Handbook of practical cookery

Sultana Cake.— One half pound of flour, one quarter of a pound of butter, one quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, one quarter of a pound of sultana raisins, one tea-spoonful of baking-powder, rind of one lemon, one ounce of citron, one half gill of milk, two eggs. First line a cake tin with a sheet of greased kitchen-paper, put the flour into a mixing-bowl, and rub into it the butter with the hands. Add to these the baking-powder and the grated rind of lemon, and, cutting the citron into thin small slices, stir this in also. Put the eggs and sugar together in a small bowl ; beat these until very light ; stir into this the milk, after which the mixture should be poured into the mixing-bowl, and all thoroughly beaten together. Place the raisins into a towel and rub them in this until the stems and all extraneous matter are rubbed off, pick them out and stir into the cake batter as quickly as possible, and, pouring all into the prepared baking-pan, bake the cake in a moderate oven for an hour and a quarter. When done, remove the cake from the oven and place it upon a sieve to cool. NOTES. — The cake tins should always be prepared before the cake, because when baking-powder is used there should be no delay in baking, as it effervesces but once, and the mixture to be raised should be firmed by the heat while the baking-powder is doing its work. For this same reason the raisins should also be prepared prior to the stirring of the cake, and added last, because, being heavy, they naturally sink to the bottom of the mixture if allowed to stand. Raisins should never be washed, as it is extremely difficult to dry them thoroughly, and the moisture which they would gather in being washed must inevitably cause heaviness in whatever they are used. Cakes should always be tested before being removed from the oven with a skewer or clean broom splint, for the reason that if exposed to a chill before thoroughly done they will always fall. If done, the skewer or broom splint will come out of the cake without any dough clinging thereto. The oven should always be kept closed until the cake dough firms, and opened thereafter as little as is consistent with the proper watching of the baking. Cream Cake.— One tea-cupful of sugar, two tea-cupfuls of flour, one tea-spoonful of soda, two tea-spoonfuls of cream of tartar, four eggs, one half pint of milk, one table-spoonful of flour, two table-spoonfuls of sugar, one egg, one saltspoonful of salt, six drops of essence of almond. Put the flour and sugar into a mixing-bowl, and rub them together. Place the soda and cream of tartar upon a plate, and rub the lumps out of them with the back of a spoon, and, mixing these with the sugar and flour, make a hole in the centre of the dry ingredients, and drop into it one by one the yolks of the four eggs. Place the whites of eggs upon a dry plate, and with a dry knife whip them to a stiff froth, after which stir the froth lightly together with the contents of the mixing-bowl. Grease well with butter four jelly cake tins, spread an equal portion of the cake batter upon each, and bake these in a quick oven for seven minutes. While the cakes are baking, put the milk, into which throw the salt, into a sauce-pan over the fire, and bring it to the boiling-point.