If the pudding is one to which chocolate would be a pleasant addition, color with grated chocolate, rubbed smooth in a little of the wine, and ridge with white. Set upon the ice or upon the cellar-floor until firm. Stick a colored almond or other ornamental candy upon the top.
This bee-hive is easily made, and will set off even a plain pudding handsomely.
Brandy Sauce (hard.) ✠
- ½ cup butter.
- 2 cups powdered sugar.
- 1 wineglass brandy.
- 1 teaspoonful mixed cinnamon and mace.
Warm the butter very slightly, work in the sugar, and, when this is light, the brandy and spice. Beat hard—shape into a mould and set in a cold place until wanted.
White Wine Sauce (liquid.) ✠
- ½ cup butter.
- 2½ cups powdered sugar.
- 2 wineglasses pale Sherry or white wine.
- ½ cup boiling water.
- 1 teaspoonful nutmeg.
Work the butter into the sugar, moistening, as you go on, with boiling water. Beat long and hard until your bowl is nearly full of a creamy mixture. Then add gradually the wine and nutmeg, still beating hard. Turn into a tin pail, set within a saucepan of boiling water, and stir frequently until the sauce is hot, but not until it boils. Take the saucepan from the fire and leave the pail standing in the water, stirring the contents now and then, until you are ready to serve the pudding.
If rightly made, this sauce will be nearly as white as milk.