Various - "Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882"

J. Sheridan LeFanu - "The Room in the Dragon Volant"

Allan Pinkerton - "Bucholz and the Detectives"

Victor Hugo - "Actes et Paroles, Vol. 4"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches

E >> Eliza Leslie >> Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches




The first thing to be done in making cake, is to weigh or measure
all the ingredients. Next sift the flour, powder the sugar, pound
or grind the spice, and prepare the fruit; afterwards mix and stir
the butter and sugar, and lastly beat the eggs; as, if allowed to
stand any time, they will fall and become heavy. When all the
ingredients are mixed together, they should be stirred very hard
at the last; and (unless there is yeast in the cake) the sooner it
is put into the oven the better. While baking, no air should be
admitted to it, except for a moment, now and then, when it is
necessary to examine if it is baking properly, For baking; cakes,
the best guide is practice and experience; so much depending on
the state of the fire, that it is impossible to lay down any
infallible rules.

If you bake in a Dutch oven, let the lid be first heated by
standing it up before the fire; and cover the inside of the bottom
with sand or ashes, to temper the heat. For the same purpose, when
you bake in a stove, place bricks under the pans. Sheets of iron
without sides will be found very useful for baking small flat
cakes. For cakes of this description, the fire should be brisk; if
baked slowly, they will spread, lose their shape, and run into
each other. For all cakes, the heat should be regular and even; if
one part of the oven is cooler than another, the cake will bake
imperfectly, and have heavy streaks through it. Gingerbread (on
account of the molasses) is more apt to scorch and burn than any
other cake; therefore it should he baked with a moderate fire.

It is safest, when practicable, to send all large cakes to a
professional baker's; provided they can be put immediately into
the oven, as standing will spoil them. If you bake them at home,
you will find that they are generally done when they cease to make
a simmering noise; and when on probing them to the bottom with a
twig from a broom, or with the blade of the knife, it comes out
quite clean. The fire should then be withdrawn, and the cake
allowed to get cold in the oven. Small cakes should be laid to
cool on an inverted sieve. It may be recommended to novices in the
art of baking, to do every thing in little tins or in very shallow
pans; there being then less risk than with a large thick cake. In
mixing batter that is to be baked in small cakes; use less
proportion of flour.

Small cakes should be kept' closely covered in stone jars. For
large ones, you should have broad stone pans with close lids, or
else tin boxes. All cakes that are made with yeast should be eaten
quite fresh; so also should sponge cake. Some sorts may be kept a
week; black cake much longer.


BLACK CAKE.

Prepare two pounds of currants by picking them clean, washing and
draining them, through a cullender, and then spreading them out on
a large dish to dry before the fire or in the sun, placing the
dish in a slanting position. Pick and stone two pounds of the best
raisins, and cut them in half. Dredge the currants (when they are
dry) and the raisins thickly with flour to prevent them from
sinking in the cake. Grind or powder as much cinnamon as will make
a large gravy-spoonful when done; also a table-spoonful of mace
and four nutmegs; sift these spices, and mix them all together in
a cup. Mix together two large glasses of white wine, one of brandy
and one of rose water, and cut a pound of citron into large slips.
Sift a pound of flour into one pan, and a pound of powdered loaf-sugar
into another. Cut up among the sugar a pound of the best
fresh butter, and stir them to a cream. Beat twelve eggs till
perfectly thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the
butter and sugar, alternately with the flour. Then add by degrees,
the fruit, spice and liquor, and stir the whole very hard at the
last. Then put the mixture into a well-buttered tin pan with
straight or perpendicular sides. Put it immediately into a
moderate oven, and bake it at least four hours. When done, let it
remain in the oven to get cold; it will be the better for staying
in all night. Ice it next morning; first dredging the outside all
over with flour, and then wiping it with a towel. This will make
the icing stick.


ICING.

