Bread, cakes, and biscuits

moulds well over with warmed, but not liquid, butter (or the coating will be too thin), dusting these well with equal parts of sugar And flour sifted together, rapping the moulds on the edge of the table to shake off any loose powder, and put them aside till wanted. For sixteen cakes take eight eggs, their weight (in their shells) of caster sugar, and the weight of six in flour ; beat the egg yolks till quite light, and not the least ropy, then mix in the sugar quickly, and whisk it all well together for at least twelve to fifteen minutes, after adding the sugar. Now stir in the flour and the very stiffly whipped egg whites, quickly and lightly, in alternate spoonfuls, and half fill the moulds at once with the mixture ; dust the tops of the cakes with some of the sifted flour and sugar, and bake ten to twelve minutes in a moderate oven, covering the cakes with a buttered paper directly they begin to colour, to prevent their overbrowning. A little flavouring may be added just at the last stage of the mixing, or loaf sugar rubbed on orange or lemon rinds, and pounded and sifted, or loaf sugar crushed with a vanilla bean, or some vanilla chocolate may be used, instead of plain caster sugar, to dust the moulds and the cakes. Remember, the great secret of sponge cake making lies in the evenness and thickness of the butter, sugar, and flour coating on the moulds. Cakes, Strawberry Short. — To lib. each of fine flour, caster sugar, and butter (or clarified dripping), allow one egg yolk ; rub the butter, sugar, and flour well together, and work it up to a nice dough with the egg yolk ; then roll it out very thin, cut it into rounds, squares, or triangles, and bake in a moder-ate oven. When cooked and coldr mask half the cakes with crushed strawberries mashed with thick or clotted cream, and cover these sandwichfashion with the other cakes, pressing them well together. Raspberries, whortle, or bilberries may all be used for these cakes (or even sieved jam and cream in winter). but be careful to have the puree fairly stiff or it will overflow and make it. messy. Cakes, Tea. — Make a well in the centre of lib. of flour ; mix loz. of German yeast with a gill of tepid milk, then stir in one whole well-beaten egg, and 3oz. fresh butter previously dissolved in a gill of warm water ; pour this all into the well in the flour, gathering in lightly sufficient flour from the sides to produce a little pool of batter; sprinkle a little fresh flour over this, cover the basin with a cloth and leave it for an hour in a warm corner to rise. Now knead the whole to a light dough, adding a little more milk if needed, then cut the dough across with a sharp knife, re-cover the pan, and let it rise again for half an hour. Next turn it out on a well-floured board or slab, roll it out lightly and quickly a full inch thick, cut it in rounds the size of a saucer, and set these on a floured tin near the fire to rise again for ten minutes ; then brush them over with a little milk and caster sugar, and bake for twenty minutes in a moderate oven. They are then sliced, toasted lightly, buttered, put together into shape again, and served very hot. Some people add sultanas, carraway seeds, shred candied peel, &c., to this dough, in which case, when made up and baked, the cakes are simply split and buttered.