3/4 pound of raisins.

Dissolve the soda in the cold water and work into the dough. Now add the butter, sugar, nutmeg, wine, and the eggs, well beaten. Mix all thoroughly, and then beat in the flour. Stir in the raisins, and put into a deep well buttered bread-pan to rise for one hour. Bake for an hour and a half in a moderately hot oven.

Spice Cake.

Beat the butter to a cream. Gradually beat into it the sugar, then the spice and lemon, and next the molasses. Now dissolve the soda in one tablespoonful of cold water, and stir it into the sour milk. Add this and the egg, well beaten, to the other ingredients. Lastly, add the flour, and beat briskly for half a minute. Pour into a well buttered pan, and bake in a moderate oven for about fifty minutes.

This cake will keep moist for a week or ten days. If one like fruit, half a cupful of stoned raisins and half a cupful of currants may be stirred lightly into the batter just before it is put in the pan.

Blackberry Jam Cake.

Beat the butter to a cream, then beat in the sugar. When very light, beat in the jam and nutmeg. Dissolve the soda in one tablespoonful of cold water, and add it to the sour cream. Add this and the egg, well beaten, to the other ingredients. Now add the flour, and beat for half a minute. Sprinkle a tablespoonful of flour over the raisins, and stir them in lightly. Pour the batter into a well buttered pan, and bake for fifty minutes. This makes one small loaf.

This cake may be put away to be used as a pudding when convenient. Steam it for one hour, and serve with a wine sauce. It is almost as good as a plum pudding.

Rich Sponge Cake.

Grate a little of the lemon rind into a deep saucer. Squeeze the juice on this. Beat the yolks of the eggs and the sugar together until the mixture is a light, spongy mass. Add the lemon juice and rind, and beat a little longer. Beat the whites of the eggs with a whisk until a thick white froth is formed. Cut the flour and whites of eggs into the sugar and yolks, adding only a little at a time, and doing the work lightly and gently, so as not to break down the frothy egg. Pour the mixture into a well buttered pan, and bake in a moderate oven, the time of baking depending upon the thickness of the loaf. If it be three inches deep when put in the pan, it will take one hour to bake. It is essential that the oven should be very slow at first. This will cause the sponge to rise evenly, making the cake tender, rich, and moist.

Plain Sponge Cake.

Beat the eggs together until light. Add the sugar, and beat with a spoon for ten minutes or longer. The sugar and eggs must be beaten until they form a light, spongy mass. Add the juice of the lemon, and beat a little longer. Dissolve the soda in the cold water. Mix the cream of tartar with the flour. Stir the water and soda into the egg mixture; then add the flour. Beat well, and pour into the pans and bake.

These materials will make two sheets, or one sheet and a small, round loaf, or one sheet and one cake, baked in a deep round tin. The round cake can be used for a cream, Washington, or chocolate pie. A part of the batter may be baked in a pudding dish, and served with a liquid sauce; or a part of the batter may be baked in tin muffin cups, putting a teaspoonful in each cup.

This sponge cake is one of the most useful and satisfactory when made properly. Great care must be taken to have the sugar and eggs beaten together thoroughly.

Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat the sugar into it. Beat the eggs separately, and stir them into the creamed sugar and butter. Dissolve the soda in the milk, and add this. Mix together the flour, corn starch, and cream of tartar, and add to the other ingredients. Flavor the batter, and beat vigorously for a few seconds; then turn into a well buttered shallow cake pan. Bake for thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

A good flavor for this cake is one tablespoonful of lemon juice and a light grating of the rind of a fresh lemon.

Angel Cake.

Mix the cream of tartar with the flour, and sift four times. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff, dry froth. Sift the powdered sugar on the eggs, and beat for three minutes. Add the vanilla. Gradually add the flour, and beat it in quickly. Pour the batter into an ungreased pan, and put into rather a cool oven. Bake for about forty minutes.

When the cake is baked, take the pan from the oven and invert it, letting it rest on a sieve or rack, so that there shall be a current of air under and over the pan while the cake is cooling.

