The housekeeper's companion

Rich Bride Cake. — Take four pounds of sifted flour, four pounds of sweet fresh butter beaten to a cream, and two pounds of white powdered sugar; take six eggs for each pound of flour, an ounce of ground mace or nutmegs, and a tablespoonful of lemon extract or orange flower water. Wash through several waters and pick clean from grit, four pounds of currants, and spread them on a folded cloth to dry; stone, and cut in two, four pounds of raisins, cut two pounds of citrons in slips, and chop or slice one pound of blanched almonds. Beat the yolks of the eggs with the sugar to a smooth paste; beat the butter and flour together and add them to the yolks and sugar; then add the spice and half a pint of brandy, and the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth; stir all together for some time, strew half a pound of flour over the fruit; mix it through, then by degrees stir it into the cake. Butter large tin basins, line them with white paper and put in the mixture two inches deep, and bake in a moderate oven two hours. The fruit should be prepared the day before making the cake. To Make Icing for Cakes. — Beat the white of two small eggs to a high froth; then add to them quarter of a pound of white sugar ground fine like flour; flavor with lemon extract or vanilla; beat it until it is light and very white, but not quite so stiff as kiss mixture; the longer it is beaten the more firm it will become. No more sugar must be added to make it so. Beat the frosting until it may be spread smoothly on the cake. This quantity will ice quite a large cake over the top and sides. To Ice or Frost Cake. — Make an icing as above directed, more or less, as may be required. Turn over the basin in which the cake was baked, and set the cake on the bottom, then spread the icing on the sides with a piece of card paper or Bristol board, about four inches long and two and a half wide, then heap what you suppose to be sufficient for the top in the centre of the cake, and with the card paper spread it evenly over, set it in a warm place to dry and harden, after which ornament it as you may fancy. If sugar ornaments are put on, it should be done whilst it is moist or soft. For small cakes, where a thin icing only is required, it must not be beaten as stiff. Let it be so as to flow for the last coating of a cake that it may be smooth. Almond Cake. — One-half cupful of butter, two of sugar, two and a half of flour, three-quarters of a cupful of sweet milk, one-half a teaspoonful of soda, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, whites of eight eggs beaten to a stiff froth, one pound of soft-shelled almonds blanched by steeping in boiling water till the skins are loose enough to remove, and then sliced or rolled, adding, while crushing them, the juice of an orange; flavor with essence of bitter almond. Bake in a pan two inches deep. Cookies. — Two cupfuls of white sugar, one cupful of butter, three eggs, two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar in the flour, one teaspoonful of soda, one tablespoonful of sweet milk; to the whole add flour enough to make it a soft mixture; add nutmeg. Soft Cookies. — Take one cupful of butter and two of sugar; rub them to a cream; mix with them three well beaten eggs, one teacupful of milk or cream, six cupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of saleratus, and a little nutmeg.