Cookery for every household

Dry and sieve the flour two or three times with the cream of tartar. Add a pinch of salt to the whites of eggs, and beat them to the stiffest possible froth. Well sieve the sugar, and mix it very lightly in. Then the flour and cream of tartar in the same way, and lastly the flavouring. Do not stop the beating after the mixing is begun, and keep the mixture as light as possible. Bake in a floured and ungreased tin, and in a moderate oven. Test the cake with a fine skewer before removing it from the oven, and do not allow it to become too brown. When ready, turn the cake upside down on a sheet of paper, and leave it until the tin can be slipped off quite easily. The cake may be iced with fondant or glacé icing if desired. Time to bake, 20 to 30 minutes. Probable cost, without icing, 6 d. LARGE CAKES 2761. Almond Cake 7 oz. flour. 3 eggs. £ lb. butter. | lb. castor sugar. £ lb. sweet almonds. 2 or 3 drops essence of almonds. £ tea-sp. baking powder. Blanch and shred the almonds, reserving a few split halves to put on the top of the cake. Place them on a tin near the fire to become thoroughly dry. Then cream the butter and sugar in a basin, and when ready add the eggs and flour finely sifted, by degrees. Beat the mixture well until light and frothy, then add almond flavouring, or a little grated orange or lemon rind, and stir in the shredded almonds and the baking powder at the last. Pour the mixture into a lined cake tin, cover the top with half almonds, and bake in a moderate oven until well risen and firm to the touch. Time to bake, 1 to 1£ hours. Probable cost, Is. 2762. Almond Sponge Cake 1 lb. castor sugar. 2£ oz. sweet almonds. 2 bitter almonds. 2 oz. Vienna flour. 7 eggs. 1 lemon rind grated. Blanch and chop the almonds rather finely. Put them into a mortar with one whole egg and the grated lemon rind, and pound until reduced to a fine paste. Then put the mixture into a basin, add the yolks of the other six eggs and the sugar, 2764. Apricot Cake I lb. fresh butter. | lb. castor sugar. 6 oz. flour. 1 tea-sp. baking powder. 2 yolks and 1 whole egg- 1 tea-sp. vanilla. 1 gill apricot syrup. 2 table-sps. apricot marmalade. Glaze. £ lb. sugar. 2 or 3 table-sps. apricot syrup. Saffron. 2 or 3 preserved or crystallised apricots. To Make the Cake. — First beat the butter to a cream and add the sugar (see p. 552). Add the egg and yolks by degrees, and mix them well in. Sieve the flour with the baking powder and add it gradually and alternately with 1 gill of syrup from a tin of apricots. Beat well together, and then bake the mixture in two flat tins, which have been greased and lined with paper. Bake in a moderate oven until lightly browned and well cooked, then turn out on a sugared paper and allow the cakes to cool. Make some apricot marmalade by rubbing a few pieces of apricot through a fine sieve and then boiling the puree with an equal quantity of sugar. When thick, turn on to a plate to cool. Spread the cakes with this marmalade, and put one on the top of the other. If the cakes are thick they may be split, and another layer of the apricot marmalade put between.