SPONGE-CAKE No. 1

• 6 eggs.
• 3 cupfuls of sugar.
• 4 cupfuls of flour.
• 1 cupful of cold water.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
• Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon.
• ¼ teaspoonful of salt.

In this cake the beaten whites are added last. The baking-powder mixed with the flour is added to the yolks, sugar, and flavoring. This is a good cake to use for layer-cakes or rolls. It is sufficient for two loaves.

SPONGE-CAKE No. 2

Weigh any number of eggs; take the same weight of sugar and one half the weight of flour; the grated rind and juice of one lemon to five eggs. For mixing this cake, see the directions given above; the mixture should be very light and spongy, great care being used not to break down the whipped whites. The oven should be moderate at first, and the heat increased after a time. The cake must not be moved or jarred while baking. The time will be forty to fifty minutes, according to size of loaf. Use powdered sugar for sponge-cake. Rose-water makes a good flavoring when a change from lemon is wanted. Almonds chopped fine mixed in the cake, and also orange rind grated over the cake before it is frosted, are good.

SPONGE-CAKE No. 3

• 10 eggs.
• 1 pound of powdered sugar.
• ½ pound of flour.
• Juice and grated rind of ½ lemon.

Beat the yolks and sugar together for at least half an hour. It will not be right unless thoroughly beaten; add the lemon, then the whites beaten very stiff, and the flour last; sprinkle the top with sugar. Put it at once into a moderate oven. This is a moist cake and has a thick crust.

WHITE SPONGE, OR ANGEL CAKE

• Whites of 6 eggs.
• ¾ cupful of granulated sugar.
• 1 cupful of flour.
• ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
• ½ teaspoonful of cream of tartar.

Put the cream of tartar into the flour and sift it five or six times; sift the sugar twice. Put a pinch of salt with the whites of the eggs and whip them very stiff; add the sugar to the whipped whites, placing it on the end of the platter and gradually beating it in from below; add the flour in the same way, and lastly add the flavoring. Do not stop beating after the mixing is begun, and keep the mixture light. Bake it in a perfectly bright ungreased pan, or one lined with paper; a pan with a tube in the center is best. Bake in a moderate oven thirty to forty minutes. Do not move or jar it while it is baking. Try it with a broom-straw before removing it from the oven, and do not let it get too deeply colored. Let it stand in the pan a few minutes, then loosen it around the sides, and it will fall out. Turn the cake upside down and ice the bottom and sides if desired. The usual receipt is double the above quantities, eleven eggs being used, but this one gives a cake large enough to serve six people, and as it should be used while it is very fresh, it is better not to make more than enough to serve once. It can be made with five eggs and is very good, but not quite as spongy. Do not cut the cake, but break it apart with two forks.467-*

SUNSHINE CAKE

Make the same as angel cake, adding the beaten yolks of two eggs before putting in the flour.

GENOESE CAKE

Three eggs, and the same weight of butter, of sugar, and of flour. Beat the butter and sugar together until very light and creamy; add one saltspoonful of salt and flavoring (one half teaspoonful of vanilla or almond, or one tablespoonful of brandy); then add the eggs one at a time and beat each one well before adding the next. Beat the mixture for fifteen to twenty minutes; then stir in lightly the sifted flour and turn it into a pan, filling it three quarters full. This cake can be used for layers, rolls, canary pudding, or can be cut into small forms for fancy cakes. Bake slowly about forty minutes.

JELLY ROLLS

Make a layer of Genoese, or of sponge-cake No. 1. Put the mixture on the layer tins in spoonfuls, placing it around the edges; then with a broad knife smooth it over toward the middle, making it as even as possible. Another way is to press it through a pastry bag in lines onto the tins. The layers should be only one half inch thick when baked, and the crust should not be hard. As soon as it is removed from the oven, and before it has had time to cool, cut off the hard edges, spread it with currant, or any jelly or jam, and roll it up evenly; then roll it in a paper and tie, so it will cool in a round, even shape.

