Lemon clove cake may be done the same way, but you must scald the peel before the sugar is put in.
Orange-flower Cakes.
Dip sugar in water, and let it boil over a quick fire till it is almost dry sugar again. To half a pound of sugar, when it is perfectly clear, add seven spoonfuls of water; then put in the orange-flowers: just give the mixture a boil up; drop it on china or silver plates, and set them in the sun till the cakes are dry enough to be taken off.
Plum Cake. No. 1.
Take eight pounds and three quarters of fine flour well dried and sifted, one ounce of beaten mace, one pound and a half of sugar. Mix them together, and take one quart of cream and six pounds of butter, put together, and set them over the fire till the butter is melted. Then take thirty-three eggs, one quart of yest, and twelve spoonfuls of sack; put it into the flour, stir it well together, and, when well mixed, set it before the fire to rise for an hour. Then take ten pounds of currants washed and dried, and set them to dry before the fire, one pound of citron minced, one pound of orange and lemon-peel together, sliced. When your oven is ready, stir your cake thoroughly; put in your sweetmeats and currants; mix them well in, and put into tin hoops. The quantity here given will make two large cakes, which will take two hours’ baking.
Plum Cake. No. 2.
One pound of fine flour well dried and sifted, three quarters of a pound of fine sugar, also well dried and sifted. Work one pound to a cream with a noggin of brandy; then add to it by degrees your sugar, continuing to beat it very light. Beat the yolks of ten eggs extremely light; then put them into the butter and sugar, a spoonful at a time; beat the whites very light, and when you add the flour, which should be by degrees, put in the whites a spoonful at a time; add a grated nutmeg and a little beaten mace, and a good pound of currants, washed, dried, and picked, with a little of the flour rubbed about them. Work them into the cake. Cut in thin slices a quarter of a pound of blanched almonds, and two ounces of citron and candied orange-peel. Between every layer of cake, as you put it into the hoop, put in the sweetmeats, and bake it two hours.
Plum Cake. No. 3.
Rub one pound of butter into two pounds of flour; take one pound of sugar, one pound of currants, and mix them with four eggs; make them into little round cakes, and bake them on tins. Half this quantity is sufficient to make at a time.