A treat for you for the New Year 2011: A handsome cake recipe from the Village Magazine of 1891:
“Rub half a pound of butter into half a pound of flour; add one cup of molasses and one of brown sugar, two pounds of chopped raisons, one pound of currants, and a quarter of a pound of chopped citron, four eggs and half a tablespoonful each of cinnamon, mace and nutmeg, and two wineglassfuls of brandy; mix all together and bake in jelly cake tins; keep the cake warm while you make, and bake in jelly tins of the same size, white cake made of half a pound of butter beaten to a cream,with half a pound of powdered sugar and five eggs,the whites beaten to a froth ; then add half a pound of flour, which should be dried by the fire and then sifted. The only wetting used is a wineglass of wine.
While the white cake is hot spread it lightly with jelly and pile it alternately with the black, having the white on the bottom and the black on the top. This cake will keep several months, but if to be eaten within a short time it may be frosted. Long keeping will darken the icing.”
Well,I’ve never made on of these! Some of the measurements though clear have not been tested by me; what of the wineglass of wine: red or white? Please if anyone does have a go at making this Handsome Cake, please let us know that we can all share your experience.
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