the other ingredients, and mix it in the dough with the treacle; make into nuts or cakes; bake in cool oven.

Spice Nuts.—Take 7 lb. treacle; rub 1 lb. butter into 9 lb. flour; mix 4 oz. each ground allspice and ground ginger, 2 oz. each caraway and coriander seeds powdered, with butter, flour, and treacle; roll 1 lb. moist sugar, and strew over top; roll out in long rolls about size of finger; cut in pieces size of nutmeg; place on buttered tins; wash with water or small-beer; bake in steady oven.

Sponge Cake.—Into ¾ lb. powdered sugar, break ¾ lb. eggs in a warm pan; whisk till cold; stir in ½ lb. flour; have tins ready buttered and sugared; put about ¾ tablespoonful into each; sift sugar over; bake in moderately brisk oven.

Sweetmeat Nuts.—Take 7 lb. treacle; mix 4 oz. ground ginger, 6 oz. ground allspice, 8 oz. candied lemon and orange, cut small, with 9 lb. flour; wet up with treacle; beat in dough 4 lb. butter and 5 lb. moist sugar; lay off on buttered tins, about the size of walnuts, flat down, wash with water, and bake in slow oven.

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; remove from paper as Savoy biscuits.

Thick Gingerbread.—Take 7 lb. treacle; rub ¾ lb. butter into 12 lb. flour; mix 3 oz. caraway, 2 oz. ground coriander seeds, and 2 oz. ground allspice, with flour and treacle; mould; in a week make into cakes, on a mould or print; butter the sides, and place close together on buttered tins; put up-sets round, wash with milk, and bake in steady heat; when done, wash with egg and milk.

Tops and Bottoms.—Prepare as for rusks; make into small balls about the size of a large walnut; place on tins in straight rows just to touch; prove well; bake in a moderate heat; when cold, draw a sharp knife between rows; to cut balls out square turn on side, and cut through middle, one at a time: place close on tin, with cut part upwards; put in warm oven; done when nicely browned over.

Twelfth Cake.—Prepare as for plum or bride cake; or, if as for plain pound cake, take 3 lb. currants, 4 oz. candied orange and lemon peel, to every pound of sugar; make any size; when done, ice over, and lay on ornaments while ice is wet.

Venice Cake.—Cut a Savoy cake in slices ½ to ¾ in. thick, in a parallel direction from the bottom to the top; spread each slice with raspberry or apricot jam, or some of each alternately, or any other sort of preserve. Replace each piece in its original form: when completed, make an icing as directed for cakes, with 4 whites of eggs to 1 lb. sugar, which will make it rather thin. It may be coloured with cochineal, &c.; spread it over the cake, which, being thin, will run into the flutes and mouldings of the cake, when it will appear of the same form as before. Let dry in the mouth of the oven, but be careful it does not get discoloured. When dry, ornament with piping. Savoy cakes are often done in the same manner, without being cut in slices, to ornament them; or they may be done without icing, and either piped, or ornamented with gum-paste borders, &c., which are fixed on with dissolved gum arabic. Volutes or high and projecting figures are supported with pieces of small wire.

Vienna Bread.—Add to 1 pint new milk, 2 oz. fresh German yeast, 6 oz. each best loaf sugar and good butter, and sufficient best Vienna flour to form a tight or stiff dough; shape into rolls, pointed at each end; bake rich brown colour in quick oven.

Wine Biscuits.—2 lb. flour, 1 lb. butter, 4 oz. sifted loaf sugar; rub the sugar and butter into the flour, and make into a stiff paste with milk; pound in a mortar; roll out thin, and cut into sizes or shapes to fancy; lay on buttered paper or iron plates: brush tops with milk; bake in warm oven; glaze by brushing over with a brush dipped in egg; caraway seeds may be added.

York Biscuits.—Prepare as for filbert biscuits; dock; bake in hot oven, and do not wash over.

Yorkshire Cake.—Rub 4 oz. butter into 7 lb. flour; wet up with 1 qt. warm milk, 1 pint warm water, and ½-¾ pint good yeast; prove about 20 minutes; make into cakes, and put on warm tins; when well proved, make a hole in the middle, size of finger; bake in hot oven; when done, wash with a little melted butter.

Yule Cakes.—Put 1 lb. sifted flour into a large basin, to which add 1 saltspoonful salt; dissolve ¼ oz. German yeast in ½ pint tepid water, and stir into the flour with a wooden spoon; cover it with a thick cloth, and let it stand in a warm place for an hour to rise, add ½ lb. butter beaten to a cream, ½ lb. moist sugar, ? nutmeg (grated), ¾ lb. currants, 4 oz. candied peel (chopped), and 2 beaten eggs; mix well, and only half fill the tin into which you put it; bake in a moderate oven for 1¾-2 hours; turn it out of the tin to get cold.