The art of cookery

Nut Cake. — Add a cup of chopped nuts to the cake mixture, or sprinkle chopped nuts thickly over the top of the cake before baking it. Ginger Wafers. — One cup of butter, two cups of pulverized sugar, one cup of cold water, four cups of flour, ginger to taste. Cream the butter, add the sugar and ginger, then stir in the water and flour gradually and alternately. Spread the mixture as thin as possible on a greased baking sheet, 'and bake in a moderate oven. As soon as done cut quickly, and while hot, into squares or diamonds, and roll, if desired. Soft Ginger Cake. — Quarter of a cup of butter, half a cup of sugar, half a cup of sour milk, one cup of New Orleans molasses, one tablespoonful of ginger, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, one teaspoonful of soda, half a teaspoonful of salt, and three cups of flour. Sift the Cake- Making. 251 soda, salt, and spices with the flour. Cream the butter, add the sugar, then the milk, then the flour and molasses alternately. Beat well and bake in shallow pans in a moderate oven. Frosting for Cake — Cake frosting is often less ornamental and attractive than the beautiful brown crust of the cake. Still, frostings have their uses — especially in preserving the texture and flavor of cake that is to be kept for several days. White frosting may be ornamented by scattering over its surface, while soft, finely chopped nuts and the green portions of finely chopped candied citron ; or in any manner liked, with sliced or chopped candied fruits. Boiled Frosting No. 3 may be ornamented with either whole or chopped walnut meats. Uncooked Frosting. — To one cup of the unbeaten white of egg add four cups of the finest pulverized confectioner's sugar. Sift the sugar before measuring, and stroke the measuring cup each time. Beat the mixture with a strong whip, until, as it falls back upon itself, it will remain in a pile until forced to settle by shaking. Flavor with any extract desired, pour upon the cake, and allow it to run over the edges. If sufficiently beaten it will run very slowly, and if spread over the sides with a limber knife, will remain where it is placed. If an ordinary teacup be used this quantity of white of egg and sugar will make sufficient frosting for four mediumsized cakes. A smaller quantity of frosting can be made by using a smaller cup or measure, but care must be taken to preserve these proportions of white of egg and sugar. 252 The Art of Cookery. Cocoa or grated or melted chocolate can be added to the frosting, if desired, just before spreading upon the cake. If the atmosphere is dry, in two or three hours the frosting will cease to stick to the fingers when touched, and will remain soft and creamy below the surface for days — sometimes for weeks. If dried by artificial heat it may be rendered brittle and ruined. Boiled Frosting No. i. — To one cup of granulated sugar add half a cup of water, and cook until a spoonful of the syrup, when dropped in cold water, can be rolled into a ball of soft candy, then pour it gradually, beating meanwhile, upon the white of an egg beaten stiff. Continue the beating until the frosting is so stiff it will not run off the cake when poured over it. Flavor to taste.