Marta made the Madeleine cake, while Molly stood by, recipe in hand.
“This cake, Marta, has no milk, and therefore requires no baking-powder; neither queen cake, sponge cake, pound cake, in fact none of the finer cakes have milk, and they are raised entirely with eggs. But several very good imitations of these cakes are made with baking-powder; the saving is not great, and a cake made without chemicals keeps fresh much longer.
“MADELEINE CAKE.—For Madeleine cake you must weigh four ounces of butter, half a pound of sugar, half a pound of flour twice sifted; then grate the rind of half a lemon into the sugar, separate the yolks from the whites of three large or four small eggs, put two table-spoonfuls of wine in this cup, and, before you begin to make the cake, butter a small cake-pan. Now beat the whites of the eggs till you can turn the bowl without their slipping, cream the butter well, then beat the yolks of eggs into it, then add the sugar and wine; beat _well_ again, and then add flour and whites of eggs alternately, and when all is well mixed, pour it into the pan, and bake it in a rather slow oven for an hour.
“I am having only half the recipe made, so the cake is not very large; but we are such small cake-eaters that we get tired of a large one. Another time, if you make this cake, you may put rose-water or peach-water instead of the wine, and chopped candied lemon-peel instead of the grated peel. You see the batter is much thicker than for the cup cake you made, but if at any time you use flour that absorbs more moisture, you must add another egg; this is, as it should be, as thick as pound-cake batter,—which means, as thick as can be stirred. It is more a paste than a batter. Will you remember that, when you have a recipe which says ‘thick as pound-cake batter’? Any cake with baking-powder made as thick as this would be spoiled. It would be tough, with great holes here and there, so you must be very careful not to confuse the two rules,—_moderately thick_ batter for plain cakes, with milk and baking-powder; very thick batter for the richer ones, made without. Yet, of course, they must be stirred with a spoon; if too stiff for that, your flour is very absorbent, and you need another egg. Remember there is _never_ any harm in adding an egg; it will never spoil your cake as too much milk would do.