Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Beat the butter to a cream. Beat the sugar into it ; add the brandy and nutmeg, and beat a little longer. Add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten. Dissolve the soda in the milk, and add this to the beaten ingredients. Now add the flour. Stir in the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Spread the batter in thin layers in two large cake-pans, and sprinkle raisins on each layer. Continue this until all the materials are used. Bake for two hours in a moderate oven. This cake keeps well. Raised Loaf Cake. For three loaves use two quarts of flour, two cupfuls of butter, two cupfuls and a half of sugar, one cupful of milk, one teacupful of yeast, or two- thirds of a yeast cake dissolved in half a cupful of water, three eggs, one gill of wine, one nutmeg grated, one pound of stoned raisins, and one teaspoonful of salt. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Heat the milk to the temperature of about 100°. Pour it into a large bowl, and add the yeast. Gradually beat into this liquid a quart and half a pint of flour. Work half of the creamed sugar and butter into this dough. Cover, and let it rise over night. In the morning add all the other ingredients, except the raisins, having the eggs well beaten. It will be necessary to use the hands to work the ingredients together. Cover, and raise it once more. When it has risen to a sponge, add the raisins, and pour the batter into three buttered pans. Let it rise in the pans for one hour. Bake for an hour and a half. Fig Loaf Cake. Use two cupfuls of dark brown sugar, one of butter, one of water, three and one-fourth of flour, four eggs, one teaspoonful each of cinnamon and nutmeg, half a teaspoonful of ground clove, two teaspoonfuls of bakingpowder, half a pound of figs, cut in thin slices, and two cupfuls of raisins. Beat the butter to a cream, and beat the sugar into it. Add the spice and the eggs, well beaten. Now add the water, and finally three cupfuls of the flour, with which the baking-powder should be mixed. Dredge the fruit with the quarter of a cupful of flour. Bake in two loaves in a moderate oven for two hours. Bread Cake. For .three loaves use two generous cupfuls of yeastbread dough, two generous cupfuls of flour, two cupfuls of sugar, one of butter, four eggs, two table-spoonfuls of milk, one teaspoonful of soda, one of cinnamon, one of grated nutmeg, half a pound of currants, and half a pound of chopped raisins. Beat the butter and sugar together ; then add the yolks of the eggs, well beaten, and the spice. Now add the dough, cut into bits, and work well together. Next add the milk ; also the soda, dissolved in three tablespoonfuls of water. Work very thoroughly ; and when all the ingredients are blended, add the flour. Continue the mixing, gradually working in the fruit. Finally add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Put the batter into three well-buttered pans, and let it rise for one hour. Bake for an hour in a moderate oven. Twelfth-Night Cake. There has been a tendency in late years to revive old customs and amusements, and among the ancient divertisements that have come into favor is the cutting of the Twelfth-Night cake on January 6, — the twelfth day after Christmas, and sometimes called " Little Christmas." A