Chapter VIII: Part 8

LEMON PUFFS.--Take a pound of the best loaf-sugar, and powder it. Grate upon lumps of the same sugar the yellow rind of four large ripe lemons; having first rolled each lemon under your hand, upon a table, to increase the juice. Then powder these pieces of sugar also, and add them to the rest. Strain the juice of the lemons over the sugar, mixing it well in. Have ready in a saucer some extra powdered sugar. Beat to a stiff froth the whites of four eggs, and then gradually and thoroughly beat into it the lemon and sugar, till the mixture is very thick and smooth. If too thin, add more sugar; if too thick, more beaten white of egg. Take a sheet of nice white paper, and lay it smoothly in a square tin pan; having first cut it to fit exactly. Put on it, at equal distances, a round spot of thinly-spread powdered loaf-sugar, about the size of a half-dollar or a little larger. Upon each spot place with a spoon a pile of the mixture; smoothing it with a knife dipped in water, and making the surface even. Sift over each a little powdered sugar. Set the pan in a quick oven, and bake the puffs of a light brown. A few minutes’ baking will suffice. They should rise very high. When cool, loosen them carefully from the paper by inserting a broad knife beneath. Then spread them out on a large flat dish, and keep them in a dry, cool place till wanted.

ORANGE PUFFS may be made in the same manner, omitting the rind, and using the juice only of _five_ oranges; unless they are all of a very large size, and then four may suffice. Very nice puffs can be made with the juice of strawberries, raspberries, currants, or cherries; mixed, as above, with beaten white of egg and sugar.

ROSE MERINGUES.--Beat to a stiff froth the whites of six eggs, and then beat in by degrees, a spoonful at a time, a pound or more of finely-powdered loaf-sugar, till it is of the consistence of very thick icing or meringue. Have ready a sufficient quantity of freshly-gathered rosebuds, about half grown. Having removed the stalks and green leaves, take as many of the buds as will weigh three ounces. With a pair of sharp scissors clip or mince them as small as possible into the pan of meringue; stirring them in with a spoon. Then stir the whole very hard. Have ready some sheets of white paper, laid on baking tins. Drop the meringues on it, in heaps all of the same size, and not too close together. Smooth them with the back of a spoon or broad knife, dipped in cold water. Set them in a moderate cool oven, and bake them about twenty minutes. Take out one and try it, and if not thoroughly done, continue them longer in the oven.

To heighten the red colour, add to the white of egg, before you beat it, a very little water, in which has been steeped a thin muslin bag of alkanet-root; or you may colour it with a little cochineal powder.

Orange-blossom meringues may be made as above.

WHIPPED CREAM MERINGUES.--Take the whites of eight eggs, and beat them to a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Then beat into them, gradually, a tea-spoonful at a time, two pounds or more of finely-powdered loaf-sugar; continuing to add sugar till the mixture is very thick, and finishing with a little lemon-juice or extract of rose. Have ready some sheets of white paper, laid on a baking-board, and with a spoon drop the mixture on it in long oval heaps, about four inches in length. Smooth and shape them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped occasionally in cold water. The baking-board used for this purpose should be an inch thick, and must have a slip of iron beneath each end to elevate it from the floor of the oven, so that it may not scorch, nor the bottoms of the meringues be baked too hard. This baking-board must not be of pine wood, as a pine board will communicate a disagreeable taste of turpentine. The oven must be moderate. Bake the meringues of a light brown. When done, take them off the paper by slipping a knife nicely beneath the bottom of each. Then push back or scoop out carefully a portion of the inside of each meringue, taking care not to break them. Have ready some nice whipped cream, made in the following proportion:--Take a quarter of a pound of broken-up loaf-sugar, and on some of the lumps rub off the yellow rind of two large lemons. Powder the sugar, and then mix with it the juice of the lemons, and grate in some nutmeg. Mix the sugar with a half-pint of sweet white wine. Put into a pan a pint of rich cream, and whip it with rods or a wooden whisk, or mill it with a chocolate mill, till it is a stiff froth. Then mix in, gradually, the other ingredients; continuing to whip it hard a while after they are all in. As you proceed, lay the froth on an inverted sieve, with a dish underneath to catch the droppings; which droppings must afterwards be whipped, and added to the rest. Fill the inside of each meringue with a portion of the whipped cream. Then put two together, so as to form one long oval cake, joining them nicely, so as to unite the flat parts that were next the paper, leaving the inside filled with the whipped cream. Set them again in the oven for a few minutes. They must be done with great care and nicety, so as not to break. Each meringue should be about the usual length of a middle finger. In dropping them on the paper, take care to shape the oval ends handsomely and smoothly. They should look like very long kisses.

CREAM TARTS.--Put into a tea-cup a large table-spoonful of arrow-root flour. Pour on it a very little cold milk, and mix it very smooth with a spoon; seeing that it is entirely free from lumps. Boil, in a sauce-pan, a quart of cream or rich unskimmed milk, with the yellow rind of a large lemon or orange, pared thin, or cut into slips; or use for flavouring a handful of bitter almonds or peach kernels, blanched and broken up; or, what is still better, a vanilla bean. The milk must boil slowly (keeping it closely covered) till it is highly flavoured. Then strain out the lemon-peel or other flavouring, and set away the milk to cool. Beat the yolks of eight eggs till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the milk, alternately with four heaped table-spoonfuls of powdered loaf-sugar. Add some grated nutmeg. Put the whole into a sauce-pan, and place it on hot coals or on the stove, and continue to stir it till it begins to boil. Then remove it immediately, lest it should curdle, and keep stirring it till it begins to cool. Afterwards set it in a cold place.

Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour; mix in a quarter of a pound of white sugar; cut up in it half a pound of fresh butter, and rub it well into the flour and sugar. Beat two eggs very light, and with them wet the flour, &c., to a dough, adding a very small level tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved in a very little cold water. Mix the paste well till it becomes a lump of dough. Then beat it on all sides with the rolling-pin. Transfer it to the paste-board, and roll it out thin. Divide it equally into _square_ pieces. Put thickly on each piece a portion of the cream or custard mixture, and fold over it the four corners of the paste, so that they approach each other in the centre. Dredge each tart with powdered loaf-sugar. Set them into the oven, and let them bake of a light brown. They are best when fresh, but not warm; and will be found delicious.

The custard may be coloured green by boiling pistachio nuts in the milk, with the flavouring.

ICE-CREAM CAKES.--Stir together, till very light, a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar and a quarter of a pound of fresh butter. Beat six eggs very light, and stir into them half a pint of rich milk. Add, gradually, the eggs and milk to the butter and sugar, alternately with a half pound of sifted flour. Add a glass of sweet wine, and some grated nutmeg. When all the ingredients are mixed, stir the batter very hard. Then put it into small, deep pans, or cups, that have been well-buttered, filling them about two-thirds with the batter. Set them, immediately, into a brisk oven, and bake them brown. When done, remove them from the cups, and place them, to cool, on an inverted sieve. When quite cold, make a slit or incision in the side of each cake. If very light, and properly baked, they will be hollow in the middle. Fill up this cavity with ice-cream, carefully put in with a spoon, and then close the slit, with your fingers, to prevent the cream running out. Spread them on a large dish. Either send them to table immediately, before the ice-cream melts, or keep them on ice till wanted.

LEMON OR ORANGE KISSES.--Take three large, ripe lemons, or oranges, and rub off the yellow rind, upon some pieces belonging to a pound of fine loaf-sugar. Then powder all the pound of sugar, and squeeze among the sugar (through a strainer) the juice of the lemons or oranges; mixing it well in. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Then beat in, very hard, the sugar, &c., a tea-spoonful at a time. Lay a sheet of white paper on a board. Drop the mixture on it, in oval piles, smoothing them with a broad-bladed knife, dipped frequently in cold water. Set them in a moderate oven, and when they are coloured a light brown, take them out, slip a knife carefully under each, to remove them from the papers, and place two bottoms together, so as to give them the form of an egg. If you use oranges, scoop out a small hollow in the bottom of each half-kiss, as soon as they are baked, and fill the cavity with orange-pulp, sweetened. Then join the two halves together.

Instead of lemon or orange, they may be finely flavoured, by mixing with the powdered sugar a sufficient quantity of extract of vanilla.

CHOCOLATE MACCAROONS.--Blanch half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, by scalding them with boiling water, till the skin peels off easily. Then throw them into a bowl of cold water, and let them stand awhile. Take them out and wipe them, separately. Afterwards set them in a warm place, to dry thoroughly. Put them, one at a time, into a marble mortar, and pound them to a smooth paste; moistening them, as you proceed, with a few drops of rose-water, to prevent their oiling. When you have pounded one or two, take them out of the mortar, with a tea-spoon, and put them into a deep plate, beside you, and continue removing the almonds to the plate, till they are all done. Scrape down, as fine as possible, half a pound of the best chocolate, or of Baker’s prepared cocoa, and mix it, thoroughly, with the pounded almonds. Then set the plate in a cool place. Put the whites of eight eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them to a stiff froth, that will stand alone. Have ready a pound and a half of finely-powdered loaf-sugar. Stir it, hard, into the beaten white-of-egg, a spoonful at a time. Then stir in, gradually, the mixture of almond and chocolate; and beat the whole very hard. Drop the mixture, in equal portions, upon thin white paper, laid on square tin pans, smoothing them, with a spoon, into round cakes, about the size of a half-dollar. Dredge the top of each, lightly, with powdered sugar. Set them into a quick oven, and bake them a light brown. When done, take them off the paper.

For the first experiment, in making these maccaroons, it may be well to try a smaller quantity. For instance, a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds; a quarter of a pound of chocolate; four eggs; and three-quarters of a pound of sugar.

