CHEAP WHITE CAKES. FOR TEA
Take half a pound of sifted flour, rub into it one ounce of butter, and a quarter of a pound of fine sugar; add one egg, half a teaspoonful of caraway seeds, and as much milk as will make it a paste; roll it out to quarter-of-an-inch in thickness, or thinner; cut it in small round cakes, and bake on tin plates, in a quick oven, ten or twelve minutes.
LADY CAKE
One pound of flour; 1 pound of sugar; ⅝ of a pound of butter; whites of 17 eggs; 2 or 3 drops of oil of bitter almonds. Cream the well-washed butter; add the sugar and cream again; alternate the whites with flour; flavor last of all. The confectioners nearly always bake in a square or long pan.
YELLOW LADY CAKE
Take a pound of fine white sugar, with half a pound of butter beaten to a cream; the yolks of eight eggs beaten smooth and thick; one cup of sweet milk, a small teaspoonful of powdered volatile salts or saleratus, dissolved in a little hot water; half a nutmeg grated; a teaspoonful of lemon extract, or orange-flower water, and as much sifted flour as will make it as thick as pound-cake batter. Beat it until it is light and creamy; then having taken off the skins, and beaten to a paste, a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds, stir them into the cake, and beat well. Line buttered tin pans, with white paper; put in the mixture an inch deep, and bake half an hour in a quick oven, or forty minutes in a moderate oven. This is a delicious cake.
WHITE LADY CAKE
Beat the whites of eight eggs to a high froth, add gradually a pound of white sugar finely ground; beat a quarter of a pound of butter to a cream; add a teacupful of sweet milk with a small teaspoonful of powdered volatile salts or saleratus dissolved in it; put the eggs to the butter and milk, add as much sifted flour as will make it as thick as pound-cake mixture; add a teaspoonful of orange-flower water or lemon extract, then add a quarter of a pound of shelled almonds, blanched and beaten to a paste with a little white of egg; beat the whole together until light and white; line a square tin pan with buttered paper, put in the mixture an inch deep, and bake half an hour in a quick oven. When done take it from the pan, when cold take the paper off, turn it upside down on the bottom of the pan and ice the side which was down; when the icing is nearly hard, mark it in slices the width of a finger, and two inches and a half long.
ISABELLA CAKE
Two cups of butter, four cups of sugar, sixteen eggs, six cups of sifted flour, two teaspoonfuls of yeast powder. Cream the butter and sugar together; add the beaten yolks, then alternately the flour and the beaten whites. Put the yeast powder in the flour. Flavor with vanilla or lemon. Bake carefully in a four-quart cake mould, the bottom and sides of which you have well oiled. Always lay paper in the bottom before oiling, as it prevents the cake from burning and sticking to the pan. This cake is delicious, finished with a chocolate icing.