Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1603

Rh ½ a pint of water, 3 ozs. of butter, ¼ of an oz. of sugar, 4 ozs. of flour, 4 eggs, a pinch of salt.

Method.—Put the butter and water into a clean stewpan and set it over the fire; mix the sugar and flour together, and when the liquor boils, turn in the flour, stir it well over the fire until it thickens, and the whole of it can be lifted out of the pan with a spoon; then take it off the fire, let it stand for a few minutes, and beat in the eggs one at a time with a large wooden spoon. When the whole of the eggs have been beaten in put the mixture into a savoy bag with a plain tube, and lay a ring round the piece of paste prepared on the tin—lay the ring as near the edge as possible, but take care that it does not run over the edge on to the tin—and lay out the remaining paste in about 12 small buttons on another tin, and bake in a moderate oven. When done, dredge some sugar over, and run it with a red hot "salamander."

Now boil up about ¼ of a lb. of loaf sugar to nearly a caramel, put a skewer into the small buttons, dip them separately into the sugar syrup, and stick them round upon the ring of paste nearly close together, place a glacé cherry in each one of the cakes, and further decorate with some nicely cut leaves of angelica. Now pile the centre up with whipped-cream, sweetened and flavoured as required, set it on a lace paper on a glass dish or compote dish, and send to table.

Time.—About 2 hours. Average Cost, about 2s. Sufficient for 8 or 10 people.

Ingredients.—4 eggs, 4 ozs. of butter, 6 ozs. of flour, ¼ of a lb. of castor sugar, apricot jam, chocolate or any other icing.

Method.—Slightly warm the butter in a clean basin until it is easy to beat with a wooden spoon, then add the sugar and beat to a cream; next the eggs one by one, then mix in the flour. Pour the mixture into a buttered baking-tin, and bake in a quick oven for about 10 minutes. When cold divide the sheet in two, and sandwich together with apricot or any other jam. Coat it with icing, and let it stand for a few minutes.

Time.—15 minutes, to bake the cake. Average Cost, 1s. 6d.

Ingredients.—A stale sponge cake or loaf, 2 kinds of preserve, the one rather acid, the other sweet, such as red-currant jelly and apricot jam, the whites of 4 eggs, ½ a lb. of pounded loaf sugar, 1 lemon.

Method.—Cut the cake into rounds, and spread them with the two preserves in alternate layers, and sandwich the rounds together again. Make an icing of the sugar as directed in recipe No. 3461, spread it over the cake, and set for a few minutes to harden in a cool oven.

Time.—30 minutes. Average Cost, 2s. Sufficient for 10 or 12 small cakes.