Page:Every Woman's Encyclopedia Volume 1.djvu/680

 KITCHEN AND COOKERY 654 A TW^ELFTH^^NIGHT CAKE olden days the Twelfth Night after Christ- day, and a special cake was prepared for consumption on that day. Though many old customs connected with the day are now obsolete, many people still like to have the cake. To be correct, it must be iced and de- corated with candied fruit of various kinds, and it must have stirred into the mixture : A ring, typifying marriage. A bean, typif3dng a year's good luck. A silver coinf typifying wealth. A thimble, typifying single blessedness. THE RFXIPE Required : One pound of flour. Half a pound each of butter, sultanas, and castor sugar. Six ounces each of mixed peel and sweet almonds. Four ounces each of currants and muscatels. Four eggs. One orange and one lemon. Two teaspoonfuls of b?.king-powder. One teaspoonful of mixed spice. One teaspoonful of salt. One and a half gills of milk. Royal icing. Candied fruits for decoration. Line a cake tin with three layers of buttered paper. Sieve together the flour, salt, spice, and baking-powder. Chop the peel and muscatels, after stoning them. Clean the sultanas and currants, shell and shred the almonds finely, and grate the orange and lemon rinds. Beat the butter and sugar to a soft cream ; add the eggs, Dne by one, beating each in separately. Mix together the fruit, almonds, peel, and grated rinds. Add the flour to the eggs, stirring it in very lightly ; then add the fruit. Mix it in, then put the mixture in the prepared tin, and bake in a moderate oven for about two hours, or until a skewer can be stuck into the middle of the cake and comes out quite clean and free from the mixture. Take the cake out of the tin when it is sufficiently baked, and put it on a sieve until cold. For the Icing : Two pounds of sieved icing sugar. * About four whites of eggs. One lemon. Put the sugar in a basin. Beat the whites until the}^ are frothy. Make a well in the centre of the sugar, put in the whites, and strain in two tablespoonfuls of lemon-juice. Mix these thoroughly into the sugar with a wooden spoon. The icing must be so stiff, that if a pattern is made on it with a spoon it will remain clear and sharp iii outline, not blurring at all. If it is too thin, add a little more sieved icing sugar ; if too thick, more white of egg or lemon- juice. Lastly, beat the icing well. This will make it white and smooth. TO ICE THE CAKE Spread a layer of this icing all over the sides and top of the cake (it should be about a quarter of an inch thick). Use a broad- bladed knife to spread it, dipping it occa- sionally into warm water for this purpose. Be careful to keep the edge of the cake sharp and straight. If at all rounded its appearance is spoilt. I>eave the cake in a warm place for the icing to dry. Arrange the mixed candied fruits on the top of the cake, blending the colours prettily. It will be necessary to use a little icing to keep them in place. Put the rest of the royal icing in a forcing bag with a pretty fancy pipe, and decorate the edge and sides of the cake. BEEF BOUILLO: Required : Two pounds of lean beef, such as topside cr neck or sticking piece. Two quarts of cold water. A bunch of parsley and herbs. One carrot, turnip, and onion. Two sticks of celery. Three allspice. Eight peppercorns. One clove. One teaspoonful (level) of salt. Pepper. Wash the meat quickly, dry it, and cut it u]) into small squares, and chop any bone. Lay both in the water and let them soak for half an hour. Then pour all into a sauce- pan, add the salt, and hr <r, these ingredients slowly to boihng point.^ Wash, prepare. and quarter the vegetables; add them, the herbs and the spice tied up in a piece of muslin. Allow the broth to simmer very slowly for three hours. Keep it well skimmed. I^ay a clean, fine teacloth or old table-napkin in a colander placed over a basin, and ladle the broth gently into it. WTien all has been filtered through, either leave until cold, when remove any grease and reheat it, or it can be served at once. In this case remove every speck of grease, season the bouillon carefully, and it is ready. This is often served in small soup cups after a dance, etc., when a dust of parsley is added to each cup, and thin sippets of crisp toast, or unsweetened rusks, accompany it. f