Handbook of practical cookery

Soda Cake. — Two pounds flour, one half pound butter, one quarter pound lard, one pound sugar, one and one-half pound currants, one quarter pound lemon peel, one lemon, one table-spoonful of cinnamon, four eggs, one pint milk, two tea-spoonfuls carbonate of soda. Prepare a large cake-tin by dipping it in boiling water, dry it quickly and line it with a sheet of greased paper. Place then on a plate the soda, and with the point of a knife make it very smooth. The butter, lard, and flour must then be placed in a large basin, and with the hands they must be well rubbed together until the mixture looks like bread crumb. Add then the currants, cinnamon, and soda; cut the peel in small pieces and add it also. Break now into a smaller basin the eggs, and with a fork beat them until very light ; add to them the milk, stir well together and add the juice of the lemon. Pour now the contents of the smaller basin over the dry ingredients in the large basin, and mix all very quickly and lightly together. Pour all into the tin, and place the tin in rather a quick oven for the first twenty minutes, then change it to a cooler part of the oven for one hour longer. Run then into the centre of the cake a sharp knife ; if when it is taken out it is quite dry, the cake is ready ; if not, let the cake remain in the oven fifteen minutes longer. NOTE.— Currants, before being cooked, ought always to be well washed, and dried at an open window, and kept for use in a closely stoppered bottle or closely-covered jar. Scones. — One pound flour, one egg, one tea-cupful milk, one tea-spoonful sugar, one tea-spoonful carbonate of soda, one half tea-spoonful cream of tartar, one pinch salt. Place in a basin the flour ; place on a plate the soda and cream of tartar ; make them very smooth with the point of a knife. Beat well in a basin the egg, and add to it the milk ; add now to the flour in the basin the sugar, salt, soda, and cream of tartar. Mix well with a spoon, and then moisten with the egg and milk. Turn out on a slightly floured board and knead very lightly together. Roll out an inch in thickness, cut in four, place on a floured baking-tin and bake twenty minutes in a hot oven. Cool on a sieve. Sponge Sandwich. — Three eggs, one tea-cupful of sugar, one tea-cupful of flour, six drops essence of almond. Separate carefully the yolks from the whites of the eggs. Place the yolks in a basin, add to them the sugar, and with a spoon beat both well together. Place the whites on a dry plate and whip them with a knife to a stiff froth. Stir very lightly the whites of egg to the sugar and yolks, add then the flour and essence of almond. Mix all well together, and pour the mixture into a well-greased Yorkshire puddingtin. Place the tin in a quick oven and bake for twenty minutes. GINGER BREAD — PLAIN PLUM CAKE. 217 Ginger Bread. — One pound flour, one pound treacle, one quarter pound moist sugar, one quarter pound butter, one ounce ground ginger, half an ounce caraway seeds, one gill milk, one tea-spoonful carbonate of soda, two eggs.