Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

Cakes. — All flour for Cakes should be what is called Pastry or Vienna flour. When much butter is used it cannot be rubbed into the flour, and has to be “ creamed.” This is done by beating the butter in a basin with a wooden spoon till it is like cream. The sugar should then be added, and the two beaten together for at least ten minutes. If this is not done there will be heavy streaks in the cakes, a sure sign of idle and insufficient beating. Beating is specially important in such cakes as Pound Cakes. Baking powder and fruit must be stirred in last of all, just before the cake is baked ; if this is not done the baking powder will have lost its effervescing power, and will be of no use. When ready the mixture should be just soft enough to be poured into the tin. Tins are frequently buttered, but for any rich cakes they ought to be papered. To do this reverse the tin, and put a layer of two or three pieces of buttered foolscap at the bottom. Cut them to the proper size, and press the buttered paper well down on the bottom of the tin. Cut a band of buttered paper to fit the inside of the tin, and cut it high enough to project two inches above the top. Fit it carefully into the tin, so that the cake mixture cannot break through. The mixture when poured into the tin should fill it only two-thirds. Put the tin in the hottest part of the oven first to make the cake rise, and then draw it to a cooler part and let it bake more slowly. Rich cakes require a more moderate oven than plain cakes, and any kind of gingerbread (except the special Nuts for which a recipe is given) requires a very slow oven, or it will burn. Delicately coloured cakes, like Sponge Cake, should be protected by a buttered paper over the top as soon as they have risen. The time of baking is generally about three-quarters of an hour. If a bright skewer run into the middle of the cake comes out bright and not dimmed, the cake will be baked. Let the cake rest for a minute or two after leaving the oven, as it shrinks a little in cooling, and is more easily turned out of the tin. Then run a knife round the bottom of the cake, invert the mould on the wire drainer, after gently tapping it, and draw the mould off the cake, being most careful not to break the crust. Let the cake stay on the drainer in a warm place till it is quite set, for if it is put into a cold larder at this stage it will become heavy. Cake for Luncheon. — ( Family Recipe.) — Take one pound of light dough when you are baking bread. Well work together four ounces of butter, the same of currants, a little chopped lemon peel, nutmeg, and moist sugar, and one whole egg. Bake in a well-buttered mould for one hour in a moderate oven. Buns. — ( Family Recipe, 1835.)— Two pounds of flour, a quarter of a pound of butter, a tablespoonful of yeast, mixed with a full gill of new milk, four eggs well beaten and mixed, six ounces of sifted sugar, one ounce of carraway seeds (if liked), and a quarter of a pound of currants. When well risen put it with a spoon into little tins to bake.