Black Cake

Ingredients

• One pound of sugar
• one pound of flour
• one pound of butter
• two pounds of raisins
• two of Zante currants
• one of citron
• ten eggs
• two dozen pounded cloves
• besides mace and cinnamon
• a glass of rose-water
• A gill of molasses

Method

1. 1

   Stir the butter to a cream, beat the yolks light, mix with butter, add sugar, spice, lemon juice, grated peel, and beaten whites.

2. 2

   Sprinkle flour over the first and add it last.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The hearthstone; or, Life at home (1883) by Laura C. Holloway, page 342. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

the eggs thus, the bad ones may be easily rejected without spoiling the others, and so cause no waste. As eggs are used instead of yeast, they should be very thoroughly whisked ; they are generally sufficiently beaten when thick enough to carry the drop that falls from the whisk. Loaf-sugar should be well pounded, and then sifted through a fine sieve. Currants should be nicely washed, picked, dried in a cloth, and then examined, that no pieces of grit or stone may be left amongst them. They should then be laid on a dish before the fir^, to become COOKERY RECIPES. 529 thoroughly dry; as, if added damp to the other ingredients, cakes will be liable to be heavy. Good butter should always be used in the manufacture of cakes; and if beaten to a cream, it saves much time and labor to warm, but not melt it before baking. Less butter and eggs are required for cakes when yeast is mixed with the other ingredients. The heat of the oven is of great importance, especially for large cakes. If the heat be not tolerably fierce, the batter will not raise. If the oven is too quick, and there is any danger of the cake burning or catching, put a sheet of clean paper over the top. Newspaper, or paper that has been printed on, should never be used for this purpose. To know when a cake is sufficiently baked, plunge a clean knife into the middle of it ; draw it quickly out, and if it looks in the least sticky, put the cake back, and close the oven door until the cake is done. Cakes should be kept in closed tin canisters or jars,,and in a dry place. Those made with yeast do not keep so long as those made without it. Icing. — Whites of four eggs, one pound of powdered white sugar, lemon or other seasoning. Break the whites into a broad, clean, cool dish. Throw a small handful of sugar upon them, and begin whip- ping it in with long, even strokes of the beater. A few minutes later throw in more sugar, and keep adding it at intervals until it is all used up. Beat with a regular sweeping motion of the whisk, until the icing is of a smooth, fine and firm texture. Half an hour's beating should be sufficient, if done well. If not stiff enough, add more sugar. If the seasoning is lemon-juice, allow, in measuring the sugar, for the additional liquid. Lemon-juice, or a very little tartaric acid, whitens the icing. Use at least a quarter of a pound of sugar for each egg. Frosting made this way hardens in one-fourth the time re- quired under the former plan, and not more than half the time is required in the making of it. Pour the icing by the spoonful on the top of the cake, and near the centre of the surface to be covered. If 530 THE hearthstone; or, life at home. the loaf is of such a shape that the hquid will settle of itself to its place, it is best to do so. If it is spread, use a broad-bladed knife, dipped in cold water. It is best to dry it in the sun where there is no dust. Frosting for Cakes. — Allow for the white of one egg twelve heaping teaspoonfuls of white powdered sugar. Beat the whites of eggs to a stiff froth, then stir in the sugar gradually, and continue the stirring for ten or fifteen minutes. Season with lemon-juice. To frost a common-sized loaf of cake, allow the white of one egg and half of another, • Royal Icing for Cakes. — Have ready a pound of the best white sugar, which pound well and sift through a silk sieve; put it into a basin with the whites of three eggs; beat well together with a wooden spoon, adding the juice of half a lemon; keep beating well until it becomes very light and hangs in flakes from the spoon ; if it should be rather too stiff in mixing, add a little more white of egg; if, on the contrary, too soft, a little more sugar; it is then ready for use when required. To Color Icing Yellow. — Icing may be colored yellow by put- ting the grated peel of a lemon or orange in a thin muslin bag, straining a little juice through it, and squeezing it hard into the egg and sugar. Cranberry syrup and strawberry juice color a pretty pink. Mrs. Reynolds' Recipe for Icing. — Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth ; melt one pound and a-quarter of loaf-sugar, and, while boiling hot, pour it over the eggs, stirring it until the whole is thoroughly mixed. Then add a large spoonful of powdered starch, a spoonful of vinegar, and flavor it with oil of lemon. Handsome and delicious frosting can be made by using the yolks of eggs instead of the whites. Proceed exactly as for ordinary frost- ing. It will harden just as nicely as that does. This is particularly good for orange cake, barn^onizing with the color of the cake in a way to delight the soul of the aesthetic. Sponge Cake. — The weight of eggs in fine white sugar, half the COOKERY RECIPES. 531 weight of eggs in flour; beat whites and yolks separately, adding the sugar gradually to the yolks; now add your whites after they have been beaten, to a stiff froth. Last, your flour and flavoring beat in very quickly, and not a moment longer stirring than just to mix it. Thi.s is the secret of .sponge cake. A good, steady heat for baking — not too hot, as this spoils the lightness. Sponge Cake [excellent). — One pound of sugar, one pound of eggs, half a pound of sifted flour, juice of one lemon and the grated rind. The flour should be a full half-pound. Soda Sponge Cake. — One cup of sugar, one pound of flour, four eggs, one and one-half teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar, three-quarters of a teaspoonful of soda. Silver Cake. — One pound of sugar, three-quarters of a pound of butter; sixteen whites of eggs, well beaten, two pounds of flour, half a pint of milk. Cream the butter and sugar together, work in other materials in order named. Flavor with the juice and grated rind of an orange and a tablespoonful of orange-flower water. Composition Cake. — One and one-half pounds of flour, one pound of sugar, three-quarters of a pound of butter, one coffee-cup of milk, four eggs, three-quarters of a pound of currants, half a pound of raisins, a little spice and saleratus. Black Cake. — One pound each of sugar, flour and butter; two pounds of raisins, two of Zante currants, and one of citron ; ten ectrs two dozen pounded cloves, besides mace and cinnamon ; stir the butter to a cream, beat the yolks light, mix them with the butter, add the sugar, spice, juice of a lemon and the grated peel, a glass of rose- water, and the beaten whites of the eggs; sprinkle flour over the first, and put it in the last of all the ingredients. A gill of mola.sses

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.