LEMON MACCAROONS.--Take four large ripe lemons, and rub off the yellow surface of the rind, upon a lump of sugar. Then powder that sugar, and add to it not quite a pound of loaf-sugar, already powdered. Break four eggs into a shallow pan, and beat them till very thick and light. Then add the juice of the lemons, squeezed through a strainer, and a tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and cinnamon, and stir in the sugar, a little at a time, alternately with three large heaped-up table-spoonfuls of sifted flour. A little more flour may, probably, be found necessary. Mix the whole, thoroughly, so as to form a soft paste. Have ready some shallow, square baking-pans, or sheets of iron, the bottoms covered with white paper, laid smoothly in. Moisten your hands with water, and then take up portions of the mixture, and roll them into balls, about the size of a large plum, laying them, as you proceed, upon the paper, but rather more than an inch apart. Lastly, with the blade of a knife, dipped in water, smooth the surface of each. Set them into a moderate oven, and bake them brown. Try one, when you think they are done. If not sufficiently baked, let them remain longer in the oven. As soon as they are cold, loosen them from the paper, by slipping under them a broad-bladed knife. Orange maccaroons may be made in this manner, using the grated rind of two oranges only, but the juice of four. To make vanilla maccaroons, boil, in a covered vessel, a vanilla bean, with as much milk as will barely cover it. When the milk is strongly flavoured with the vanilla, strain it, and, when cold, add it to the beaten egg. Then stir in, gradually, the sugar, spice, and flour, and proceed as above.

GROUND-NUT MACCAROONS.--Take a sufficiency of ground-nuts, that have been roasted in an iron pot, over the fire; remove the shells; and weigh a pound of the nuts. Put them into a pan of cold water, and wash off the skins. Have ready some beaten white of egg. Pound the ground-nuts, (two or three at a time,) in a marble mortar, adding, frequently, a little cold water, to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded to a smooth, light paste; and, as you proceed, remove the paste to a saucer or a plate. Beat, to a stiff froth, the whites of four eggs, and then beat into it, gradually, a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and a large tea-spoonful of powdered mace and nutmeg mixed. Then stir in, by degrees, the pounded ground-nuts, till the mixture becomes very thick. Flour your hands, and roll, between them, portions of the mixture, forming each portion into a little ball. Lay sheets of white paper on flat baking-tins, and place on them the maccaroons, at equal distances, flattening them all a little, so as to press down the balls into cakes. Then sift powdered sugar over each. Place them in a brisk oven, with more heat at the top than in the bottom. Bake them about ten minutes.

Almond maccaroons may be made as above, mixing one-quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds with three-quarters of shelled sweet almonds. For almond maccaroons, instead of flouring your hands, you may dip them in cold water; and when the maccaroons are formed on the papers, go slightly over every one, with your fingers wet with cold water.

Maccaroons may be made, also, of grated cocoa-nut, mixed with beaten white of egg and powdered sugar.

WEST INDIA COCOA-NUT CAKE.--Cut up and peel some pieces of a very ripe cocoa-nut. Lay the pieces for awhile in cold water. Then take them out; wipe them very dry; and grate, very finely, as much as, when grated, will weigh half a pound. Powder half a pound of the best loaf-sugar. Beat eight eggs, till very light, thick, and smooth. Then stir the grated cocoa-nut and the powdered sugar, alternately, into the pan of beaten egg, a little at a time of each; adding a handful of sifted flour, a powdered nutmeg, and a glass of sweet wine. Stir the whole very hard. Butter a square tin pan. Put in the mixture, set it immediately into a quick oven, and bake it well; seeing that the heat is well kept up all the time. When cool, cut it into squares. Have ready a thick icing, made of powdered sugar and white of egg, flavoured with rose-water, or extract of roses. Ice each square of the cake, all over the top and sides.

You may bake it in a loaf, in a deep, circular pan. Ice the whole surface, and ornament it.

For a large cake, baked in a loaf, allow a pound of grated cocoa-nut; a pound of sugar; sixteen eggs; two handfuls of flour; two nutmegs, and two glasses of wine. It will require very long baking.

RICE-FLOUR POUND-CAKE.--Weigh a pound of broken up loaf-sugar of the best quality. Upon some of the largest lumps rub off the yellow rind of three large ripe lemons that have been previously rolled under your hand, on a table, to increase the juice. Then powder finely all the pound of sugar. Cut up into a deep pan a pound of the best fresh butter; mix with it the powdered sugar, and stir them together, with a wooden spaddle, till perfectly light. Squeeze the juice of the lemons through a strainer into a bowl, mix with it half a grated nutmeg, and add it to the butter and sugar. Sift a pound (or a quart) of rice-flour into a pan, and in another shallow pan beat twelve eggs till they are smooth and thick. Then stir the beaten egg and the rice-flour, alternately, into the butter and sugar, a little at a time of each. Having stirred the whole long and hard, put the mixture into a buttered tin pan that has straight or upright sides; set it immediately into a well-heated oven, and bake it thoroughly. It will require four or five hours, in proportion to its thickness. When done, it will shrink a little from the sides of the pan; and a twig from a corn-broom, or a wooden skewer plunged down to the bottom of the cake, will come out dry and clean. When cool, ice it; adding a little rose-water or lemon-juice to the icing. Heap the icing first on the centre of the top, and then with a broad-bladed knife, (dipped occasionally into a bowl of cold water,) spread it evenly all over the surface of the cake.

Instead of lemons, you may use for flavouring this cake, the yellow rind of _two_ oranges grated on the sugar, and the juice of _three_ mixed with the spice. Orange-rind being stronger and more powerful in taste than that of lemon, a smaller quantity of it will suffice.