LAYER CAKES: CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, COFFEE

Bake Genoese or sponge-cake No. 1 (one half the receipt will give three layers) in round layer tins, using three for each cake; when baked spread two of them with filling and pile them one on the other. Trim the outside with a sharp knife so it will show a white even edge instead of crust. Cover the top with a soft royal icing made of confectioners’ sugar and flavored the same as the filling.

CREAM FILLING

Beat well together the yolks of five eggs, one half cupful of sugar, and one heaping tablespoonful of cornstarch; dilute it with two cupfuls of boiling milk, and stir it over the fire until thickened; then remove, add the flavoring, and let it cool. If coffee flavoring is wanted, use one half black coffee and one half milk. If chocolate, melt three or four ounces and add it to the custard.

CHOCOLATE FILLING

Melt four ounces of chocolate; dilute it with three tablespoonfuls of milk, and then add a cupful of sugar mixed with a well-beaten egg, and stir until thickened.

ORANGE CAKE

• Whites of 9 eggs.
• 2 cupfuls of granulated sugar.
• 3 heaping cupfuls of flour sifted three or four times.
• 1 cupful of butter.
• 1 cupful of milk.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.
• 1 teaspoonful of lemon-juice.

Cream the butter; add the sugar, and beat for ten minutes; add the milk, and then add alternately the whipped eggs and the flour, the baking-powder having been sifted with the flour; add the lemon-juice last, and mix all lightly. Bake in layer tins; spread the layers with orange filling and frost the top with royal icing flavored with orange-juice and a little lemon.

ORANGE FILLING

Beat the whites of two eggs to a stiff froth. Boil one and one quarter cupfuls of sugar with one half cupful of water to the small ball (see page 512). Pour the boiling sugar in a very fine stream onto the whipped whites, beating hard all the time. Add the grated rind and juice of one orange and continue to beat until it is cold and the sugar is stiffened enough to place between the cakes without running.

PISTACHIO CAKE

Make three layers of cake after the receipt given for orange cake. Make a cream filling as directed for layer cakes. Flavor it with orange-flower water and a little bitter almond, to give the flavor of pistachio (see page 391), and color it a delicate green. Frost the top with a soft royal icing (page 484) made of confectioners’ sugar; color it a delicate light green and sprinkle the top with chopped pistachio nuts. This cake is rather soft and creamy, and should not be cut before going on the table.

PLAIN CUP CAKE

• ½ cupful of butter.
• 1½ cupfuls of sugar.
• 1 cupful of water or milk.
• 3 cupfuls of flour.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
• 4 eggs.
• Juice and rind of 1 lemon.

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream; add the beaten yolks; then add slowly the water and three quarters of the flour. Beat it a long time until very smooth and light; then add the lemon and the rest of the flour in which the baking-powder is mixed; beat well together, and lastly add the whipped whites of the eggs. Bake in gem-pans, putting a tablespoonful of the mixture into each pan. Raisins may be added to this cake, or two ounces of melted chocolate may be used instead of the lemon-juice, making it chocolate cake; or it may be made into spice cakes by using two tablespoonfuls of molasses with enough water to give one cupful of liquid; add also one half teaspoonful each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and allspice, and a few currants if desired; use one teaspoonful of soda instead of the baking-powder if molasses is used. Bake in a moderate oven about one half hour, and see that the cakes rise evenly and are of the same size. Turn them out of the pans bottom side up, and frost the bottom and sides with royal icing while they are still warm. For chocolate or spice cakes, use chocolate icing.

Use the receipt given for plain cup cake. Divide the materials; use the whites of the eggs with one part, the yolks and one whole egg with the other. Bake in separate tins; cut before serving; arrange the slices with the two colors alternating on a lace paper.

MARBLE CAKE

Make a mixture as directed for plain cup cake; divide it into three parts; color one with carmine, another with melted chocolate (one ounce), and leave the third one white. Do this quickly, so the baking-powder will not lose its force before going into the oven. Pour the mixtures into a tin, alternating the colors twice; they will run together and make a mottled cake.

