Beat the whites and yolks separately, and gradually beat the sugar into the yolks; add the lemon juice and rind and fold in the whites and flour. By this recipe the cake is good only when the ingredients are put together properly. Beating and folding are the motions needed. One not understanding how to mix a true sponge cake should omit the lemon juice and use the baking powder. The recipe for Swedish sponge cake, frequently given in these pages, makes a good cake for a jelly roll.
Query 1627.—"Recipe for Currants, Bar-le-duc."
Bar-le-Duc Currants
The preserve known by the above caption can be made at home, but, as the process of removing the seeds from the currants is tedious, most people prefer buying to making this preserve. We have had good success with the following recipe: Take selected currants of large size, one by one, and with tiny embroidery scissors carefully cut the skin on one side, making a slit one-fourth an inch or less in length. Through this with a sharp needle remove the seeds, one at a time, to preserve the shape of the currant. Take the weight of the currants in strained honey, and when hot add the currants. Let simmer two or three minutes, then seal as jelly. If the juice of the currants liquefy the honey too much, carefully skim out the currants and reduce the syrup at a gentle simmer to the desired consistency, then replace the currants and store as above.
The above recipe gives a confection equal to that put up in France. The following recipe, which entails less work, gives a nice preserve.
Currants, Bar-le-Duc
Get the largest size currants, red or white, and stem them without breaking. To each pound allow three pounds of sugar. Take some ordinary currants and bruise them while warm until you have a pint of juice. Put half a cup of this into a porcelain kettle and add three pounds of sugar. Bring slowly to a boil and skim very carefully. After boiling five minutes drop in very carefully one pound of the large currants and let simmer four minutes. Take them out without breaking them, and boil the syrup down five minutes, or longer if not very thick; as the currants are sometimes less juicy than at others, a few minutes more will be needed at one time than another. When thick, skim well and strain through a hot cloth over the fruit. Put into little jelly glasses and when cold cover as in jelly making.