Wheatmeal Plum Cake

Ingredients

• One pound of wheatmeal
• ten ounces of pounded sugar
• one pound of butter
• one pound of stoned and chopped raisins
• two ounces of sweet almonds blanched and chopped
• a quarter of a pound of candied lemon-peel
• eight eggs

Method

1. 1

   Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, two at a time, whisking all the time to prevent them curdling.

2. 2

   When quite smooth and light, scatter the flour in a little at a time, and continue beating until it is all mixed in; then add the raisins, almonds, and peel.

3. 3

   Line a cake-tin with buttered paper, pour in the mixture, and bake in a hot oven.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Soups, savouries, sweets, with a chapter on breads (1889) by Practical housewife, page 41. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

One pound of wheatmeal, three ounces of butter, one ounce of powdered sugar, a pinch * He eateth butter a Fridayes without a dispensation of our holy father the Pope^ yea^ and cakebread made wyth milke and egges to. ' — Tyndall. 185 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * And from the ark at last did take Meal forth for porridge and for cake.* Wm. Morris. of salt, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, a little cold milk. Mix the baking-powder thoroughly with the meal, and add the sugar and salt ; rub the butter in the meal, and add enough milk to make the paste soft, but firm enough to roll out. Put the paste on a slab or board on which some flour has been scattered, roll it out to one-third of an inch thick, prick it all over, and then cut it into biscuits the size of a wineglass-top. Bake in a moderate oven twenty minutes, or until a light-brown colour. These biscuits will keep several months if kept in tin boxes with paper pasted round the lids. * And these our ships .... Are stored with com, to make your needy bread. And give them life who are hunger-starvedy half -dead,* * Pericles.* 1 86 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * And therfore is I come, and eke Alein To grind our com, and cary it home agein. * Chaucer. Mafet Biscuits. One ounce of butter, two ounces of fine white flour, a pinch of salt, and lukewarm milk and water. Rub the butter into the flour and salt, and mix into a firm paste with milk and water. Turn it out on to a board, roll it a few times, fold it over three times, and beat it well with the rolling-pin with each fold. Let it remain covered over with a basin for half an hour to lighten ; then roll it out on a floured slab as thin as the blade of a knife. Prick it all over, cut it out into large biscuits, and place them on warm baking-sheets slightly floured. A moderately heated oven will bake the * In this march a pair of shoes wets sold for thirty shillings, and a bisket cake for ten shillings ; so great was aur want both of cloathing and victuals ' — SiR Francis Drake. 187 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * Some cry covenant instead Of pudding, pies and gingerbread,'* Anon. biscuits in ten minutes. When done they .should be a pale pinky-brown colour. They should be eaten quite new. If kept a few days they can be crisped up again by putting them in a cool oven for a few minutes. Xancasbfte Jumbles^ Half a pound of butter, five ounces of sifted sugar, three-quarters of a pound of fine flour, an eggspoonful of pounded and sifted cinna- mon and mace, the grated rind of half a lemon, two eggs. Beat the butter to a cream with four ounces of the sugar. Add the eggs separately, then the flour, spices and lemon- peel, beating all the time, and for ten minutes after all the ingredients have been added. * Pray you do me the favour To put these few quince cakes in your pocket,^ Massinger. 1 88 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * Do you look for cakes and ale here T * Henry VIII.' Put away In a cool place for two hours to become firm. Sprinkle the remaining ounce of sugar on a pasteboard or slab, roll the paste to the sixth of an inch thick, cut it into any fanciful shapes liked, and bake in a moderate oven until a light-brown colour. Envelope Cahes^ The weight of four eggs in butter, sugar, and flour ; two ounces of sultana raisins, one ounce of dried cherries, grated rind of half a lemon, half a pint of cream. Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar, flour, lemon-peel, and yolks of eggs. Beat together for ten minutes. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff" froth, also the cream — * Marlow. When I travel I always choose to regulate my own supper. Let the cook be called. No offence I hope^ sir ?* — * She Stoops to Conquer.' 189 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * Which is as dry as the remainder biscuit After a voyage.* * As You Like It.' separately. Mix them with the other ingredi- ents. Bake the mixture in half-envelopes (old used ones will do) made to stand like boats by having the bottom corners pinched down. These must be buttered with clari- fied butter put on with a brush and orna- mented at the bottom with the cherries, chopped ; fill only half full, and bake for half an hour in a warm oven. When done, let them cool for a few minutes in the cases, then take these off, and keep the cakes in a dry place. f)elen JSfBcufts. Half a pound of butter, three eggs, six ounces of sifted sugar, six ounces of currants, two ounces of candied peel, three-quarters of ■ Never mind I what must be, must ; Men must eat both crumb and crust.* * Pen and Pencil Club.' 190 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * Where on earth shall I look for a meal? For 1 haver^t no dinner to-day /* * Bab Ballads.* a pound of dry flour, the grated rind of half a lemon, or a few drops of essence of lemon, or of almonds. Beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar, the eggs well beaten, the flour, and then the rest of the ingredients. Mix thoroughly, and beat all together for five or six minutes. Drop the mixture from between two teaspoons on floured baking-sheets, and put into a hot oven. Bake until a pinky- brown colour. Before turning them on a sieve to cool, break one in two to see if properly cooked through. If not, return them to the oven for a short time, leaving the door ajar. These biscuits will keep some weeks if in an air-tight canister. * The weary king was thankful^ the poor matCs loaf he took; He by him sate, and, while he ate, his tears fell in the brook,^ Lockhart's * Spanish Ballads.' 191 BREAD AND BISCUITS. * And Beauty won the wavering heatt. By dint of pickle, and of tart. ^ Praed. Mbeatmeal iplum:*(rafte* One pound of wheatmeal, ten ounces of pounded sugar, one pound of butter, one pound of stoned and chopped raisins, two ounces of sweet almonds blanched and chopped, a quarter of a pound of candied lemon-peel and eight eggs

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