RICHER CUP; OR, 1, 2, 3, 4 CAKE

Use one cup of butter, two of sugar, three of flour, and four eggs, and one half teaspoonful of vanilla. Mix as directed for butter-cake mixtures (page 465).

POUND-CAKE

Use one pound each of butter, sugar, and flour; ten eggs; one quarter teaspoonful of mace and one half cupful of brandy. Mix as directed for butter-cake mixtures. Divide it into two loaves and bake in tins lined with paper forty to fifty minutes in a moderate oven. This cake may be filled with sliced citron and raisins if desired, or may have nuts mixed with it, making a nut cake, or some nuts may be sprinkled over the top before it goes in the oven.

WHITE CAKE

• Whites of 6 eggs.
• ¾ cupful of butter.
• 1¼ cupfuls of powdered sugar.
• 2 cupfuls of flour.
• Juice of half a lemon.
• ¼ teaspoonful of soda.

Sift the soda with the flour three times; cream the butter and add the flour to it; whip the eggs to a stiff froth and add the sugar, then beat them gradually into the butter and flour, and add the lemon-juice. When it is thoroughly mixed and smooth put it into a biscuit or flat tin, so it will make a layer one and a half inches thick when done. Bake it in a moderate oven; while it is still warm spread it with royal icing (see page 483). Before the icing fully hardens, mark two lines down the length of the cake, dividing it into three sections, then across in even lines, giving slices one inch broad and about two and a half inches long; to do this hold over it a straight edge and mark it with the back of a knife. Put into a pastry bag some of the frosting, made a little stiffer with sugar, and place two dots of icing on each slice. This cake may be made with baking-powder, using one teaspoonful and mixing it in the usual way. It will then be a lighter cake and should be baked in a loaf; the first gives a firm, fine-grained cake.

PLAIN FRUIT CAKE

1		¾ cupful of butter.		Cream these together well.
		2 cupfuls of granulated sugar.
2		3 eggs.
3		1 teaspoonful of allspice.
		½ teaspoonful of grated nutmeg.
		? teaspoonful of ground cloves.
		¼ teaspoonful of ground mace.
4		1 cupful of milk with ¾ teaspoonful of soda dissolved in it.
5		3 cupfuls of sifted flour with 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar mixed in it.
6		1 cupful of sliced citron.
		2 cupfuls of raisins.

Mix the materials in the order given, beating well each one before the next is added; add part of the flour and the milk at the same time, then the rest of the flour. Flour the fruit and add it last. More fruit can be used if desired. This will make one large or a dozen small cakes. Bake in a moderate oven about one hour if in one cake.

BROD TORTE

• 9 eggs.
• 2½ cupfuls of sugar.
• 2 cupfuls of bread-crumbs—Graham preferred.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of ground cinnamon.
• Citron size of small egg.
• ¾ cupful of blanched almonds.
• Grated rind of one lemon.
• ¼ cupful of brandy or rum.
• 2½ ounces of chocolate.
• 1 teaspoonful of ground allspice.

Put into a bowl the bread-crumbs, dried and pounded fine, the citron and almonds both chopped fine, the spices and lemon-rind and the chocolate grated fine; mix them thoroughly and evenly together. In a second bowl put the yolks of the nine eggs and whites of five with one and one half cupfuls of sugar. Beat them until quite stiff. In a third bowl put the whites of four eggs; beat them to a stiff froth; then stir in the remaining cupful of sugar. Now gradually and lightly mix the dry ingredients of bowl No. 1 with No. 2; then add the whites from No. 3. Lastly, add the brandy or rum, and quickly put it into the oven to bake for three quarters of an hour. Cover with chocolate icing, and decorate with lines of white icing.

FRUIT CAKE

• 1 pound of flour.
• 1 pound of sugar.
• 1 pound of butter.
• ½ pound of candied citron (sliced).
• 4 pounds of currants.
• 4 pounds of raisins (stoned and chopped).
• 9 eggs.
• 1 tablespoonful of ground cinnamon.
• 1 tablespoonful of mace.
• 1 tablespoonful of nutmeg.
• 3 gills of brandy.

