The home cook book

Half a cup of butter, three-quarters of a cup of milk, one cup of fine granulated sugar, three eggs, two rounding teaspoons of baking powder, two cups of sifted pastry flour. Cream the butter, then add the sugar gradually and cream while adding ; then beat in the beaten egg-yolks, the milk, and one tablespoon of dry sherry and one teaspoon of vanilla. Then add one cup of flour in which has been sifted the baking powder. Fold in the stiffly beaten whites; then the other cup of flour. Bake in layers. When cool put together with the following : CONFECTION FILLING Stir one and a half cups of sugar and half a cup of water until the sugar is dissolved. Boil until it spins a thread when dropped from a spoon. Have ready the whites of two eggs beaten stiff and dry; then, while beating constantly, pour the hot syrup on them and beat until cold and rather stiff. Add one cup of chopped nut-meats, shredded figs and candied fruit, one teaspoon of vanilla, and a quarter of a teaspoon of lemon extract. Decorate the top with currant jelly and whole candied cherries; a ring about the base. [See illustration, Plate XXVI.] CREAM CAKE Take two eggs, one cup of sugar, one cup of thick sour cream, half a cup of butter, and two cups of flour. Beat together, and beat in also one teaspoon of soda. This cake ma}' be without fruit, or you may add raisins, citron, etc., lightly dredging the fruit. For flavoring use spices, half a teaspoon of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. DELICATE CAKE Blend well together two cups of sugar and three-fourths of a cup of butter. Stir in one cup of milk and the whites of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Stir together three cups of flour and two teaspoons of baking powder. Flavor to your taste. Beat ten minutes after putting all the ingredients in. Pour in a loaf tin in which you have laid buttered white paper and bake one hour in a carefully heated oven. FRUIT CAKE Brow^n one pound of flour. Cream together a pound of sugar and a pound of butter, and then add eight beaten eggs and a cup of molasses, half a cup of whiskey, one cup of sour cream, and a tablespoon each of mace, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and grated nutmeg. Stir in your pound of browned flour and half a teaspoon of soda dissolved, and gradually add a pound of seeded raisins, a pound of washed and dried currants, and a pound of citron cut in pieces — all the fruit being lightly dredged. Bake in well-buttered paper laid in deep pans, for this cake should be in large loaves. Be careful your oven is not too hot. WHITE FRUIT CAKE Mix three cups of unadulterated powdered sugar with one cup of butter. Add the whites of ten eggs beaten to a stiff froth, half a cup of milk, a dash of bitter almond flavoring, and four cups of flour into which three teaspoons of baking powder have been sifted. Put in two pounds of seeded raisins dredged and half a pound of citron cut in pieces and dredged. Bake in a moderately quick oven. NEVADA FRUIT CAKE Mix one pound of sugar with one pound of butter and add the yolks of ten eggs, half a pint of molasses, into which a teaspoon of soda has been stirred, one glass of currant jelly, a cup of chopped prunes, a cup of walnut meats, and a