One pint of sugar, one and a half cupfuls of butter, three pints of flour, four eggs, two wine-glasses of milk, two of wine, two of brandy, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of saleratus, fruit and spice to taste. Bake in deep pans, the time depending on the quantity of fruit used.
Sponge Rusks.
Two cupfuls of sugar, one of butter, two of milk, one of yeast, three eggs. Rub the butter, sugar and eggs together. Add the milk and yeast, and flour enough to make a thick batter. Let this stand in a warm place until light, and then add flour enough to make as thick as for biscuit. Shape, and put in a pan in which they are to be baked, and let them stand two or three hours (three hours unless the weather is very warm). Bake about forty minutes in a moderate oven. It is always best to set the sponge at night, for it will then be ready to bake the following forenoon. If the rusks are wanted warm for tea, the sponge must, of course, be set early in the morning.
Taylor Cake.
Half a cupful of butter, two and a half of sugar, one of milk, three and a half of pastry flour, three eggs, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda, flavor to taste. Beat the butter to a cream, then beat in the sugar, next the eggs, well beaten; the seasoning, the milk, and lastly the flour, in which the soda and cream of tartar have been thoroughly mixed. Bake in a moderate oven, either in loaves or sheets. If in sheets, twenty-five minutes; if in loaves, forty-five. The quantities given are for two loaves or sheets. This cake is nice for Washington or chocolate pies, and is good baked in sheets and frosted.
Loaf Cake.
Two quarts of sugar, seven cupfuls of butter, six quarts of sifted flour, six pounds of fruit, one pint of wine, one pint of yeast, eight nutmegs, mace, twelve eggs, one quart of milk. It should be made at such an hour (being governed by the weather) as will give it time to get perfectly light by evening. It should stand about six hours in summer and eight in whiter.
Put in half the butter and eggs, and the milk, flavor and yeast, and beat thoroughly. In the evening add the remainder of the butter, rubbing it with the sugar, the rest of the eggs, and the spice. Let the cake rise again, until morning; then add the fruit. Put in deep pans, and let rise about half an hour. Bake from two to three hours in a slow oven.
Chocolate Cake.
One and a half cupfuls of sugar, half a cupful of butter, half a cupful of milk, one and three-fourths cupfuls of flour, a quarter of a pound of Baker's chocolate, three eggs, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, half a teaspoonful of soda. Scrape the chocolate fine, and add five table-spoonfuls of sugar to it (this in addition to the cupful and a half). Beat the butter to a cream. Gradually add the sugar, beating all the while. Add three table-spoonfuls of boiling water to the chocolate and sugar. Stir over the fire until smooth and glossy; then stir into the beaten sugar and butter. Add to this mixture the eggs, well beaten, then the milk and the flour, in which the soda and cream of tartar have been thoroughly mixed. Bake twenty minutes in a moderate oven. This will make two sheets. Frost it, if you like.