Elecampane, or Candy Cake

Ingredients

• a pound of clarified loaf sugar

Method

1. 1

   Boil clarified sugar to candy height, rub it until it begins to grain, then throw it out on a warm slab and divide into squares.

Nutrition per serving

As published

This recipe was extracted from The confectioner's and pastry-cook's guide, or, Confectionery made easy ... (1890) by George Read, page 39. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a pound of clarified loaf sugar boiled to a candy height; stir the whole till evaporated to a good consistence. Run it into the flat tins, with an edge about a quarter of an inch deep; place them in a warm place, or in a stove to dry., when sufficiently hard, cut it into small diamonds. PARADISE TWIST. Boil a pound of loaf sugar mixed with a little water over a clear fire; put in a little gum- water to clear it, take off the scum, and, and just before it is boiled enough, put a table-spoonful of vinegar into the pan; boil it suffi- ciently as directed for Barley-sugar; pour it on a slightly oiled marble slab, take up one part of it, and lay it over the other; pull it, cut it into the lengths of twist; roll them, and streak them with red or any other colour. Paradise twist, as well as common twist, is coloured with vermillion, by dissolving some of the colour in gum-water, white of egg, or isinglass; or by using MADE EASY. 77 the colour in powder, and mixing it in part of the sugar when boiled; when the sugar you have poured on the marble slab, is cool, colour it all over with this mixture, fold it over, cut into lengths, and twist them. This practice, is, however, not very ornamental, and is so unwholesome, that it ought not to be used. COMMON TWIST. Boil two pounds of moist sugar over a clear fire, in a preserving pan, with half a pint of water; it should boil to the crackled degree, (see Sugar Boiling); then pour it on the slab, drop a few drops of the oil of pep- permint upon it; fold it over, pull it, cut it into lengths, and make it up as directed for Paradise Twist. TO PULL TWIST, BULLS* EYES, &C. Fix a staple in the wall, and rub a little butter over it; put your sugar on the staple, and pull it towards you; continue doing so till it is perfectly white. BEST BULLS* EYES. Boil a quart of clarified sugar in a pan over a clear fire, till of the degree of crackled, (see Sugar Boiling) try it as directed for Barley sugar ; when nearly boiled enough, put in half a tablespoonful of lemon-juice; let it boil again, try it as before, and when it will snap, it is done. Pour it out upon a slightly oiled marble slab, and put twelve or fourteen drops of either essence of lemon or oil of peppermint on your sugar, take the sides of your sugar as it cools, and fold them into the mid- dle. When cool, cut them the size and shape you want. The more expedition you use in cutting them the bet- ter, as the sugar will soon get hard and brittle. Some use an iron stamp to cut them to the size and form they want them. You may colour the whole, or part of it with hay saffron, cochineal, orchil, or rose pink, dissolved in spi- rits of wine. 78 CONFECTIONARY COMMON BULLS EYES Are made the same as common twist, except that it is pulled on the staple; and must be cut and coloured in the same manner as the best bulls eyes. COLOURED ROCK SUGAR. Boil a pint of clarified sugar in a copper or earthen- ware pan, over a clear fire, to the degree of crackled, (see Sugar Boiling;) use no acid in the boiling of this; remove it from the fire, and well mix into it a table- spoonful of iceing, by stirring it in briskly with your skimmer. As soon as the sugar and iceing is well mixed and rises up like froth, put it into a papered sieve, or into an oiled tin or mould, and when quite cold, break it in pieces. If you have not any iceing ready made, mix some sifted loaf sugar with the white of an egg, until it is quite thick, put in a tablespoon- ful, and it will answer the purpose of iceing. If you want it coloured, mix in with the iceing any of the colourings hereafter described, (see Colourings for Con- fectionary) before you put it to the sugar. SNOWY ROCK, OR SNOAV. Clarify a pound of loaf sugar, and boil it to the degree of crackled; (see Sugar Boiling,) add a table- spoonful of vinegar. You may mix in a few drops of either essence of lemon, or of the oil of peppermint. When well mixed, pour it out upon a slightly oiled marble slab; and while cooling, put it on the staple and pull it until it is quite white, when you may twist, roll, mould, or make it up into any shape you please. PEPPERMINT CAKE. Boil two pounds of raw sugar in about a teacupful of water, over a slow fire, until you perceive it begins to candy round the sides of the pan, or has reached the degree of blown, (see Sugar Boiling;) then take it off, MADE EASY. 79 and drop eighteen drops of the oil of peppermint into it ; mix it all well together, and then pour it into small tin hoops, round, square, or any shape you like. Or, you may make it up as follows. Butter a clean sheet of writing paper well over, and lay it at the bottom of a square tin; pour the mixture into the paper, and lay it on your stove; it will become beautifully dappled all over, then take it off, and cut it to any shape you please. HOREHOUND CAKE. Make a pint of horehound tea, by pouring a pint of • boiling water upon a bunch of horehound in a basin, when 'the tea is cold, pour it in upon two pounds of crushed loaf sugar in a preserving pan; put it over a clear fire, and let it boil till of the degree of blown, (see Sugar Boiling,) take it off the fire, and mix it all well together, stirring it with a wooden spoon, till the sugar gets thick, and begins to set; then pour it out about a quarter of an inch thick, upon a slightly oiled mar- ble slab. You may make them of a heart shape, by stamping them out with a cutter, as it sets; 01 mai k the cake in small squares; so that you can break it down the marks; or may leave the cake plain, and break it in pieces when cold. Keep it in jars or canis- ters from the air. ROSE CAKE. Proceed as for Peppermint Cake; leave out the oil of peppermint, and add otto or oil of roses. Colour with prepared cochineal. Clarified loaf sugar may be used instead of raw sugar. ELECAMPANE, OR CANDY CAKE

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