Harper's cook book encyclopædia

Cocoanut Cake. — Break eight eggs, of which set aside four whites. Beat separately the remaining four whites and eight yolks till very light. One pound and a quarter of flour, sifted ; I lb. of sugar, pulverized , Yz lb. of butter, creamed ; one cupful of sour cream or buttermilk, and a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda — the two latter ingredients to be added the last thing, just before you are ready to bake. Bake in large, flat, tin plates, so as to form many thin cakes. Grate two fresh, sweet cocoanuts, add to them 1 lb. of sifted white sugar, with the lightly beaten whites of the four eggs laid aside for the purpose, and two teaspoonfuls of corn-starch. Stir all well together, including the cocoanut milk drained from both nuts. When the cakes are quite cold, place one in the bottom of a large china plate, cover it well with the prepared cocoanut, and continue thus to heap up cake and cocoanut in alternate layers until all of each material is consumed. If desired, cover the whole with icing. This quantity makes a very large cake. If only a small one is needed, one cocoanut will answer, with half of everything else. Cocoanut Cakes. — Scarcely Yz lb. of loaf sugar to a large cocoanut, grated ; put into a preserving-pan till the sugar melts. Form into cakes; put on white paper. They should be well baked in a very cool oven, and when cooked ought to be very pure white. Cocoanut Snow-balls. — Make an angel-food cake as follows : Beat together till stiff whites of eleven eggs with one and one-half cupfuls of sifted granulated sugar and one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, then one cupful of flour and one teaspoonful of vanilla. Bake in a moderate oven forty minutes. When cold, cut off all the brown outside of the cake, and with a fork take out pieces as large as an English walnut ; roll these in soft frosting and then in grated cocoanut. These are especially nice with a plain, white icecream. Coffee Cake. — Cream one cupful of sugar with two-thirds of a cupful of butter ; add one cupful of strong coffee, four cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls Composition Cake Custard Rolls of baking - powder, one and a half teaspoonfuls of powdered cloves, one teaspoonful of cinnamon, J4 lb. of raisins, J4 lb. of currants. Composition Cake (an old-fashioned recipe). — Three-quarters of a pound of butter, I % lbs* of sugar, i% lbs. of flour, four eggs, one pint of sweet milk, a level teaspoonful of saleratus, 2 lbs. of raisins, lb. of citron, three table-spoonfuls of cinnamon, one large table-spoonful of cloves, one of mace mixed in a wineglassful of wine or brandy, one nutmeg. Cookies. — Three cupfuls of flour, one cupful of sugar, a little heaped, half a cupful of butter, one-third of a cupful of rich milk or cream, two eggs, half a teaspoonful of soda, with ginger, cardamom, or other spice to your taste. Work the butter until creamed, and beat the sugar smoothly into it. Then add the soda, dissolved in the milk. Let the whites be beaten to a stiff froth and added the last thing before the flour. Make into a dough as soft as can be rolled.