The new Albatross recipe book

1 teaspoon allspice 4 cup margarine Grease baking sheets or upturned bottoms of roasting tins. Sift the dry ingredients. Cream the margarine very well with the sugar. Beat in the egg, essence, fruit and nuts (walnuts or hazelnuts). Gradually work in the dry ingredients with the milk. Drop teaspoons on to the prepared tins, leaving enough space for them to spread, and bake for 10-15 minutes in a moderate oven (Regulo Mark 3-4 or 360-375° Fahr.). (Variation I.) FRUIT COCOA DROPS Omit the spices. Sift 2 tablespoons cocoa with the dry ingredients and add 1 teaspoon strong coffee with the milk. (Variation II.) COCOANUT DROPS Omit the spices and nuts and add, instead, 1 cup shredded cocoanut with the fruit. CAKES, LARGE AND SMALL If you are directed to cream the fat and sugar to a creamy state and you fail to do so, your cake will have a close and heavy texture. The cake will also be heavy if the mixture curdles when the egg is added. If it tends to curdle, add a small spoonful of the flour and continue to beat. A cake will probably fall if you open the oven door before it is set and even a small bang of the door can cause the same thing. [If the cake is placed in too hot an oven and the flour is stretched beyond what it can support, the cake, when it settles (as all cakes do) will probably sink. An oven which is too hot can also peak a cake if there is a high proportion of flour in the mixture. What happens here is that the crust is set before the heat has reached the centre of the cake and, when the heat does get there, it expands the mixture so that the centre ‘ boils ' out and a cracked top is the result. DUNDEE CAKE 5 oz. Albatross Self-raising 1 drop caramel Flour 1 lb. currants and sultanas 5 oz. plain flour (mixed) ; teaspoon salt 4 oz. chopped candied peel 8 oz. butter 2 oz. quartered glace cher- 8 oz. castor sugar ries 3-4 eggs 4 oz. blanched almonds + teaspoon almond essence Grated rind of 1 orange Grease and line an 8-in. deep cake tin with thick greased paper, rising 14 in. above the top. Sift the flours and salt together twice. Cream the butter well. Mix in the sugar and beat to a creamy fluffy consistency. Beat the eggs. Beat half into the creamed mixture and lightly mix in half the flour, all the fruit, peel and cherries, the orange rind, essence and half the almonds, finely chopped. Mix in the remaining eggs and then the remaining flour. Turn into the prepared cake tin, level off and place the remaining halved almonds on top. Bake for ‘34 hrs. ina slow oven. (Regulo Mark 2 or 320-340° Fahr.). Leave this cake in its tin for at least 15 minutes before turning it out on to a wire rack to cool. To Blanch almonds: Drop the shelled almonds into boiling water for a minute. Remove andthe skins will slip off very easily. al BATTENBURG CAKE First, buy a special Battenburg or Russian cake tin with a metal strip down the centre. 5 oz. Albatross Self-raising Pinch of salt Flour 3 oz. Margarine 3 oz. castor sugar 1 well-beaten egg 4 tablespoons milk Cochineal or chocolate Almond paste (see page 29) colouring Place the metal strip down the centre of the tin, then line each division separately with greased greaseproof paper. Sift the flour and salt. Cream the margarine and sugar and gradually beat in the egg. Add the flour alternately with the milk. Turn half the mixture into one side of the tin. Add cochineal or chocolate colouring to the remaining batter and mix itin. Turn into the other half of the tin and bake for 15 minutes in a moderately hot oven (Regulo Mark 5 or 375-400° Fahr.).