You may bake the above mixture in little tins, like queen-cakes; taking care to grease them with _fresh_ butter.

This mixture will make a nice pudding; using only _half_ a pound of rice-flour, but the above quantities of all the other ingredients. Bake it in china or handsome white-ware, as it must go to table in the dish it is baked in.

RICE SPONGE-CAKE.--Put twelve eggs into a scale, and balance them in the other scale with their weight in broken loaf-sugar. Take out four of the eggs, remove the sugar, and balance the remaining eight eggs with an equal quantity of rice-flour. Rub off on some lumps of the sugar, the yellow rind of three fine large ripe lemons. Then powder all the sugar. Break the eggs, one at a time, into a saucer, and put all the whites into a pitcher, and all the yolks into a broad shallow earthen pan. Having poured the whites of egg from the pitcher through a strainer into a rather shallow pan, beat them till so stiff that they stand alone. Then add the powdered sugar, gradually, to the white of egg, and beat it in well. In the other pan, beat the yolks till very smooth and thick. Then mix them, gradually, a little at a time, with the white of egg and sugar. Lastly, stir in, by degrees, the rice-flour, adding it lightly, and stirring it slowly and gently round till the surface is covered with bubbles. Transfer it directly to a butter tin pan; set it _immediately_ into a brisk oven; and bake it an hour and a half or more, according to its thickness. Ice it when cool; flavouring the icing-with lemon or rose. This cake will be best the day it is baked.

In every sort of sponge-cake, Naples-biscuit, lady-fingers, and in all cakes made without butter, it is important to know that though the egg and sugar is to be beaten very hard, the flour, which must _always_ go in at the last, must be stirred in very slowly and lightly, holding the whisk or stirring-rods perpendicularly or upright in your hand; and moving it gently round and round on the surface of the batter without allowing it to go down deeply. If the flour is stirred in _hard and fast_, the cake will certainly be tough, leathery, and unwholesome. Sponge-cake when cut should look coarse-grained and rough.

SWEET POTATOE CAKE.--Half-boil some fine sweet potatoes; peel them; and when cold, grate as much as will weigh half a pound. If boiled long enough to become soft, they will render the cake heavy. Stir together in a deep pan, half a pound of fresh butter, and half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, till quite light and creamy. Then add a tea-spoonful of powdered mace, nutmeg, and cinnamon, all mixed together; and the juice and grated rind of two large lemons or oranges. Beat in a shallow pan six eggs till very smooth and thick; and stir them into the pan of butter and sugar in turn with the grated sweet-potatoe, a little of each at a time. Then stir the whole very hard. Butter a deep tin pan with straight sides. Put in the mixture, and bake it well. If you want more cake than the above quantity, double the proportions of _each_ ingredient; but bake the mixture in two pans, rather than in one. Ice it when cold, adding a little lemon or orange-juice to the icing. In spreading the icing, begin by heaping it on the centre of the cake, and then gradually bringing it all over the top and sides, dipping the knife, frequently, into a bowl of cold water.

CHOCOLATE PUFFS.--Beat very stiff the whites of two eggs, and then beat in, gradually, half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Scrape down very fine, an ounce and a half of the best chocolate, (prepared cocoa is better still,) and dredge it with flour to prevent its oiling; mixing the flour well among it. Then add it, gradually, to the mixture of white of egg and sugar, and stir the whole very hard. Cover the bottom of a square tin pan with a sheet of fine white paper, cut to fit exactly. Place upon it thin spots of powdered loaf-sugar about the size of a half-dollar. Pile a portion of the mixture on each spot, smoothing it with the back of a spoon or a broad knife, dipped in cold water. Sift white sugar over the top of each. Set the pan into a brisk oven, and bake them a few minutes. When cold, loosen them from the paper with a broad knife.

COCOA-NUT PUFFS.--Break up a large ripe cocoa-nut. Pare the pieces, and lay them awhile in cold water. Then wipe them dry, and grate them as finely as possible. Lay the grated cocoa-nut in well-formed heaps on a large handsome dish. It will require no cooking. The heaps should be about the circumference of a dollar, and must not touch each other. Flatten them down in the middle, so as to make a hollow in the centre of each heap; and upon this pile some very nice sweetmeat. Make an excellent whipped cream, well sweetened and flavoured with lemon and wine, and beat it to a stiff froth. Pile some of this cream high upon each cake over the sweetmeats. If on a supper-table you may arrange them in circles round a glass stand.

PALMER CAKES.--Sift a pound of flour into a pan, and rub into it half a pound of butter, and a quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Add a tea-spoonful of mixed spice, powdered cinnamon, nutmeg, and mace. Wet the mixture with two well-beaten eggs; the juice of a large lemon or orange; and sufficient rose-water to make it into a dough just stiff enough to roll out easily. Sprinkle a little flour on the paste-board; lay the lump of dough upon it, roll it out rather thin, and cut it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler dipped every time in flour to prevent stickiness. Lay the cakes in buttered square pans. Set them in a rather brisk oven, and bake them brown.

