1274. Victoria Cake

Ingredients: - Two pounds of flour, twenty ounces of butter, twelve eggs, six ounces of pounded sugar, six ounces of ground or pounded almonds, also a few bitter ditto, eight ounces of dried cherries, four ounces of green citron cut up in shreds, half an ounce of cinnamon powder, half a pint of whipped cream, one ounce and a quarter of German yeast, two wine-glasses of brandy, and half an ounce of salt.

Mix the above ingredients according to the directions given for the German kouglauff: except that the yeast must be dissolved in a spoonful of tepid water, and the cream whipped previously to its being added the last thing. When the cake is mixed, it should be placed in a tin hoop, measuring about ten inches in diameter by four inches deep. A double sheet of paper, spread with butter, should be first placed on a stout copper baking-sheet, and the hoop, also lined with paper, next placed upon it, ready to receive the mixture. As soon as the fermentation of the paste has taken place in a satisfactory degree, causing it to increase to twice its original quantity, let it be immediately put in the oven (at moderate heat), and baked of a light color.

This kind of cake may be served as a second-course remove; some apricot marmalade, diluted with a little lemon-juice and warmed, should be sent to table with it separately in a sauce-boat, or, if preferred, instead of the apricot, some German custard sauce, made in the following manner: -

Put four yolks of eggs in a middle-sized bain-marie, and add two ounces of pounded sugar, two wine-glasses of Sherry, and the rind of an orange or lemon grated on sugar. Place the bain-marie containing these ingredients in a larger stewpan with water sufficient to reach about one inch up the outside of the bain-marie; set this on a slow stove-fire, and commence whisking or milling the contents briskly, until it appears like a rich-looking frothy custard. Be careful not to allow the cream to become too hot, as that would set the yolks of eggs, and thereby decompose the custard.

1274a. Savarin- Cake

Ingredients: - Two pounds of flour, four ounces of sugar, twenty ounces of fresh butter, fifteen eggs, half an ounce of salt, one ounce of German yeast, and four ounces of blanched and shred almonds.

First, set the sponge, with one-fourth part of the flour, and the yeast, in the same manner as directed for making brioche. Then, while the sponge is placed in a moderate temperature, to admit of its rising gradually and satisfactorily, place the remainder of the flour in a large white pan or basin, hollow out the centre, and having first placed therein the salt, moistened with a tea-spoonful of water, the butter, sugar, and ten whole eggs broken, proceed to manipulate the whole with the right hand, beating up the paste until it easily leaves the sides of the pan; you then break in the remainder of the eggs, two at a time, until the paste has absorbed the whole; and, after having continued to work it five minutes longer, proceed to fill an appropriate-sized mould with it in manner following : - First, let the inside of the mould be well buttered, after which, strew the shred almonds equally over and about the surface of the interior; next, work the paste up again for a minute or two, and put a sufficient quantity thereof into the mould to rather more than half fill it. You now place the Savarin in a moderate temperature to rise until it has nearly filled the mould; when, after first sticking a broad band of thick paper round the upper part of the mould, so as effectually to prevent the batter from running over the sides of the mould, while it is being baked, put it into an oven of moderate heat, and bake it for about two hours. When done, turn the Savarin out of the mould, and after first running a knife into several parts of the surface, pour gently a rather thick orange syrup, containing a glassful of curacao, over and into the Savarin, and send to table quite warm.

This kind of cake is sometimes, in order to vary its appearance, after being first well soaked with a warm rich syrup, rolled all over in orange or lemon sugar.