A Handbook of Cookery for a Small House

with a spoon. One is also much more sure of success if the mixture is kept very stiff. _185. Simple Recipe for a Chocolate Cake_ Take a quarter of a pound best white flour, a quarter of a pound butter, the same of sifted fine white sugar, two ounces of grated chocolate, and two eggs. Stir the butter in a pastry bowl with the hand, one way as directed, till the butter is reduced to a smooth cream. When this is done add the sugar (still stirring the one way). Have the two eggs well beaten in a cup, stir them into the sugar and flour, lastly the chocolate powder. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered cake tin and bake in a moderate oven for an hour. _186. Plain Christmas Cake_ Take one pound flour (household, not self-raising), half a pound of currants which have been carefully washed and dried (this is best done in a cullender under the tap and rubbed dry on a clean white cloth), half a pound of butter, half a pound of sugar, two ounces of candied lemon peel cut into thin strips, two teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, three eggs well beaten, whites and yolks together, and half a pint of milk, sour will do. Place the flour in the pastry bowl, thoroughly mix the baking-powder into it, rub in the butter, add the sugar and currants and peel, stir in the eggs, and mix all together with the milk. Butter your cake tin and line it with a buttered sheet of white cooking paper, bake in a steady but gentle oven for one and a half hours. _187. Madeira Cake_ Take a quarter of a pound of household flour, one teaspoonful of baking-powder, three ounces of butter, three ounces of fine white sugar, and two eggs. Cream the butter, add first the sugar, then the flour with the baking-powder, lastly the well-beaten eggs and half a teacupful of milk. Care should be taken that the mixture is not mixed too slack. Pour the mixture into a buttered cake tin and bake in a gentle oven