The household (of the Detroit free press)

Directions for Making : Dry, sift, and then weigh flour. Wash currants till free from grit ; lift them from the water, do not pour it off ; dry carefully in the oven. Seed raisins, pour on just water enough to cover them, boil till dry — don't scorch them ; cool. Take a handful of the weighed flour, dredge them ; ditto currants. Cream the butter and sugar ; add yolks of eggs, then spices. Beat whites of eggs to a foam ; add part of flour, then part of whites, etc., till all in. Now wine and brandy ; mix thoroughly ; add fruit and cake in layers. Best baked in one large eight-quart pan, lined with buttered paper cut to fit. Bake four hours. Have a steady fire ; just let it heat through the first hour ; then stir the fire a little, cover the cake with paper and bake steadily two hours ; the last hour bake very slowly. Have everything ready to mix the day before. Cut with a very sharp knife. Best a week or two old. ENGLISH FARM CAKE, Two pounds of butter, softened throughout, but not melted ; add two pounds of nice white soft sugar, and mix together until creamed ; take out one-half and reserve it in a separate bowl until wanted. To the rest add one quart of pretty warm, sweet milk ; stir in gradually four pounds of flour, then mix in very thoroughly a teacupful of lively, homemade yeast. Let it stand in a warm place until very light, which will take about four hours ; then add the remainder of the butter and sugar and a little more flour if needed ; add two pounds of raisins, nicely stoned, a little pulverized mace, and, if at hand, some candied lemon peel ; let it rise again, and when well risen mix it well, using the hands, and proportion it off into well-buttered pans ; let them stand in a moderately warm place until beginning to rise ; put them into a steady oven and bake them fully an hour or longer if only one or two pans are used ; there are no eggs used in this cake, none are needed. It is an excellent cake for economical housekeepers to make in winter, when eggs are scarce and high-priced. If the top and sides are frosted it will keep moist for a long time. Brown paper is nice to wrap cake in before putting it into the cake-box. NATIONAL CAKE. White part : cream together one cup white sugar and one-half cup butter, then add one-half cup sweet milk, the beaten whites of four eggs, one-half cup corn starch, one cup flour into which has been mixed one teaspoonful cream tartar and one-half teaspoonful soda. Flavor with lemon extract. Blue part: cream together one cup blue sugar-sand and one-half cup butter; then add one-half cup sweet, milk, the beaten whites of four eggs, and two cups flour, in which mix one teaspoonful cream tartar and one-half teaspoonful soda. No flavor. Red part : cream together one cup red sugar and half cup butter ; then add one-half cup sweet milk, the beaten whites of four eggs and two cups flour, in which mix one teaspoonful of cream tartar and onehalf teaspoonful soda. No flavor. Place in a cake pan, first the red, COOKIES, SNAPS AND JUMBLES. 429 then the white, and last the blue. Bake in a moderate oven. A nice cake for pic-nic or party. MARBLE CAKE.