Mix the fruit together and flour it; mix the spices with the sugar. Cream the butter and sugar; add the beaten yolks, then the whipped whites and the brandy, then the flour, and lastly the fruit. Put the mixture in two large tins lined with double paper, and bake in a moderate oven for three hours. If preferred, add the sliced citron in layers as the mixture is poured into the pans. One pound of chopped almonds may be substituted for one of the pounds of currants. This cake will keep any length of time, therefore the quantity may not be too great to make at one time.

CREAM CAKES AND ÉCLAIRS

These are made of cooked paste, and are very easy to prepare. The cream cakes differ from the Éclairs only in form and in not being iced.

CREAM CAKES

• 1 cupful of water.
• 1 tablespoonful of sugar.
• 2 tablespoonfuls of butter.
• 1½ cupfuls of flour (pastry flour preferred).
• 3 to 4 eggs.
• ½ saltspoonful of salt.

Put the water, sugar, salt, and butter in a saucepan on the fire. When the butter is melted remove; add to it the flour, and beat until it is a smooth paste; return it to the fire, and stir vigorously until the paste leaves the sides of the pan; then remove; let it partly cool, and then add the eggs, one at a time, beating each one for some time before adding the next. When all are in, beat until the batter is no longer stringy. It should be consistent enough to hold its shape without spreading when dropped from the spoon on a tin. Three eggs make it about right unless they are very small or the flour very dry. The batter is better if it stands for an hour or two before being used; but this is not essential. Put the mixture into a pastry-bag with a tube of one half inch opening; press the batter through into balls one and a half to two inches in diameter. A spoon can be used, but does not give the cakes as good shape. Brush the tops with egg. Put them in a slack oven and bake slowly for about forty minutes. They will feel light when done, and be puffed very high. Oil and flour the pans or baking-sheets as directed on page 464. When the puffs are cool make an incision in the side and fill with cream filling as given for layer cakes, page 468. The whipped whites of the eggs may be added to this filling if it is wanted thinner and lighter.

These cakes are good made very small, filled with jam and a little whipped cream, and the tops dipped in sugar boiled to the crack, then sprinkled with chopped burnt almonds.

CHOCOLATE, VANILLA, AND COFFEE ÉCLAIRS

Make a mixture as for cream cakes; put it into a pastry-bag with a tube of three eighth inch opening. Press the batter onto tins (floured as directed for cream cakes) in strips three and one half inches long, and a little distance apart, the same as lady-fingers. Egg the tops and bake in a slack oven about thirty minutes. Cut open one side and fill with cream filling made the same as for cream cakes. Make a chocolate icing No. 2 (page 485); dip the Éclairs into it, covering them one half. For vanilla or coffee Éclairs use fondant icing, page 485. Flavor the filling with vanilla or coffee, the same as the icing.

CAROLINES

Make small Éclairs two inches long, using a tube with opening no larger than a pencil. When baked run a wooden skewer through them, leaving an opening at each end, so the filling will go all the way through. Put the filling in a bag, and press it through the carolines. Cover the top with fondant icing. Have the filling flavored with coffee.

FANCY SMALL CAKES

MERINGUES AND KISSES

Add a half saltspoonful of salt to the whites of three eggs; beat them, and add gradually, while whipping, three quarters of a cupful of powdered sugar. Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and firm enough to hold its shape without spreading when dropped in a ball; add the flavoring of lemon-juice or any essence. Place the meringue in a pastry-bag and press it through a tube into balls of the size desired onto strips of paper laid on a board that will fit the oven. With a wet knife flatten down the point on top left by the tube, and sprinkle them with sugar. Put them into a very slack oven, and let them dry for at least an hour; then remove from the papers and either press in the bottoms or scoop out the soft center and turn them over to dry inside. If small kisses, it is better to give them plenty of time to dry, so none of the center has to be taken out. They can be removed to the warm shelf if the oven is giving them too much color. They should be only slightly colored on top and dried all the way through. For large meringues to be filled with cream, use one and a half tablespoonfuls of meringue for each piece. Make them an oblong shape. Place them in an oven hot enough for cake and watch them closely until they have formed a light-colored crust; then remove and take out the soft center or press in the bottom, and turn them over to dry inside. These meringues may be dried like the kisses, but take longer time, as they are larger. When a board is not at hand the papers holding the meringues may be laid in biscuit-tins, a second tin placed like a cover over the top, and set on the shelf over the range for several hours. This serves very well where the fire is too great for the ovens to be cool. There is no difficulty in making meringues if the eggs are sufficiently whipped. They soon become stiff when whipped after the sugar is in. They must be dried rather than baked. If the meringues stick to the paper turn them over, slightly moisten the paper, and it will soon come off. Make kisses small and stick two together with white of egg. When very small they are good with a little jam or jelly between them. Large meringues can be filled with ice-cream or with whipped cream just before serving them, and two placed together.