A quarter of a pound of finely powdered loaf-sugar, of the whitest
and best quality, is the usual allowance to one white of egg. For
the cake in the preceding receipt, three quarters of a pound of
sugar and the whites of three eggs will be about the proper
quantity. Beat the white of egg by itself till it stands alone.
Have ready the powdered sugar, and then beat it hard into the
white of egg, till it becomes thick and smooth; flavouring it as
you proceed with a few drops of oil of lemon, or a little extract
of roses. Spread it evenly over the cake with a broad knife or a
feather; if you find it too thin, beat in a little more powdered
sugar. Cover with it thickly the top and sides of the cake, taking
care not to have it rough and streaky. To ice well requires skill
and practice. When the icing is about half dry, put on the
ornaments. You may flower it with coloured sugar-sand or
nonparels; but a newer and more elegant mode is to decorate it
with, devices and borders in white sugar; they can be procured at
the confectioners, and look extremely well on icing that has been
tinted with pink by the addition of a little cochineal.

You may colour icing of a pale or deep yellow, by rubbing the
lumps of loaf-sugar (before they are powdered) upon the outside of
a large lemon or orange. This will also flavour it finely.

Almond icing, for a very fine cake, is made by mixing gradually
with the white of egg and sugar, some almonds, half bitter and
half sweet, that have been pounded in a mortar with rose water to
a smooth paste. The whole must be well incorporated, and spread
over the cake near half an inch thick. It must be set in a cool
oven to dry, and then taken out and covered with a smooth plain
icing of sugar and white of egg.

Whatever icing is left, may be used to make maccaroons or kisses.


POUND CAKE.

Prepare a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of
powdered mace, and two nutmegs grated or powdered. Mix together in
a tumbler, a glass of white--wine, a glass of brandy, and a glass
of rose water. Sift a pound of the finest flour into a broad pan,
and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Put the sugar into a deep pan,
and cut up in it a pound of fresh butter. Warm them by the fire
till soft; and then stir them to a cream. When they are perfectly
light, add gradually the spice and liquor, a little at a time.
Beat ten eggs as light as possible, and stir them by degrees into
the mixture, alternately with the flour. Then add twelve drops of
oil of lemon; or more, if it is not strong. Stir the whole very
hard; put it into a deep tin pan with straight or upright sides,
and bake it in a moderate oven from two to three hours. If baked
in a Dutch oven, take off the lid when you have ascertained that
the cake is quite done, and let it remain in the oven to cool
gradually. If any part is burnt, scrape it off as soon as cold.

It may be iced either warm or cool; first dredging the cake with
flour and then wiping it off. It will be best to put on two coats
of icing; the second coat not till the first is entirely dry.
Flavour the icing with essence of lemon, or with extract of roses.

This cake will be very delicate if made with a pound of rice flour
instead of wheat.


INDIAN POUND CAKE.

Sift a pint of fine yellow Indian meal, and half a pint of wheat
flour, and mix them well together. Prepare a nutmeg beaten, and
mixed with a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon. Stir together
till very light, half a pound of powdered white sugar; and half a
pound of fresh butter; adding the spice, with a glass of white
wine, and a glass of brandy. Having beaten eight eggs as light as
possible, stir them into the butter and sugar, a little at a time
in turn with the meal. Give the whole a hard stirring at the last;
put it into a well-buttered tin pan, and bake it about an hour and
a half.

This cake (like every thing else in which Indian meal is an
ingredient) should be eaten quite fresh; it is then very nice.
When stale, (even a day old,) it becomes dry and rough as if made
with saw-dust.


QUEEN CAKE.

Sift fourteen ounces of the finest flour, being two ounces less
than a pound. Cakes baked in little tins, should have a smaller
proportion of flour than those that are done in large loaves.
Prepare a table-spoonful of beaten cinnamon, a tea-spoonful of
mace, and two beaten nutmegs; and mix them all together when
powdered. Mix in a tumbler, half a glass of white wine, half a
glass of brandy, and half a glass of rose water. Powder a pound of
loaf-sugar, and sift it into a deep pan; cut up in it a pound of
fresh butter; warm them by the fire, and stir them to a cream. Add
gradually the spice and the liquor. Beat ten eggs very light, and
stir them into the mixture in turn with the flour. Stir in twelve
drops of essence of lemon, and beat the whole very hard. Butter
some little tins; half fill them with the mixture; set them into a
brisk oven, and cake them about a quarter of an hour. When done,
they will shrink from the sides of the tins. After you turn them
out, spread them on an inverted sieve to cool. If you have
occasion to fill your tins a second time, scrape and wipe them
well before they are used again.