LIGHT SEED CAKE.--Sift into a pan a pound and a half of flour; cut up in it a pound of fresh butter, and rub it well into the flour with your hands. Mix in six table-spoonfuls of strong fresh yeast; add gradually as much warm milk as will make it a soft dough, and knead it well. Cover it with a double cloth and set it in a warm place to rise. When quite light, and cracked all over the surface, mix in, alternately, a quarter of a pound of powdered white sugar, and a quarter of a pound of carraway seeds, a little of each at a time. Knead the dough well a second time, adding a small tea-spoonful of soda dissolved in a very little warm water. Cover it and set it to rise again. It will probably require now but half an hour. Transfer it to a circular tin pan, slightly buttered, and bake it in a loaf. It is best when eaten fresh, but not warm. It may be baked in a square pan, and cut into square pieces when cool.

CARRAWAY CAKE.--Sift half a pound of rice flour into a dish. In a deep pan cut up half a pound of fresh butter, and mix with it half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar. Having warmed them slightly, stir together the butter and sugar till very light and creamy. Break five eggs, and beat them in a shallow pan till thick and smooth. Then stir them, gradually, into the pan of beaten sugar and butter, alternately with the flour; a little of each at a time. Add, by degrees, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and nutmeg mixed; a wine-glass of rose water or of rose-brandy, and half an ounce or more of carraway seeds thrown in a few at a time, stirring hard all the while. Butter a square iron pan; put in the mixture; set it in a rather brisk oven, and bake it well. When done, sift powdered sugar over it; and when cool, cut it into long squares.

WONDERS.--Cut up half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of sifted flour, and rub them well together with your hands. Mix in three-quarters of a pound of white sugar, and a large tea-spoonful of cinnamon. Add a glass of good white wine, and a glass of rose-water. Beat six eggs very light, and mix them gradually with the above ingredients, so as to form a dough. If you find the dough too soft, add by degrees a little more flour. Roll out the dough into a thick sheet, and cut it into long slips with a jagging-iron. Then form each strip into the figure 8. Have ready over the fire a pot of boiling lard. Throw the cakes into it, a few at a time, and let them cook till they are well browned all over. Then take them out, with a perforated skimmer, draining back into the pot the lard that is about them. As you take them out lay them on a flat dish, the bottom of which is strewed with powdered sugar. They will keep a week, but like most other cakes are best the day they are baked.

SOFT CRULLERS.--Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, and powder half a pound of loaf-sugar. Heat a pint of water in a round-bottomed sauce-pan, and when quite warm, mix the flour with it gradually. Set half a pound of fresh butter over the fire in a small vessel; and when it begins to melt, stir it gradually into the flour and water. Then add by degrees the powdered sugar, and half a grated nutmeg. Take the sauce-pan off the fire, and beat the contents, with a wooden spaddle or spatula, till they are thoroughly mixed. Then beat six eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture. Beat the whole very hard, till it becomes a thick batter. Flour a paste-board very well, and lay out the batter upon it in rings, (the best way is to pass it through a screw funnel.) Have ready, on the fire, a pot of boiling lard of the very best quality. Put in the crullers, removing them from the board by carefully taking them up, one at a time, on a broad-bladed knife. Boil but a few at a time. They must be of a fine brown. Lift them out on a perforated skimmer, draining the lard from them back into the pot. Lay them on a large dish, and sift powdered white sugar over them.

Soft crullers cannot be made in warm weather.

NOTIONS.--Put into a sauce-pan a pint of milk, and two table-spoonfuls of fresh butter. Set it over the fire, and when the butter begins to melt, stir it well through the milk. As soon as it comes to a boil, begin to stir in a pint of sifted flour, a little at a time; making the mixture very smooth, and pressing out all the lumps. Let it continue to boil five minutes after the flour is all in. Then pour it into a deep pan, and set it to cool. In another pan beat six eggs very light. When it is nearly cool, stir the beaten egg into the mixture, a little at a time; stirring the whole very hard, till it is as light as possible.

Have ready, over the fire, a pot with a pound or more of fresh lard melting in it. When the lard comes to a boil, take up portions of the batter in a large spoon, or a small ladle, and drop them into the boiling lard, so as to form separate balls. When they are well browned, take them out with a perforated skimmer, draining the lard from them back into the pot. Lay them on a flat dish, and when all are done, sift over them a mixture of powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon or nutmeg. They should be eaten quite fresh.

