Sauce for Baba.
Let two cups of sugar and one cup of water boil in the blazer about six minutes, then add one-fourth a cup, or more, of maraschino, rum or sherry wine. Lay the baba, sliced or in individual forms, into the hot syrup and let stand a few minutes, basting the cake with the syrup. When hot, serve with or without whipped cream. Half a cup of apricot or quince marmalade may be added with the wine.
Fig Toast.
(See cut facing [page 198].)
Wash carefully and cook in boiling water half a pound of pulled figs until tender; add one fourth a cup of sugar and the grated rind and juice of half a lemon. Cook until the syrup is well reduced. Cut the crust from a thick slice of bread and sauté to a golden brown, first on one side, then on the other, in two tablespoonfuls of hot butter. Drain the bread on soft paper; then heap the figs upon it, cover with two-thirds a cup of thick cream and a scant fourth a cup of sugar, beaten until stiff. Serve at once. Prunes, apricots, peaches, pears, or strawberry preserves, may be prepared in the same manner. If preserves be used, omit the sugar from the cream. Sponge cake may be used in the place of bread.
Pineapple Sponge.
Heat one pint of grated pineapple over hot water, sprinkle into it one-third a cup of fine tapioca (a quick-cooking kind), mixed with two-thirds a cup of sugar, and half a teaspoonful of salt; when the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of a lemon, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve with cream and sugar.
Tapioca=and=Banana Sponge.
Sprinkle half a cup of tapioca and two-thirds a cup of sugar into one pint of boiling water; add half a teaspoonful of salt and cook over hot water, stirring occasionally. When the tapioca is transparent, add the juice of two lemons, and fold in the whites of two eggs, beaten until dry. Serve spread over sliced bananas, with cream and sugar, or with a cold boiled custard, previously made. This dish may be prepared with canned peaches, apricots or quinces, using the juice of the fruit instead of water.