She explained to Marta, if ever she tried to do them alone, to remember there must be always enough syrup to cover the peels at first, made in the proportion of a pound of sugar to a pint of water.
Of course, although the process was a long one, the only attention required was to prevent the peels burning toward the last.
Molly knew she would be in the kitchen a good deal this week, for she did not expect Marta to be able to do much alone. The day on which she candied lemon-peels she planned to make iced cream coffee, a cake, and show Marta about the dinner.
Mrs. Winfield’s freezer was very small, the cylinder holding only a quart. Molly had not tried it hitherto, but home-made ices were so economical that she was anxious to become familiar with it. After breakfast a cup of black coffee was made by pouring half a pint of water through two table-spoonfuls of finely-ground coffee, in the same way as their usual breakfast coffee was made, only of double strength. To this was added a gill of thick cream and half a pint of boiled milk, and four table-spoonfuls of sugar. This was poured into the cylinder and frozen. Molly had ordered half a pint of cream to be kept for her the day before, so that she would be sure of having it from twenty-four to thirty-six hours old, and the other gill was left in the ice till it was thoroughly chilled. Buying cream in such small quantity she could not afford to have the usual milky residuum, and knew the only way to whip it solid without one tea-spoonful of waste, was to have it at least twenty-four hours old, and thoroughly chilled, then to beat it steadily, without taking the beater out till it was as solid as the white of egg. This usually happens in ten minutes with a pint of cream, but if the kitchen is warm and it does not “come” in that time, it is often an economy of time to set it in the ice, just as it is, to get chilled again; there is no occasion to remove the froth as it rises,—the whip will be finer and firmer without.
Marta made the Madeleine cake, while Molly stood by, recipe in hand.
“This cake, Marta, has no milk, and therefore requires no baking-powder; neither queen cake, sponge cake, pound cake, in fact none of the finer cakes have milk, and they are raised entirely with eggs. But several very good imitations of these cakes are made with baking-powder; the saving is not great, and a cake made without chemicals keeps fresh much longer.
“Madeleine Cake.—For Madeleine cake you must weigh four ounces of butter, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of flour twice sifted; then grate the rind of half a lemon into the sugar, separate the yolks from the whites of three large or four small eggs, put two table-spoonfuls of wine in this cup, and, before you begin to make the cake, butter a small cake-pan. Now beat the whites of the eggs till you can turn the bowl without their slipping, cream the butter well, then beat the yolks of eggs into it, then add the sugar and wine; beat well again, and then add flour and whites of eggs alternately, and when all is well mixed, pour it into the pan, and bake it in a rather slow oven for an hour.
“I am having only half the recipe made, so the cake is not very large; but we are such small cake-eaters that we get tired of a large one. Another time, if you make this cake, you may put rose-water or peach-water instead of the wine, and chopped candied lemon-peel instead of the grated peel. You see the batter is much thicker than for the cup cake you made, but if at any time you use flour that absorbs more moisture, you must add another egg; this is, as it should be, as thick as pound-cake batter,—which means, as thick as can be stirred. It is more a paste than a batter. Will you remember that, when you have a recipe which says ‘thick as pound-cake batter’? Any cake with baking-powder made as thick as this would be spoiled. It would be tough, with great holes here and there, so you must be very careful not to confuse the two rules,—moderately thick batter for plain cakes, with milk and baking-powder; very thick batter for the richer ones, made without. Yet, of course, they must be stirred with a spoon; if too stiff for that, your flour is very absorbent, and you need another egg. Remember there is never any harm in adding an egg; it will never spoil your cake as too much milk would do.
“All cakes without baking-powder or its equivalents, soda and cream of tartar, require a much slower oven than those with them. A slow oven ruins a plain cake, a quick one spoils a rich cake, and you must be especially careful to turn it very gently, and, in taking this or any cake with much butter in it from the oven, to put it on the table very gently. I have known a cake to come from the oven perfect, yet, from being dropped hastily on the table, to collapse with a puff of steam issuing from it. The same thing may happen from taking it from the pan while quite hot, or from its not being quite cooked through; cakes require to ‘soak’ a few minutes even after a broom straw comes out clean. Lack of knowledge on these small points is one of the reasons why many people who make excellent plain cakes—by which I mean all the variety of cakes with baking-powder and little butter—do not succeed with richer ones, and why so many look upon pound cake as so very difficult, while it is really as easy as any other.”
Marta had twice succeeded admirably with the cup cake, which her unfortunate bang of the oven door had spoiled the first time.