CAKES AND BISCUITS
CAKES AND BISCUITS.
Cakes need a hot oven for the first half-hour.
If possible, they should not be moved from one shelf to another, but the
oven should be cooled gradually by opening the ventilators or lowering the
gas. A moderate oven is needed to finish the cooking.
All fruit cakes (unless weighing less than 1 lb.) need to be baked from
1-1/2 to 2 hours. The larger the cake the slower should be the baking.
The cake tins should be lined with greased paper.
If a gas oven is used, stand the cake tin on a sand tin (see Cold Water
Bread).
If the cake becomes sufficiently brown on top before it is cooked through,
cover with a greased paper to prevent burning.
To test if done, dip a clean knife into hot water. Thrust it gently down
the centre of cake. If done, the knife will come out clean and bright.
1. CAKE MIXTURE.
1/4 lb. butter, 1/4 lb. castor sugar, 6 ozs. flour, 2 eggs.
Half butter and half nutter gives just as good results and is more
economical.
Beat together the butter and sugar to a cream. Whisk the eggs to a stiff
froth and add. Stir in the flour gently. Mix well. Add a little milk if
mixture is too stiff. This makes a Madeira Cake.
For other varieties, mix with the flour 1 dessertspoon caraway seeds for
Seed Cake; 2 tablespoons desiccated cocoanut for Cocoanut Cake; 6 ozs.
candied cherries chopped in halves for Cherry Cake; 6 ozs. sultanas and
the grated rind of 1 lemon for Sultana Cake; the grated yellow part of 2
lemon rinds for Lemon Cake.
2. SMALL CAKES.
Take 2 small eggs and half quantities of the ingredients given for the
cake mixture. Add the grated rind of half a lemon for flavouring. Grease a
tin for small cakes with 9 depressions. Put a spoonful of the mixture in
each depression. Bake for 20 minutes in a hot oven.
3. COCOANUT BISCUITS.
1/2 lb. desiccated cocoanut, 1/4 lb. sugar, 2 small eggs.
Proceed as for Macaroons, but make the cakes smaller. Bake in a moderate
oven for half an hour.
4. “CORN WINE AND OIL” CAKES.
1 lb. wholemeal flour, 3/4 lb. raisins, 4 tablespoons walnut oil, 1/4 pint
water.
This recipe was especially concocted for non-users of milk and eggs. Stir
the oil well into the flour. Add the washed and stoned raisins (or
seedless raisins, or sultanas). Mix to a dough with the water. Divide
dough into two portions. Roll out, form into rounds, and cut each round
into 6 small scones. Bake in a hot oven for half an hour.
5. CURRANT SANDWICH.
8 ozs. butter, 1 lb. flour, 1/4 lb. cane sugar, currants.
Mix flour and sugar, and rub in the butter. Mix with water to plastic
dough. Divide dough into two cakes, 1 inch in thickness. Cover one evenly
with currants, lay the other on top, and roll out to the thickness of
one-third of an inch. Cut into sections, and bake in a hot oven for about
30 minutes.
6. APPLE SANDWICH.
Make a short crust (see recipe). Well grease some shallow jam sandwich
tins. Roll out the paste very thin and line with it the tins. Peel, core,
and finely chop some good, juicy apples. Spread well all over the paste.
Sprinkle with castor sugar and grated lemon rind. Cover with another layer
of thin paste. Bake for about 20 minutes in a hot oven. When done, take
carefully out of the tin to cool. Cut into wedges, sprinkle with castor
sugar, and pile on a plate.
7. FANCY BISCUITS.
8 ozs. flour, 4 ozs. butter, or 3 ozs. butter and 1 egg, 4 ozs. cane
sugar, flavouring.
Flavouring may consist of lemon rind, desiccated cocoanut, cooked
currants, carraway seed, mace, ginger, etc. Beat the butter and sugar to a
cream, add flavouring and flour. Mix with the beaten egg, if used; it not,
treat like the Lemon Short Cake. Roll out, cut into shapes, and bake about
10 minutes.
8. GINGER NUTS.
1/2 lb. nutter, 1/2 lb. sugar, 1 pint molasses or golden syrup, 1/2 oz.
ground cloves and all-spice mixed, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, flour to form
dough.
Beat the nutter and sugar together; add the molasses, spice, etc., and
just enough flour to form a plastic dough. Knead well, roll out, cut into
small biscuits, and bake on oiled or floured tins in a very moderate oven.
9. JAM SANDWICH.
Mix ingredients and prepare 2 jam sandwich tins as for Sponge Cake (see
recipe). Pour mixture in tins and bake for about 10 minutes in a hot oven.
Take out, spread one round with warmed jam, place the other on top, and
cut when cold.
10. LEMON SHORT CAKE.
1 lb. flour, 7 ozs. nutter, 1/4 lb. sugar, rind of 1 lemon.
Mix together nutter and sugar, add grated lemon rind, work in flour, and
knead well. Press into sheets about 1/2 in. thick. Prick all over. Bake in
a moderate oven for about 20 minutes.
An easy way of baking for the inexpert cook who may find it difficult to
avoid breaking the sheets, is to well grease a shallow jam-sandwich tin,
sprinkle it well with castor sugar, as for sponge cakes, and press the
short cake into it, well smoothing the top with a knife, and, lastly,
pricking it.
II. MACAROONS. 5 ozs. sweet almonds, 5 ozs. castor sugar, 2 eggs.
Blanch the almonds and flake them in a nut mill. Whisk the eggs to a stiff
froth adding the sugar a teaspoonful at a time. Add the almonds, and stir
lightly. Drop the mixture, a dessertspoon at a time, on to well-oiled
paper, or, better still, rice-paper. Shape with a knife into small cakes
and put the half of a blanched almond into the centre of each. Bake in a
moderate oven.
12. SPONGE CAKE.
Take the weight of two eggs in castor sugar and flour.
For a richer cake take the weight of two eggs in sugar and the weight of
one only in flour.
Well grease the cake-tin, and sprinkle with castor sugar until thoroughly
covered, and shake out any that remains loose.
Well whisk the eggs with a coiled wire beater. They must be quite stiff
when done. Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, while whisking. Or
separate the yolks and whites, beating the yolks and sugar together and
whisking the whites on a plate with a knife before adding