One quarter cupful of powdered sugar is needed for the white of each egg.

LADY-FINGERS

• 6 eggs.
• ½ pound or 1¼ cupfuls of powdered sugar.
• ¼ pound or 1 cupful of sifted flour.
• ½ saltspoonful of salt.
• Flavoring of vanilla, lemon, or orange-flower water.

Beat the yolks and sugar to a light cream; add the flavoring. Stir in lightly the flour and then the whites of the eggs whipped very firm; the salt is added to the whites before being whipped. Have a sheet of paper on the baking-pan or sheet. Place the mixture in a pastry-bag, and press it through a tube having an opening one half to three quarter inch wide. Have the strips four and a half inches long. Cut off the paste from the tube with a knife so the ends will be clean; dust them with sugar and bake in a moderate oven ten to twelve minutes, or until a light crust has formed. The crust should not be colored. When done, stick two together, using white of egg.

For Biscuit Balls.—Drop the mixture in balls one half inch in diameter, and bake the same as fingers. Stick two together with a little jam between them.

MACAROONS

• ½ pound of almonds.
• Whites of 4 eggs.
• 1¼ cupfuls of powdered sugar.

Pound the blanched almonds to a paste, adding a teaspoonful of rose-water to keep them from oiling; add also the sugar, a little at a time, while pounding the almonds; add a few drops of almond essence and the whipped whites of the eggs; beat thoroughly together. Drop the mixture in balls one half inch in diameter on strips of paper, using a pastry-bag. If not stiff enough to hold their shapes without spreading, add one tablespoonful of flour.

COCOANUT BALLS OR CONES

Grate a cocoanut; add to it half its weight of sugar; then stir in the whipped white of one egg. Boll the mixture into balls or cones, and bake in a moderate oven twenty to thirty minutes. If the mixture is too soft to hold its shape, add a very little flour.

MADELEINES No. 1

Make two thin layers of Genoese cake (page 467), flavored with brandy; place them together with a thin layer of jelly or jam between them. Cut the cake into fancy shapes, such as diamonds, squares, circles, and crescents, having them not more than one and a quarter to one and a half inches in diameter, and the same in thickness. Ice them with fondant (see page 485), flavored with ram, kirsch, or maraschino, or vary the flavor for the different shapes; or, make the cakes of one layer one and a quarter inches thick, and ice them on top and sides with royal icing or with fondant, making it of different colors, pink, green, chocolate, white, and flavor to correspond. Place in the center of each cake a currant, bit of candied cherry, piece of angelica, or almond.

MADELEINES No. 2

Take a sponge-cake No. 1, or a Genoese cake mixture, and make it a little stiffer with flour (enough batter can usually be saved from layer cake to make a few fancy cakes). With a spoon or pastry-bag drop it in balls one half inch in diameter; bake, and place two together with a little jam or jelly between them. Cover them with soft royal icing; have them all of the same color. If green, use pistachio flavor as directed, page 391, and sprinkle the tops with chopped pistachio nuts; if white, with almonds; if pink, leave them plain, and flavor with rose.

LITTLE POUND-CAKES

Use the Genoese mixture with a few currants added, or the plain pound-cake mixture. Bake in small tins one and a half inches in diameter; take care that they rise evenly so they are flat on top. Ice the top only with any kind of icing.

