Black Cake
(Wedding Cake)
10 ozs. butter
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. flour
6 large eggs
1 gill brandy and sherry mixed
¹⁄₂ grated nutmeg
1 tea-spoon cinnamon
¹⁄₄ tea-spoon mace
1 ground clove
¹⁄₂ lb. finely chopped almonds
1 lb. currants
1¹⁄₂ lbs. raisins
Beat the butter to a cream. Add the powdered sugar. Beat again very thoroughly. Stir in quarter of a pound of flour. Beat the eggs together until light. Add them and the rest of the flour to the mixture alternately. Beat well. Add the brandy, sherry and spices. Add the currants, raisins and peel, which should all be well floured, gradually, mixing thoroughly. Bake in two tins lined with greased paper, in a moderate oven, for four hours. Let the cakes cool in the tins. This cake, if iced first with almond icing (see [p. 67]), and then with plain icing (see [p. 65]), is suitable for a wedding cake.
Cider Cake
1 cup of sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1 egg
¹⁄₂ pint cider
1 level tea-spoon carbonate of soda
2 cups flour
1 cup stoned raisins
Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the well beaten egg and the flour. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in a table-spoon of boiling water. Add it to the cider. Stir it into the mixture. Beat well together. Add the raisins. Bake in a moderate oven in a buttered tin.
*Currant Cake
¹⁄₂ lb. sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
6 eggs
³⁄₄ lb. flour
³⁄₄ lb. currants
¹⁄₄ lb. sultanas
¹⁄₄ lb. mixed peel
¹⁄₄ lb. ground almonds
1 heaping tea-spoon baking powder
Beat butter and sugar for twenty minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating hard all the time. Add the flour and fruit and mix thoroughly. Bake in a well greased tin in a moderate oven for about three hours. Leave in the tin to cool.