CROSS-BUNS.--Pick clean a pound and a half of Zante currants; wash, drain, and dry them; spreading them on a large flat dish, placed in a slanting position near the fire or in the sun. When they are perfectly dry, dredge them thickly with flour to prevent their sinking or clodding in the cakes. Sift into a deep pan two pounds of fine flour, and mix thoroughly with it a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, (or of mixed nutmeg and cinnamon,) and half a pound of powdered white sugar. Cut up half a pound of the best fresh butter in half a pint of rich milk. Warm it till the butter is quite soft, but not till it melts. While warm, stir into the milk and butter two wine-glasses (or a jill) of strong fresh yeast. Make a hole in the centre of the pan of flour; pour in the mixed liquid; then, with a spoon or a broad knife, mix the flour gradually in; beginning round the edge of the hole. Proceed thus till you have the entire mass of ingredients thoroughly incorporated; stirring it hard as you go on. Cover the pan with a clean flannel or a thick towel, and set it in a warm place near the fire to rise. When it has risen well, and the surface of the dough is cracked all over, mix in a small tea-spoonful of soda, dissolved; flour your paste-board; divide the dough into equal portions, and mixing in the currants, knead it into round cakes about the size of a small saucer. Place them on a large flat dish, cover them, and set them again in a warm place for about half an hour. Then butter some square tin or iron baking-pans; transfer the buns to them; and brush each bun lightly over with a glazing of beaten white of eggs, sweetened with a little sugar. Then, with the back of a knife, mark each bun with a cross, deeply indented in the dough, and extending entirely from one edge to another. Let the oven be quite ready; set in it the buns; and bake them of a deep brown colour. In England, and in other parts of Europe, it is customary to have hot cross-buns at breakfast on the morning of Good Friday. They are very good cakes at any time; but are best when fresh.

TO ICE A LARGE CAKE.--It requires practice to ice cakes smoothly. It is a good rule to allow a _large_ quarter of a pound of powdered loaf-sugar to the white of every egg. The whites of four eggs and a pound of sugar will ice a large cake. Having strained the white of egg into a broad, shallow pan, beat it to a stiff froth with hickory rods or a large silver fork. It must be beaten till it stands alone. Have ready the powdered sugar in a bowl beside you; add it, gradually, to the beaten white of egg, a tea-spoonful at a time, and beat it very hard. Perhaps some additional sugar may be required to make the icing sufficiently thick. Flavour it by beating in at the last a few drops of oil of lemon, or a spoonful of fresh lemon or orange-juice, or a few drops of extract of vanilla, or extract of roses. Lemon-juice will make it more adhesive, so that it will stick on better. Turn bottom-upwards the empty pan in which the cake was baked, and place this pan on a large flat dish, or an old server. Dredge the cake all over with flour, to take off the greasiness of the outside, which greasiness may otherwise prevent the icing from sticking well. Then wipe off the flour with a clean towel. Take up the icing with a spoon, and begin by heaping a large quantity of it on the middle of the top of the cake. Then, with a broad-bladed knife, spread it down evenly and smoothly, till the top and sides are all covered with it of an equal thickness. Have beside you a bowl of cold water, into which dip the knife-blade, occasionally, as you go on spreading and smoothing the icing. Put it into a warm place to harden. When nearly dry, have ready sufficient icing to ornament or flower the cake. This must be done by means of a small syringe. By working and moving this syringe skilfully, the icing will fall from it so as to form borders, beadings, wreaths, and centre-pieces, according to your taste. If you cannot procure a syringe, a substitute may be formed by rolling or folding a piece of thick, smooth writing paper into a conical or sugar-loaf form. At the large end of this cone leave paper enough to turn down all round, so as to prevent the side opening, and the icing escaping. The pointed end must be neatly cut off with scissors, leaving a small round hole, through which the icing is to be pressed out when ornamenting the cake. The hole must be cut perfectly even; otherwise the icing will come out crooked and unmanageable. These paper cones, in skilful hands, may succeed tolerably; but they must be continually renewed, and are far less convenient than a syringe, which can be bought at a small cost, and is always ready for use. Where much icing is to be done, it is well to have a set of syringes with the points of different patterns.

To decorate cakes with ornamental icing, requires practice, skill, and taste. A person that has a good knowledge of drawing can generally do it very handsomely.

To colour it of a beautiful pink, tie up a little alkanet in a thin muslin bag, and let it infuse in the icing after it is made, squeezing the bag occasionally. When sufficiently coloured, take out the bag, and give the icing a hard stirring or beating before you put it on. Cover the cake all over with the pink icing, and then have ready some white icing for the border and other ornaments,--to be put on with the syringe.

Icing may be made stiffer and more adhesive by mixing with it, gradually, a small portion of dissolved gum tragacanth. This solution is prepared by melting gum tragacanth in _boiling_ water, (if wanted for immediate use,) having first picked the gum quite clean. The proportion is half an ounce of the gum to half a pint of water. It is slow in dissolving. To keep it from spoiling, add to the gum (before the water) a few drops of strong oil of lemon, or oil of cinnamon.

FRENCH ICING FOR CAKES.--Dissolve some fine white gum arabic (finely powdered) in rose-water. The proportion should be, as much of the gum-arabic powder as will lie on a ten-cent piece to a tea-spoonful of rose-water. Beat some white of egg to a stiff froth that will stand alone. Stir in, gradually, sufficient double-refined powdered loaf-sugar to make it very thick, (a good proportion is four ounces of sugar to the white of one egg,) add to this quantity a tea-spoonful of the rose-water with the gum arabic dissolved in it, and beat the whole very hard. Instead of rose-water you may dissolve the gum in fresh lemon-juice. Previous to icing the cake, dredge it with flour, and in a few minutes wipe it off with a clean towel. This, by removing the greasiness of the outside, will make the icing stick on the better. Heap the icing first on the middle of the top of the cake; then with a broad-bladed knife spread it evenly all over the surface. Dip the knife frequently in a bowl of cold water as you proceed, and smooth the icing well. If not thick enough, wait till it dries, and then add a second coat.