ORANGE QUARTERS

Use the Genoese or any butter-cake mixture, making it quite stiff with flour; flavor it with lemon- and orange-juice, and add a little of the grated rind of orange. Drop a small tablespoonful of the cake mixture at intervals into the tin made for this cake (see illustration), and bake in a moderate oven; cover the wedge-shaped sides of the cakes with soft royal icing flavored and colored with orange-juice.

ALMOND WAFERS

Take one tablespoonful each of flour and powdered sugar and one half saltspoonful of salt. Sift them well together. Beat the white of one egg just enough to break it, and add as much of it to the flour and sugar as it will take to make a creamy batter; flavor with a few drops of almond essence. Grease the pans lightly and flour them as directed on page 464. Drop a half teaspoonful of the paste on the pan, and with a wet finger spread it into a thin round wafer. Bake it in a very moderate oven until the edges are slightly browned, then, before removing from the oven door, lift each wafer, and turn it around a stick. They stiffen very quickly, and the rolling must be done while they are hot.

VENETIAN CAKES

• ½ cupful of butter.
• ½ cupful of powdered sugar.
• 1½ cupfuls of pastry flour.
• 1 cupful of almonds.
• 1 teaspoonful of vanilla.
• Yolks of 3 eggs.

Cream the butter and sugar together until very light; add the yolks well beaten; then the almonds blanched and cut in strips; mix; add the vanilla and stir in lightly the flour. The dough should be rather soft. Take a small piece at a time, drop it in powdered sugar, and roll it between the hands into a ball one inch in diameter. Put a piece of pistachio nut on the top. Place the balls a little distance apart on floured pans (see page 464), and bake in a moderate oven ten to fifteen minutes, or to a pale color. They will flatten in baking and have the shape of macaroons.

GAUFFRES

This receipt was obtained in Paris, and makes the little cakes one sees for sale at all the French fÊtes, and also on the sea-beaches, where the vender calls so cheerily, “Voici les plaisirs.” They are baked in a kind of small waffle-iron. The plaisirs are rolled as soon as taken from the iron.

Add a dash of salt to the whites of six eggs, and whip them to a stiff froth. Put a half pound of flour in a bowl, and add enough water to make a thin batter; flavor it with vanilla, then add the whipped whites of the eggs. Bake one gauffre to see if the batter is of the right consistency. It should be very thin, and water can be added until it is right. Have the iron hot, and grease it well with butter or oil. Pour in the batter, and let it run evenly into all the grooves; close the iron, and bake on both sides over hot coals. The iron must be very clean, smooth, and well greased, or the gauffres will stick. Dredge them with powdered sugar as soon as baked.

JUMBLES, COOKIES, AND PLAIN CAKES

JUMBLES

Beat to a cream one cupful of butter with two cupfuls of sugar. Add three eggs, the yolks and whites beaten separately; then the flavoring. Stir in lightly enough flour to make a paste just firm enough to roll thin. Cut it into circles, and with a smaller cutter stamp out a small circle in the middle, leaving the jumbles in rings. Place them in a floured pan, brush the tops with white of egg, and sprinkle with pounded loaf sugar. The sugar should be in small lumps. Bake in a moderate oven to a light color.

SAND TARTS

Make the mixture given for jumbles. Cut it into squares or diamonds, place them in floured pans, brush the top with white of egg. Sprinkle with granulated sugar mixed with ground cinnamon. Place a piece of blanched almond in the center of each one.

ROLLED JUMBLES

Make a mixture as directed for jumbles, using only enough flour to make a thin batter. Drop a teaspoonful of batter for each cake on a floured pan. In the oven it runs out into a thin cake, so leave plenty of room for the batter to spread. As soon as the edges begin to brown lift the cakes, and at the oven door roll them around a stick. Leave them in the oven a few moments longer to dry.

