Handbook of practical cookery

carefully. The cake will then have its original shape. Pour now over the almonds a little boiling water, take off their skins, cut each almond in half (lengthwise), and stick them all over the surface of the cake. Pour round a custard sauce, directions for which will be found on page 180. NOTE. — Stale cake is best for this receipt ; great care must be taken not to break the cake after it is soaked. Corn-Flour Cake.— One half pound corn-flour, six ounces butter, six ounces sugar, one half tea-cupful flour, one teaspoonful cream of tartar, one half tea-spoonful soda, four eggs. Make the soda and cream of tartar very smooth by rubbing out the lumps with the back of a spoon. Place the flour and corn-flour in a bowl, and mix well the soda and cream of tartar with them. Put now in a separate bowl the butter, heat the bowl very slightly, then with a wooden spoon beat it to a cream ; but take the greatest care not to oil it, or the cake will be heavy. Add now to the butter, by degrees, the sugar, corn-flour, and flour ; as the mixture gets stiff drop in the yolk of an egg to moisten it. When all these ingredients are added, including yolks of eggs, whip the whites to a very stiff froth, and mix them in also. Line a cake-tin with a sheet of greased paper, pour in the mixture, and bake in rather a quick oven for forty minutes. Seed Cake. — One pound flour, one half pound butter, one half pound sugar, one tea-spoonful caraway seeds, four eggs, one tea-spoonful baking-powder, one half gill milk. Place in a basin the butter and sugar ; with the back of a wooden spoon beat the mixture to a cream. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Place the whites on a dry plate, and drop into the basin one by one the yolks of egg, beat well this mixture, then add the milk. Whip to a very stiff froth the whites of egg, add them very gently, then SNOW CAKE — SODA CAKE. 215 add by degrees the flour. Dip a cake-tin in boiling water, dry it quickly, and line it with a sheet of greased paper. Just before pouring the mixture into the tin, add to it the caraway seeds. Place the tin in rather a quick oven for fifteen minutes, then place over the top a sheet of paper, change the tin to a cooler part of the oven, and allow the cake to bake slowly for an hour longer. Snow Cake. — One pound potato flour, one half pound butter, one half pound powdered sugar, two eggs, one half tea-spoonful essence of vanilla. Place in a basin the butter, and with the back of a wooden spoon beat it to a cream. The sugar must then be added and the mixture well beaten with the spoon for five minutes. Break into a small basin the eggs, beat them till very light, and add to them the vanilla. Add now the eggs and vanilla to the mixture in the large basin, and stir all well together. Mix in now quickly and lightly the flour. Line a Yorkshire pudding-tin with a sheet of greased paper; pour in the mixture and spread it smoothly with a knife ; place the tin in a moderate oven and allow the cake to bake for threequarters of an hour. Before taking the cake out of the tin allow it to cool a little, then cut it in small square pieces.