The Ocklye cookery book

a light dough; cut it crossways on the top, cover the basin again, and leave it for an hour to rise. Then turn it out on to a floured board, divide it into four portions, shape each piece into a ball, and roll it out lightly into round cakes about three-quarters of an inch thick; place them on a floured baking tin, set them to rise for about ten minutes, and bake them in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. When cold, cut each cake into three slices, toast each slice and butter them well, lay one on the top of the other, cut them into quarters, and serve hot in a muffin dish; or they may be cut and buttered when fresh out of the oven. If no yeast is at hand, a little baking powder may be used instead, but yeast is to be preferred. WEDDING CAKE Ingredients Two pounds of butter. One pound of almonds. Two pounds and a half of One pound and a half of castor flour. sugar. Two pounds and a half of Half a pint of brandy. currants. Half an ounce of mixed spice. One pound and a half of raisins. Sixteen eggs. One pound and a half of candied Six oranges. peel. Four lemons. One pound and a half of dried Four nutmegs. cherries. One teaspoonful of baking powder. One pound and a half of sultanas. Stone the raisins and put them through a mincing machine; blanch the almonds and cut them into fine strips; chop the peel very fine; clean the sultanas and currants; cut the cherries into small pieces, and mix all the fruit together, except the raisins; grate the rinds of the lemons and oranges; grate the nutmegs, and add to the mixed spice; whisk the eggs well in a basin. Cream the butter and sugar together in a basin with the hand, until it is quite white; add the grated lemon and orange peel, spice and nutmegs, and beat them in well; then add the flour and eggs gradually, beating well all the time; add the minced raisins, and work them in well; then the mixed fruit, brandy, and lastly the baking powder; put the mixture into greased tins, lined with four or five thicknesses of greased paper, and bake in a fairly hot oven at first, but cooler afterwards, for six hours. When baking a cake this size, it is a good plan to stand it in the oven on a deep baking sheet, thickly covered with dry sand, to prevent its burning. Salad oil is a good thing to grease the tin and paper with. It takes nearly three quarters of an hour to mix this cake properly. This quantity is sufficient for a three-tier cake. ROYAL ICING Ingredients Two and a half pounds of icing One dessertspoonful of orange sugar. flower water. The whites of seven or eight Lemon juice, eggs. Sift the sugar through a fine hair sieve into a basin. Whisk the whites of eggs to a stiff froth; make a well in the sugar, put the whites into it with a wooden spoon; add a few drops of lemon juice and the orange flower water; beat the icing well until it is quite white. If it is too stiff add a little extra lemon juice; if too thin put in a little more icing sugar. It will take twenty minutes to mix. ALMOND ICINQ Ingredients Two pounds and a half of ground The whites of eight eggs. almonds. One teaspoonful of orange flower Three pounds and three-quarters water.* of icing sugar. One teaspoonful of vanilla. Pass the sugar through a hair sieve, add the ground almonds, flavourings, and whites of eggs; work it into a stiff, dry paste, and use. ATHOL BROSE (a Highland drink) Ingredients Two parts of honey. Six parts of cream. One part of whislty. Mix the honey and whisky together in a bowl, add the cream, stir it, and ladle it into wine glasses. It makes a very good sweet, served in custard glasses, with a spoonful of whipped cream on the top. BARLEY WATER Ingredients Two ounces of pearl barley. Sugar, The peel of one lemon. Three pints of boiling water.