PLAIN COOKIES

• 1 cupful of butter.
• 2 cupfuls of sugar.
• 1 cupful of milk.
• 2 eggs.
• ½ teaspoonful of vanilla.
• Flour.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

Mix in the order given. Use enough flour to roll the dough thin. Cut it into circles, and bake in a moderate oven. Brush the tops with white of egg, and sprinkle them with sugar. Caraway seeds may be mixed with the dough, or sprinkled over the tops if liked. For soft cookies do not roll the dough so thin. Stamp them out with a fluted cutter, and remove them from the oven as soon as baked, not leaving them to dry as for crisp cookies.

GINGER SNAPS

Put a half cupful of butter and a cupful of molasses on the fire; as soon as the butter is softened remove them, and add a half cupful of brown sugar, a teaspoonful of ginger, and a teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water; then mix in enough flour to make a stiff dough. Roll it very thin, and stamp it into circles.

CRULLERS

Beat three eggs together; add four tablespoonfuls of sugar and four tablespoonfuls of melted butter or lard; then enough flour to make a dough stiff enough to roll. Roll it a quarter of an inch thick. Cut it into pieces three and a half inches long and two inches broad. Cut two slits in each piece, and give each one a twist. Fry the crullers in hot fat, the same as doughnuts.

DOUGHNUTS

• 2 eggs.
• 1 cupful of sugar.
• 1 cupful of milk.
• 4 tablespoonfuls of melted butter.
• Flour enough to make a soft dough.
• 1 saltspoonful each of salt and ground cinnamon.
• ½ teaspoonful of soda and 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, or 1 teaspoonful of baking-powder.

Roll the dough one inch thick. Cut it into small circles, or rings, or strips and twist them. Drop the cakes into smoking hot fat, and fry to light brown; drain, and roll them in powdered sugar while still warm.

BREAD CAKE

Take a piece of raised bread-dough large enough for one loaf. Mix into it one tablespoonful of butter, one cupful each of sugar, raisins, and currants; one half teaspoonful each of ground cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Let it rise, which will take some time, and bake the same as bread.

ONE-EGG CAKE

Cream together a half cupful of butter and a cupful of sugar. Add a cupful of milk, and one beaten egg; then two cupfuls of flour mixed with two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Bake in a moderate oven.

WARREN’S CAKE

• 2 eggs.
• 1 cupful of sugar.
• 1 cupful of flour.
• ½ cupful of hot water.
• 2 teaspoonfuls of baking-powder.

Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs together well, add the sugar, then the flour, in which the baking-powder is mixed, and lastly the water. Put it into the oven at once.

MOLASSES WAFERS

Mix well together one cupful of butter, one cupful of sugar, two cupfuls of molasses, and two cupfuls of flour. Drop a few spoonfuls into a pan, in different places, and put it in the oven; it will melt and run together. Let it bake until it begins to harden on the edges; then remove, cut it into squares, and while it is still hot and soft roll each piece around a stick.

SOFT GINGERBREAD

• 1 cupful of molasses.
• 1 tablespoonful of butter.
• 1 tablespoonful of boiling water.
• 2 to 3 cupfuls of flour.
• 1 teaspoonful each of ginger, ground cloves, cinnamon, and soda.
• ½ saltspoonful of salt.

Add the melted butter to the molasses, then the spices. Dissolve the soda in the boiling water, and stir it into the molasses. Add enough flour to make a very soft dough—too soft to roll. Bake in a biscuit-tin lined with paper, in a moderate oven, for thirty-five minutes. Mix it quickly and put it into the oven at once.

MOLASSES CAKE

Put together two cupfuls of New Orleans molasses and one cupful of butter, and heat them enough to soften the butter; remove from the fire, and add a teaspoonful each of powdered ginger and cinnamon, and one half teaspoonful of cloves, then three well-beaten eggs. When it is well mixed add alternately, in small quantities, three cupfuls of flour and one cupful of boiling water in which have been dissolved three teaspoonfuls of baking soda.

