For all large and very rich cakes the usual directions are, to beat the butter to a cream; but we find that they are quite as light when it is cut small and gently melted with just so much heat as will dissolve it, and no more. If it be shaken round in a saucepan previously warmed, and held near the fire for a short time, it will soon be liquefied, which is all that is required: it must on no account be hot when it is added to the other ingredients, to which it must be poured in small portions after they are all mixed, in the way which we have minutely described in the receipt for a Madeira cake, and that of the Sutherland puddings (Chapter [XXI.]) To cream it, drain the water well from it after it is cut, soften it a little before the fire should it be very hard, and then with the back of a large strong wooden spoon beat it until it resembles thick cream. When prepared thus, the sugar is added to it first, and then the other ingredients in succession. For plum-cakes it is better creamed than liquefied, as the fruit requires a paste of some consistence to prevent its sinking to the bottom of the mould in which it is baked. For plain seed-cakes the more simple plan answers perfectly.
TO WHISK EGGS FOR LIGHT RICH CAKES.
Break them one by one, and separate the yolks from the whites: this is done easily by pouring the yolk from one half of the shell to the other, and letting the white drop from it into a basin beneath. With a small three-pronged fork take out the specks from each egg as it is broken, that none may accidentally escape notice. Whisk the yolks until they appear light, and the whites until they are a quite solid froth; while any liquid remains at the bottom of the bowl they are not sufficiently beaten: when a portion of them, taken up with the whisk, and dropped from it, remains standing in points, they are in the proper state for use, and should be mixed with the cake directly.
SUGAR GLAZINGS AND ICINGS.
(For Fine Pastry and Cakes.)
The clear glaze which resembles barley sugar, and which requires to be as carefully guarded from damp, is given by just dipping the surface of the pastry into liquid caramel (see Chapter [XXVII].); or by sifting sugar thickly over it directly it is drawn from the oven, and melting it down with a salamander, or red-hot shovel held closely over it; or by setting it again into an oven sufficiently heated to dissolve the sugar: though this latter method is not so well, as there is danger from it of the paste being scorched. To make a fine white or coloured icing, whisk, as directed above, the whites of four fresh eggs to a perfectly solid froth, then, with a wooden spoon or spatula, mix gradually with them one pound of the best sugar, which has been dried, and sifted through a fine sieve: work them together for a minute or two, and add less than a dessertspoonful of strained lemon-juice; spread it even over the cake or pastry, and dry it very gently indeed, either in a quite cool oven, or in a meat screen placed before the fire. From the difference in the size of eggs, a little more or less of sugar may be required for this icing. It may be coloured with a very few drops of prepared cochineal to give it a rose tint.
Whites of eggs beaten to snow, 4; sugar, 1 lb.; lemon-juice, small dessertspoonful.
ORANGE-FLOWER MACAROONS. (DELICIOUS.)
Have ready two pounds of very dry white sifted sugar. Weigh two ounces of the petals of freshly gathered orange-blossoms after they have been picked from the stems; and cut them very small with a pair of scissors into the sugar, as they will become discoloured if not mixed with it quickly after they are cut. When all are done, add the whites of seven eggs, and whisk the whole well together until it looks like snow; then drop the mixture on paper without delay, and send the cakes to a very cool oven.
Pounded sugar, 2 lbs.; orange-blossoms, 2 oz.; whites of eggs, 7:20 minutes or more.