Obs.—Prepared cochineal is generally used for colouring the pears; but if the above is strictly attended to, it will be found to answer best.
To dry Apples.—(No. 83.)
Take biffins, or orange or lemon-pippins; the former are the best; choose the clearest rinds, and without any blemishes; lay them on clean straw on a baking-wire; cover them well with more straw; set them into a slow oven; let them remain for four or five hours; draw them out and rub them in your hands, and press them very gently, otherwise you will burst the skins; return them into the oven for about an hour; press them again; when cold, if they look dry, rub them over with a little clarified sugar.
Obs.—By being put into the oven four or five times, pressing them between each time, they may be brought as flat, and eat as well, as the dried biffins from Norfolk.
Icing, for Twelfth or Bride Cake.—(No. 84.)
Take one pound of double-refined sugar, pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve; put into a pan quite free from grease; break in the whites of six eggs, and as much powder blue as will lie on a sixpence; beat it well with a spattle for ten minutes; then squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and beat it till it becomes thick and transparent. Set the cake you intend to ice in an oven or warm place five minutes; then spread over the top and sides with the mixture as smooth as possible. If for a wedding-cake only, plain ice it; if for a twelfth cake, ornament it with gum paste, or fancy articles of any description.
Obs.—A good twelfth cake, not baked too much, and kept in a cool dry place, will retain its moisture and eat well, if twelve months old.
To boil Sugar to Caramel.—(No. 85.)
Break into a small copper or brass pan one pound of refined sugar; put in a gill of spring-water; set it on a fire; when it boils skim it quite clean, and let it boil quick, till it comes to the degree called crack; which may be known by dipping a tea-spoon or skewer into the sugar, and letting it drop to the bottom of a pan of cold water; and if it remains hard, it has attained that degree: squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and let it remain one minute longer on the fire; then set the pan into another of cold water: have ready moulds of any shape; rub them over with sweet oil; dip a spoon or fork into the sugar, and throw it over the mould in fine threads, till it is quite covered: make a small handle of caramel, or stick on two or three small gum paste rings, by way of ornament, and place it over small pastry of any description.