ALMOND ICING.--Take half a pound of shelled sweet almonds, and three ounces of shelled bitter almonds. Put them, a few at a time, into a large bowl, and pour on boiling water to loosen the skins. As you peel them, throw the almonds into a bowl of cold water. When they are all blanched, pound them one at a time in a marble mortar, adding frequently a few drops of rose-water to prevent their oiling. They must be pounded to a smooth paste without the smallest particles of lumps. As you pound the almonds, remove this paste with a tea-spoon to a deep plate. Beat the whites of four eggs to a stiff froth. Then, gradually beat in a pound of the best double-refined sugar. Lastly, add, by degrees, the almond paste, a little at a time, and beat the whole very hard. If too thick, thin it with lemon-juice.

APPLE CAKE.--Make a nice light paste with the proportion of three quarters of a pound of fresh butter to a pound and a quarter of sifted flour. Roll it out into a large round sheet. Have ready a sufficiency of fine juicy apples, pared, cored, and sliced thin; mixed with one or two sliced quinces; and half a pound, or more, of the best raisins, seeded and cut in half. Make the mixture very sweet with brown sugar; and add some grated nutmeg; and a wine-glass, or more, of rose-water; or else the juice and grated yellow rind of one or two lemons. Mix all thoroughly, and put it on the sheet of paste; which must then be closed over the heap of mixture so as to form a very large dumpling. Put it into a small dutch-oven, and set it over hot coals, having previously heated the oven-lid by standing it upright before the fire. Then lay on the lid, with hot coals spread over it. Have ready a sufficient quantity of butter, brown sugar, and powdered cinnamon, stirred together till very light. Spread a portion of it on the bottom of the oven. While the cake is baking, remove the oven-lid frequently, and baste the cake with this mixture, which will form a sort of thick brown crust, covering it all over. It should bake from two to three hours; or longer if it is large. When thoroughly done, turn it out on a dish. It should be eaten fresh, the day it is baked; either warm or cold.

This is a German cake, and will be found very good.

CINNAMON CAKES.--Make a paste as above, and roll it out thin into a square sheet. Have ready a mixture of brown sugar; fresh butter; and a large portion of ground cinnamon; all stirred together till very light. Spread this mixture thickly over the sheet of paste; then roll it up, as you would a rolled up marmalade pudding. After it is rolled up, cut it down into pieces or cakes of equal size, and press them rather flat. Have ready over the fire a skillet or frying-pan with plenty of fresh butter boiling hard. Put in some of the cakes and fry them brown. As fast as they are done, take them out on a perforated skimmer; drain off the butter, and lay them on a hot dish. Then put in more cakes, till all are fried. They should be eaten warm, first sifting powdered white sugar over them.

These cakes, also, are German. They may be conveniently prepared when you are making pies, as the same paste will do for both.

GINGER POUND CAKE.--Cut up in a pan three quarters of a pound of butter; mix with it a pint of West India molasses, and a tea-cup of brown sugar. If in winter, set it over the fire till the butter has become soft enough to mix easily with the molasses and sugar. Then take it off, and stir them well together. Sift into a pan a pound of flour. In another pan, beat five eggs very light. Add gradually the beaten eggs and the flour, to the mixture of butter, sugar, and molasses, with two large table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, and a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Then stir in a glass of brandy, and lastly a small tea-spoonful of sal-eratus or sub-carbonate of soda melted in a very little milk. Stir the whole very hard. Transfer the mixture to a buttered tin-pan, and bake it in a moderate oven from two to three hours, in proportion to its thickness.

This cake will be much improved by the addition of a pound of sultana or seedless raisins, well dredged with flour to prevent their sinking, and stirred in, gradually, at the last.

You may add also the yellow rind of a lemon or orange grated fine.

FLEMINGTON GINGERBREAD.--Stir together till quite light, a quarter of a pound of fresh butter, and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar. Then mix in half a pint of West India molasses. Sift rather less than a pint and a half of flour. Beat four eggs till very light, and stir them gradually into the mixture, alternately with the sifted flour. Add a heaping table-spoonful of ginger, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir all well. Dissolve a level tea-spoonful of soda or pearlash in as much warm water as will melt it; then stir it in at the last. Put the mixture into a buttered tin-pan, (either square or round,) set it _immediately_ into the oven, which must be brisk but not too hot; and bake it well. When you think it done, probe it to the bottom with a knife or a broom-twig, stuck down into the centre; and do not take the cake from the oven unless the knife comes out clean and dry. It requires long baking.

GINGER CRACKERS.--Mix together in a deep pan, a pint of West India molasses; half a pound of butter; and a quarter of a pound of brown sugar; two large table-spoonfuls of ginger; a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon; a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda, dissolved in a little warm water; and sufficient sifted flour to make a dough just stiff enough to roll out conveniently. Let the whole be well incorporated into a large lump. Knead it till it leaves your hands clean; then beat it hard with a rolling-pin, which will make it crisp when baked. Divide the dough, and roll it out into sheets half an inch thick. Cut it into cakes with a tin cutter about the usual size of a cracker-biscuit, or with the edge of a teacup dipped frequently into flour to prevent its sticking. Lay the cakes at regular distances in square pans slightly buttered. Set them directly into a moderately brisk oven, and bake them well, first pricking them with a fork.