ICING AND DECORATING CAKES

ROYAL ICING

Place the white of an egg in a bowl or plate. Add a little lemon-juice or other flavoring, and a few drops of water. Stir in powdered sugar until it is of the right consistency to spread. While the cake is still warm pile the icing on the center of the cake, and with a wet knife smooth it over the top and sides of the cake. It will settle into a smooth and glossy surface. If the icing is prepared before the cake is ready, cover it with a wet cloth, as it quickly hardens. If it becomes too stiff add a few drops of water, and stir it again. Color and flavor as desired. One egg will take about a cupful of sugar, and will make enough icing to cover one cake. If a little more is needed add a little water to the egg, and it will then take more sugar. When icing is wanted for decorating a cake, beat the whites to a froth, then beat in the sugar instead of stirring it, and continue to beat until it is firm enough to hold its form. Stirring more sugar into the unwhipped whites will make it firm enough for decorating, but the whipped icing is better. Put it into a pastry-bag with small tube, or into a paper funnel, and press it through into any shapes desired. A good icing is made of milk and sugar alone.

ROYAL ICING WITH CONFECTIONER’S SUGAR

Make this icing the same as the other, using confectioner’s sugar, which is finer than the powdered sugar, and use a little water with the egg. This makes a soft, creamy icing; the more water used, the softer it will be. If beaten instead of stirred it will become firm enough to hold in place without so much sugar being used, but in this way it dries sooner and is not so creamy. This is a good icing for layer cakes, fancy cakes, and Éclairs.

BOILED ICING No. 1

Put a cupful of sugar into a saucepan with one quarter cupful of boiling water and a half saltspoonful of cream of tartar; stir till dissolved, then let it boil without stirring until it threads when dropped from the spoon. Turn it in a fine stream onto the white of one egg whipped to a stiff froth. Beat the egg until the mixture becomes smooth and stiff enough to spread, but do not let it get too cold. Pour it over the cake.

BOILED ICING No. 2

Boil sugar as directed above to the soft ball; then remove from the fire, add the flavoring, and stir it until it looks clouded, and turn it at once over the cake.

CHOCOLATE ICING No. 1

Melt in a dry saucepan some chocolate; dilute it with a little water and add enough powdered or confectioner’s sugar to make it of the right consistency. Use it while warm, as chocolate quickly hardens. Flavor it with vanilla.

CHOCOLATE ICING No. 2

Melt in a dry pan four ounces of Baker’s chocolate, or of cocoa. Boil one and three quarter cupfuls of sugar with a cupful of water till it threads when dropped from the spoon, the same as for boiled icing. Turn it slowly onto the chocolate, stirring all the time. Use this icing for dipping Éclairs and small cakes, and for layer cakes. Chocolate icing loses its gloss when at all stale.

CHOCOLATE ICING No. 3

Melt one ounce of chocolate; dilute it with two tablespoonfuls of milk; add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a quarter teaspoonful of butter; stir till smooth and spread on the cake.

ICING FOR SMALL CAKES

Stir into confectioner’s sugar enough syrup of thirty degrees (see page 513) to dissolve it; add fruit-juice or liqueur to flavor it. When ready to use, heat it, stirring all the time, and stand it in a pan of hot water while the cakes are dipped into it.

COFFEE ICING FOR ÉCLAIRS

Make the same as the one given above, using very strong coffee or coffee essence to color and flavor it. Use enough sugar to make a soft flowing icing, and dip the cakes into it while it is hot.

FONDANT ICING

This is the best of all icings. It is soft and glossy, and is used especially for small cakes and Éclairs. If the fondant is already made, it gives very little trouble. To make fondant see page 514. It will keep in tight preserve jars any length of time. Fondant does not work so well after it has been melted two or three times, therefore it is better to take only the amount to be used for one flavor or color at a time. Place it in a cup and stand it in a pan of boiling water. Stir the fondant constantly while it is melting, or it will become a clear liquid. It will soften at a low degree of heat; add the flavoring and coloring and dip the cakes into it. If it becomes too hard, add a few drops of syrup at thirty-four degrees (see page 513). When liqueurs are used for flavoring, add a drop or two at a time only, or they will dilute it too much. Should this occur, add a little more fondant to the cup. Maraschino, curaÇao, kirsch, orange-flower water, rose, almond, and coffee essences make good flavorings for fancy-cake icings.

GARNISHING CAKES

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