Prepare about two cupfuls of preserved fruits--for instance, pine-apples, peaches, greengages, and cherries; keep the cherries whole, but cut the others into dice; moisten them all with sherry.
Prepare about a quart of Champagne, sherry, or brandy jelly, and when strained pour it into a basin, which place on the ice, or on ice and salt; whip it now gently with the egg-whisk, adding the juice of two lemons; when it begins to set, and is quite frothy (not too much so, however), stir in the fruits; place all into a mold, and surround it with ice.
_Rules for Cake._--Have every thing ready before mixing the material--_i. e._, the ingredients all measured and prepared, and the tins buttered. The sooner the cake is mixed (after the ingredients are ready) and put into the oven, the better. Sift the flour, and have it dry. Mix baking-powder or cream of tartar, if used, well into the flour, passing it through the sieve several times, if particular. Roll the sugar; mix sugar and butter together to a cream. The eggs must then be _very, very well_ beaten separately. If one person makes the cake, beat the yolks first. If soda is used, dissolve it in the milk, or, if no milk is used, in a little lukewarm water; add it the last thing, unless fruit is used, when it should always be rolled in flour, and added the last thing. Cake, to be light, should be baked slowly at first, until the batter is evenly heated all through. Many leave the oven door slightly open for the first ten or fifteen minutes. The prepared flour is especially good for cake.
This is the most perfect of sponge-cakes, when properly made.
Ingredients: Ten eggs, one pound of _pulverized_ sugar, half a pound of flour, juice of half a large lemon, with the rind grated.
After all the ingredients are quite ready--_i. e._, the flour and sugar sifted, the lemon-peel grated, the half lemon squeezed, and the tins buttered--the success of this cake is in the beating of the eggs. Two persons should beat them at least half an hour, one beating the whites, and the other the yolks and half of the sugar together. Next cut the yolks into the whites, then stir in lightly the remainder of the sugar, then the flour and lemon by degrees.[J]