Ginger crackers are excellent on a sea voyage. If made exactly as above they will keep many weeks.

In greasing all cake-pans use only the best fresh butter: otherwise the outside of a thick cake will taste disagreeably, and the whole of a thin cake will have an unpleasant flavour.

SEA-VOYAGE GINGERBREAD.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound and a quarter of fresh butter; rub the butter well into the flour, and then mix in a pint of West India molasses and a pound of the best brown sugar. Beat eight eggs till very light. Stir into the beaten egg two glasses or a jill of brandy. Add also to the egg a teacup-full of ground ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a tea-spoonful of soda melted in a little warm water. Wet the flour, &c., with this mixture till it becomes a soft dough. Sprinkle a little flour on your paste-board, and with a broad knife spread portions of the mixture thickly and smoothly upon it. The thickness must be equal all through; therefore spread it carefully and evenly, as the dough will be too soft to roll out. Then with the edge of a tumbler dipped in flour, cut it out into round cakes. Have ready square pans, slightly buttered; lay the cakes in them sufficiently far apart to prevent their running into each other when baked. Set the pans into a brisk oven, and bake the cakes well, seeing that they do not burn.

You may cut them out small with the lid of a cannister (or something similar) the usual size of gingerbread nuts.

These cakes will keep during a long voyage, and are frequently carried to sea. Many persons find highly-spiced gingerbread a preventive to sea-sickness.

SPICED GINGERBREAD.--Sift into a deep pan a pound and a half of flour, and cut up in it half a pound of the best fresh butter. Rub them together, with your hands, till thoroughly incorporated. Then add half a pound of brown sugar, crushed fine with the rolling-pin; a table-spoonful of mixed spice, consisting of equal quantities of powdered cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Also, a table-spoonful of ground ginger, and two table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Mix the whole together, and wet it with a pint of West India molasses. Dissolve a small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda in a very little warm water. Mix it into the other ingredients. Spread some flour on your paste-board, take the dough out of the pan, flour your hands, and knead the dough till it ceases entirely to be sticky. Roll it out into a very thick square sheet; cut it into long straight slips; twist every two slips together, rounding off the ends nicely. Lay them (not too closely) in buttered square pans, and bake them well. As gingerbread burns easily, take care not to have the oven too hot. Instead of forming it into twisted strips, you may cut the sheet of gingerbread-dough into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler, which, as you proceed, must be frequently dipped in flour.

CARRAWAY GINGERBREAD.--Cut up half a pound of fresh butter in a pint of West India molasses and warm them together slightly, till the butter is quite soft. Then stir them well, and add, gradually, a pound of good brown sugar, a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, and two heaped table-spoonfuls of ground ginger, or three, if the ginger is not very strong. Sift two pounds or two quarts of flour. Beat four eggs till very thick and light, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture, in turn with the flour, and five or six large table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds, a little at a time. Dissolve a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda in as much lukewarm water as will cover it. Then stir it in at the last. Stir all very hard. Transfer it to a buttered tin pan with straight sides, and bake it in a loaf in a moderate oven. It will require a great deal of baking.

MOLASSES GINGERBREAD.--Mix together a quart of West India molasses, and a pint of milk. Cut up in them a pound of fresh butter. Set the pan on a stove, or in a warm place till the butter becomes soft enough to stir and mix well into the molasses and milk. They must be merely warmed but not made hot. Then stir in a small teacup of ginger, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Add, gradually, a little at a time, three pounds of sifted flour. The whole should be a thick batter. Lastly, stir in a large tea-spoonful of soda, or a smaller one of pearlash or sal-eratus, dissolved in a very little lukewarm water. Bake the mixture either in little tins, or in a large loaf. If the latter, it will require very long baking; as long as a black-cake.

MOLASSES CAKE.--Cut up a quarter of a pound of fresh butter into a pint of West India molasses. Warm it just sufficiently to soften the butter, and make it mix easily. Stir it well into the molasses, and add a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them, gradually, into the mixture, in turn with barely enough of sifted flour (not more than a pint and a half) to make it about as thick as pound-cake batter. Add, at the last, a small or level tea-spoonful of pearlash, or a full one of soda, dissolved in a very little warm water. Butter some small tin cake-pans, or patty-pans, put in the mixture, and set them immediately into the oven, which must not be too hot, as all cakes made with molasses are peculiarly liable to scorch on the outside.

SUGAR CAKE.--Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Rub with your hands the butter into the flour till it is thoroughly mixed. Then rub in a pound of sugar, and a grated nutmeg. Wet the whole with half a pint of rich milk (or a jill of rose-water, and a jill of milk) mixed with a well-beaten egg. Add, at the last, a very small tea-spoonful of pearlash or soda, dissolved in a little vinegar or warm water. Roll out the dough thick, and beat it well on both sides with the rolling-pin. Then roll it thin, and cut it into square cakes, notching the edges with a knife. Put them into a shallow pan slightly buttered, (taking care not to place them too near, lest they run into each other,) and bake them a light brown.

You may mix into the dough two table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.