The home cook book

One cup of butter, two cups of sugar, four eggs, two tablespoons of molasses, one cup of boiled coffee, three and a half cups of pastry flour, five level teaspoons of baking powder, one teaspoon of powdered cinnamon, half a teaspoon of powdered cloves, half a teaspoon of powdered mace, three-quarters of a cup of seeded and chopped raisins, half a cup of shredded figs and citron, two tablespoons of brandy. Mix all together in the order given. Bake in a loaf pan. When cool, ice with any preferred frosting. Place candles in paste roses about and edge with flowers. The candles correspond or harmonize with the icing and flowers. [See illustration, Plate XXV.] BRIDE'S CAKE "^ Cream a pound of sugar with half a pound of butter. Beat to a stiff froth the whites of sixteen eggs. To the creamed butter and sugar add the whites and a pound of flour, beating strongly all one way and putting in the flour and white froth little by little. Butter white paper, lay it in the cake tin, and bake the cake in a quick oven, having care not to jar the stove or oven during the baking. [illustration: Plate XXV.] CALIFORNIA CAKE Stir together two cups of sugar and one of butter till you have a cream. Take the yolks of six eggs, beat them light, and add to the creamed butter and sugar. Stir in also half a teaspoon of cinnamon and the same quantity of nutmeg. Then dissolve a teaspoon of soda in a cup of cold water and add that. Next beat the whites of the six eggs to a stiff froth and lightly fold in, using first the whites and then some of the flour from the four cups you have measured out and thoroughly sifted together with two teaspoons of cream of tartar. When the whites and flour are all in, add a pound of raisins, which you have seeded, chopped, and dredged with flour, and a cup of walnut or hickory-nut kernels, which you have also dredged. Stir all together and bake in two or three loaves in a moderate oven. CHOCOLATE CAKE Dissolve two ounces of chocolate in five tablespoons of boiling water. Blend four eggs with half a cup of butter and a cup and a half of sugar. Add half a cup of milk, the dissolved chocolate, one and three-quarters of a cup of flour, one heaping teaspoon of baking powder, and a teaspoon of vanilla. Bake in a moderate oven. CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE Blend half a cup of butter with one cup of sugar. Add one whole egg and the white of another, one cup of milk, two and a half cups of flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, and one teaspoon of vanilla. For the other part of the cake boil together in a double-boiler one cup of grated chocolate, half a cup of milk, one cup of sugar, and the yolk of the egg of which you have just used the white. When this chocolate mixture boils, stir it into the white dough and bake in loaf form. COFFEE CAKE Mix one cup of sugar and one scant cup of butter. Add one cup of molasses, one cup of cold coffee, one tablespoon each of cloves and cinnamon, one teaspoon of soda, four cups and a half of flour, into which two teaspoons of baking powder have been sifted, and one cup of raisins and one cup of currants lightly dredged with flour. CONFECTION CAKE