Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

Vienna Biscuits (Miss May Van Renen’s recipe, given I her by Mrs. Drummond Hay), made as follows : — A pinch of salt, I oz. castor sugar, and 2 ozs. butter are rubbed into I lb. flour ; you then beat up the yolk of an egg and I tablespoonful of milk together, and add to the flour. Roll out this paste very thinly and stamp it out in rounds with a small tumbler, and out of half the number cut a smaller round from the centre ; bake all on buttered paper on tins in a moderate oven a quarter of an hour. Now chop up or grate 2 or 3 ozs. plain chocolate, put it in a small saucepan with 2 tablespoonfuls of water and let it boil 4 5 niinutes. Then stir in 4 or 5 ozs. icing sugar. Let it just come to the boil, and spread quickly on the biscuits — the whole ones — and then press on to them those which have the centres cut out, filling up the cavity in the centre with crystallized cherries or other candied “ comfyt,” or with cream whipped very stiffly. As little V is very fond of “hundreds and thousands,” we have used cream for the filling, and sprinkled the “ hundreds and thousands ” over it. Birthday-cake.— The birthday-cake itself will be from Mrs. Andrew’s recipe in Hildas Where is it, p. 22, and iced and ornamented as described there also, p. 105, as the children will expect the cake to be decorated with name and date. Birthday Menu. — “Brawn” Biscuits. — The menu will of course include plenty of brown and white bread-and-butter, and we shall have some jam sandwiches ; a large gingerbread cake made with brown flour as previously described, LITTLE CHOCOLATE CAKES March and a couple of sponge-cakes from Mrs. Van der Byl’s recipe in Hildas Where is it, p. 28. To make a variety, one of these two sponge-cakes will be flavoured with orange and then coated with a layer of marmalade, as described in the same book, p. 105, and the icing over it also flavoured with orange, and various biscuits and little cakes, among them some “Brawn” biscuits (named after a place), which are very quickly made as follows : — Put a handful of flour on a board and mix with it half a teacupful of cream. Roll out thin and cut with tumbler or wineglass. Bake in a very hot oven for a few minutes. As the children are very fond of chocolate, we shall make besides the Vienna biscuits one or other of the two following recipes for chocolate cakes, both of which are good — Little Chocolate Cakes (Mrs. Drummond Hay’s recipe). — Beat 6 ozs. butter to a cream, add the same weight of fine white sugar and 2 well-beaten eggs, ^ lb. fine flour, ^ lb. grated chocolate, and a pinch of baking-powder, mix all well together with some vanilla flavouring. Butter about I dozen little tins and pour in the mixture. Bake in a quick oven and turn them out carefully, when done, on a sieve to cool. Chocolate Cakes, No. 2. — Another recipe (Miss May Van Renen’s). Beat ^ lb. butter to a cream, add I lb. fine white sugar, 3 well-beaten eggs, ^ lb. grated chocolate, 3 ozs. fine flour, 2 ozs, blanched and pounded almond.s, and a pinch of baking-powder, about a salt-spoonful. Butter your little tins and line with buttered paper. Pour a little of the mixture into each tin, bake in a quick oven. Turn them out when the reed or straw you stick in to see if it is done comes out dry, and when cold, ice them with vanilla March HONEYCOMB GINGERBREAD