Success in making angel cake depends upon the proper beating of the eggs and a slow oven.

Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat the sugar into it. Beat the eggs separately, and add to the sugar and butter. Dissolve the soda in the milk, and stir into the mixture. Now add the flour, in which the cream of tartar should be mixed. Flavor with any spice or extract you like, or with the grated yellow rind of a lemon and one tablespoonful of the juice. Pour the batter into a buttered pan, and bake in a moderate oven for forty-five minutes, if in a deep loaf; but if in a sheet, thirty minutes’ time will be enough.

Plain Cup Cake.

Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat the sugar into it. Add the egg, unbeaten, and beat the mixture vigorously for three or four minutes. Add the flavor and milk, and lastly the flour, in which the soda and cream of tartar should be thoroughly mixed. Pour the batter into a shallow cake pan, and sift powdered sugar over it. Bake in a moderate oven for twenty-five minutes.

Cold Water Cake.

Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat into it the sugar. Add the yolks of the eggs, and beat well. Dissolve the soda in the water, and add to the mixture. Beat vigorously until the water will not separate from the other ingredients. Now beat in the spice. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and add them to the mixture. Now add the flour, and finally stir the fruit in lightly. Bake in one deep loaf, or in a thick sheet. If in a loaf, cook for one hour; if in a sheet, about thirty-five minutes.

Swiss Cake.

Measure the butter scantily, and make it soft in a warm bowl. Beat the sugar into it. Have the eggs well beaten, and then beat them with the sugar and butter for five minutes. Add the flavor, then the milk, and finally the flour, in which the baking powder should be mixed. Bake for about twenty-five minutes in a buttered, shallow pan. The cake is to be eaten fresh.

Tea Cake.

Beat the butter until soft. Beat the sugar into it. Add the unbeaten egg, and beat vigorously for five minutes. Add the nutmeg and milk, then the flour, in which the baking powder should be mixed. Beat vigorously for a few seconds, and pour into a buttered cake-pan. Bake in a moderately hot oven for twenty minutes, and serve warm.

Mix the baking powder, sugar, and salt with the flour, and rub through a sieve. Rub the butter into this mixture. Beat the egg till light, and add the milk to it. Add this to the dry ingredients, and beat well. Now add the berries, stirring as little as possible. Spread the mixture in a well buttered shallow baking pan, having it about an inch and a half thick. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about twenty-five minutes. Serve hot.

The batter may be put in buttered muffin tins, and baked for about twenty minutes. This will fill twelve muffin cups.

Hermits.

Beat the butter to a cream, and gradually beat in the sugar and spice. Dissolve the soda in the milk, and beat this into the sugar and butter. Add the egg, well beaten, and finally the flour and currants. Roll out about an inch thick, and cut in squares. Bake in rather a quick oven for about twelve minutes.

The sugar should be the soft maple. The clove may be omitted. If maple sugar is not to be had, white sugar may be used.

Break up enough maple sugar to fill a half-pint cup. Put this into a saucepan with a gill of boiling water, and boil until reduced to half a pint; then cool. Beat the butter to a cream, and beat in the syrup and flavors. Dissolve the soda in one tablespoonful of cold water, and stir it into the sour milk. Add this and the egg, well beaten, to the other ingredients. Now add the flour. Beat well for half a minute and pour into a well buttered pan. This quantity will make one small loaf or a thin sheet. If baked in a loaf, cook for fifty minutes; if in a sheet, about twenty-five.

Soft Molasses Gingerbread.

Beat the egg till very light and beat the sugar into it, working vigorously for three minutes; then add the molasses, spice, and salt, and beat for two minutes longer. Dissolve the soda in the cold water, and stir into the sour cream. Add this and the flour to the other ingredients, and beat vigorously for half a minute. Pour into a well buttered shallow pan and bake in a moderately hot oven for twenty-five minutes.

If you cannot get sour cream, use sour milk and two tablespoonfuls of melted butter.

Put the molasses and butter in a tin pan and set on the stove. When the mixture boils up, add the soda and ginger, and take from the fire immediately. Add the milk, the egg well beaten, and the flour, and beat well. This will fill three round deep plates, or one shallow cake pan and a plate. Bake in rather a quick oven for twenty minutes.

