Cookery for every household

To Make the Glaze. — Put the sugar and apricot syrup into a saucepan, and boil them together until fairly thick, then colour an apricot yellow with saffron, and allow the syrup to cool. When lukewarm, pour it slowly over the cake, covering the top and sides. Decorate with pieces of crystallised apricots, and if liked a few cherries or pistachio nuts. Probable cost, Is. 6d. 2765. Buttermilk Cake (Plain) 1 lb. flour. 1 lb. dripping. | lb. moist sugar. I lb. currants. A pinch of salt. 2 oz. candied peel. 1 tea-sp. mixed spice. 1 tea-sp. carbonate of soda. Buttermilk or sour milk. Sieve the flour and salt into a basin and rub in the dripping until free from lumps. Now add the currants well cleaned, the candied peel finely shred, and the spice and soda free from lumps. Mix these dry ingredients well together, make a well in the middle, and pour in enough buttermilk to make the mixture just moist enough to drop from the spoon. Put it into a well -greased Yorkshire pudding tin and bake in a moderate oven until well risen and firm to the touch. Turn out the cake when ready and cool on its side or on a wire tray. Cut in pieces when wanted. Time to bake, about 1 hour. Probable cost, 9 d. 2766. Cherry Cake £ lb. flour. 3 eggs. 5 oz. castor sugar. 4 oz. butter. 1 tea-sp. baking powder. 2 or 3 oz. glace cherries. A pinch of nutmeg. Make in the same way as German Pound Cake (Recipe 2781). Time to bake, f- hour. Probable cost, lOd. 2767. Children’s Birthday Cake | lb. flour. | lb. rice flour or cornflour. £ lb. butter. 10 oz. sugar. 4 to 6 eggs. 6 to 8 oz. glacé cherries. Rind of 1 lemon. 2 tea-sps.baking powder. Milk if necessary. Put the butter into a warm basin and beat it well until soft and creamy (see p. 552). Add the sugar and grated rind of 1 lemon and mix them well in. Then add the eggs one at a time along with the flour and rice flour, and beat the mixture well after the adding of each egg. The mixture should be of a consistency that will drop easily from the spoon, and if only four eggs are used a little milk will likely be necessary. When the mixture has been well beaten, add the cherries cut in small pieces and then the baking powder at the last. Pour the mixture into a cake tin that has been lined with paper, and bake in a good steady oven until well risen and thoroughly cooked. When ready, turn on to a sieve or wire stand to cool. Next day the cake should be iced with glace, fondant, or royal icing, and then decorated according to taste (see p. 593). Note. — It is not usual to put almond paste on a cake for children, but this may be added if wished. Sultanas may be used instead of cherries in the mixture, or the fruit may be omitted altogether. A ring, a button, and a threepenny piece should be wrapped in paper and slipped into the cake after baking. Time to bake, about- 2 hours. Probable cost, without icing, 2s. 2768. Chocolate Layer Cake | lb. fine flour. | lb. butter. £ lb. castor sugar. 4 eggs. 1 gill milk. £ oz. cream of tartar. £ oz. carbonate of soda. Grated rind 1 lemon. Grated rind 1 orange. Chocolate icing.