Soft Molasses Gingerbread, No. 3.

Put the molasses, butter, soda, and ginger in a tin pan, and place on the stove for two minutes; then add the boiling water and the flour. Beat vigorously for five minutes, and then turn into a buttered shallow cake pan and a deep tin plate. Bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes.

Clinton Doughnuts.

Here is a rule which gives doughnuts that will keep moist and good for several days:—

In the evening beat the butter to a cream and beat the sugar and spice into it. Beat the eggs until light, and stir into the mixture of butter and sugar. Dissolve the soda in half a tablespoonful of cold water. Stir this mixture into the sour milk and add all to the sugar, butter, and eggs. Now stir in the flour. Cover the mixture and set it away in a cold place until morning. In the morning sprinkle the moulding board with flour and put about one fourth of the dough on it. Roll this down to the thickness of half an inch and cut into round cakes with a hole in the centre. If you do not possess a regular doughnut cutter, a biscuit cutter will do, as a piece can be cut from the centre with a thimble. Fry in lard for about three minutes.

It is supposed that pastry flour will be used. If, however, the “new process” flour be taken, omit one eighth of the measure.

Dropped Doughnuts.

Beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth and beat the yolk and sugar with it for three minutes. Add the seasonings, next the milk, and finally the flour, in which the baking powder should be mixed. Beat well. Drop a teaspoonful of this mixture into hot fat and cook for about four minutes, turning the doughnuts frequently. Lift them from the fat with a wire spoon or a fork. Do not stick the fork into them. When they are drained, sprinkle them with powdered sugar. Be careful not to have the fat too hot and to hold the teaspoonful of batter close to the fat, and the doughnuts will come up in round balls. These are very delicate.

For the Cake.

Mix the dry ingredients together and rub twice through a sieve. Rub the butter through this mixture; then wet with the milk. Butter a large, deep tin pie plate. Divide the dough into two parts and roll them out the size of the plate. Lay them in the plate, one on top of the other, and bake in a quick oven for twenty minutes. On taking the two cakes from the oven, tear them apart. Place the under one on a warm plate and butter well; upon this spread one pint of strawberries, slightly crushed, and mixed with a generous gill of sugar; put on the top part of the cake, and serve immediately.

This is the old-fashioned strawberry short cake. Currants, blackberries, peaches, etc., may be substituted for the strawberries when that fruit is out of season.

Strawberry Short Cake, No. 2.

For the Cake.

Beat the butter to a cream; then gradually beat in the sugar. Now add the unbeaten egg, and beat the mixture vigorously for three or four minutes. Beat in the milk and then the flour, in which the baking powder should be mixed. Bake this batter in two well buttered deep tin plates. They will require about twenty minutes’ time in a moderate oven. When baked, put them on plates to cool.

Measure the gelatine generously and put it in a cup with the cold water. Let it soak for an hour or more; then place the cup in a pan of boiling water and stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Have the whipped cream in a bowl and set it in a pan of ice water. Stir the sugar and dissolved gelatine into it. Continue stirring this mixture until it thickens. Spread half of this cream on one of the cakes, and on this spread about two thirds of the strawberries. Put the second cake on top of this. Spread the remainder of the cream and strawberries on this, and serve at once.

The gelatine may be omitted. In that case, crush the strawberries and sugar together. Put a layer of strawberries on the cakes, then a layer of whipped cream.

Icing.

Put the unbeaten white of the egg into a bowl, and gradually beat into it the powdered sugar. When smooth and light, add the water and sugar. Spread smoothly on the cake and let it stand in a cool place until it hardens. If in a hurry to have it harden, omit the water.

Chocolate Icing.

Make the white icing. Shave one ounce of plain chocolate and put it into a small pan with three tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar and one of boiling water. Stir over a hot fire until smooth and glossy, and then stir this into the icing. If it seems too thick, add a few drops of water.

Do not use the lemon in the white icing when the chocolate is to be added.