Make an icing flavoured with oil of lemon, or with extract of
roses; and spread two coats of it on the queen cakes. Set them to
dry in a warm place, but not near enough the fire to discolour the
icing and cause it to crack.

Queen cakes are best the day they are baked.


FRUIT QUEEN CAKES.

Make them in the above manner, with the addition of a pound of
currants, (picked, washed, dried, and floured,) and the juice and
grated peel of two large lemons, stirred in gradually at the last.
Instead of currants, you may put in sultana or seedless raisins,
cut in half and floured.

You may make a fruit pound cake in this manner.


LADY CAKE.

Take a quarter of a pound of shelled bitter almonds, or peach-kernels.
Put them into a bowl of boiling water, (renewing the
water as it cools) and let them lie in it till the skin peels off
easily; then throw them, as they, are blanched, into a bowl of
cold water, which will much improve their whiteness. Pound them,
one at a time, in a mortar; pouring in frequently a few drops of
rose water to prevent them from oiling and being heavy. Cut up
three quarters of a pound of fresh butter into a whole pound of
powdered loaf-sugar. Having warmed it, stir it to a light cream,
and then add very gradually the pounded almonds, beating them in
very hard. Sift into a separate pan half a pound and two ounces of
flour, and beat in another pan to a stiff froth, the, whites only
of seventeen eggs. Stir the flour and the white of egg alternately
into the pan of butter, sugar and almonds, a very little at a time
of each. Having beaten the whole as hard as possible, put it into
a buttered tin pan, (a square one is best,) and set it immediately
into a moderate oven. Bake it about an hour, more or less,
according to its thickness. When cool, ice it, flavouring the
icing, with oil of lemon. It is best the day after it is baked,
but it may be eaten fresh. When you put it away wrap it in a thick
cloth.

If you bake it in little tins, use two ounces less of flour.


SPANISH BUNS.

Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter into a jill and a half
or three wine glasses of rich unskimmed milk, (cream will be still
better,) and get the pan on a stove or near the fire, till the
butter becomes soft enough to stir all through the milk with a
knife; but do not let it get so hot as to boil of itself. Then set
it away in a cold place. Sift into separate pans, a half pound and
a quarter of a pound of the finest flour; and having beaten four
eggs as light as possible, mix them with the milk and butter, and
then pour the whole into the pan that contains the half pound of
flour. Having previously prepared two grated nutmegs, and a table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon and mace, stir them into the
mixture; adding six drops of extract of roses, or a large table-spoonful
of rose water. Add a wine glass and a half of the best
fresh yeast from a brewery. If you cannot procure yeast of the
very best quality, an attempt to make these buns will most
probably prove a failure, as the variety of other ingredients will
prevent them from rising unless the yeast is as strong as
possible. Before you put it in, skim off the thin liquid or beer
from the top, and then stir up the bottom. After you have put in
the yeast, add the sugar; stirring it well in, a very little at a
time. If too much sugar is put in at once, the buns will be heavy.
Lastly, sprinkle in the quarter of a pound of flour that was
sifted separately; and stir the whole very hard. Put the mixture
into a square pan well buttered, and (having covered it with a
cloth) place it in a corner of the hearth to rise, which will
require, perhaps, about five hours; therefore these buns should
always be made early in the day. Do not bake it till the batter
has risen to twice its original quantity, and is covered on the
top with bubbles; then set the pan into a moderate oven, and bake
it about twenty minutes. Let it get cool in the pan; then, cut it
into squares, and either ice them, (flavouring the icing with
essence of lemon or extract of roses,) or sift grated loaf-sugar
thickly over them. These buns (like all other cakes made with
yeast) should be eaten the day they are baked; as when stale, they
fall and become hard.

In mixing them, you may stir in at the last half a pound of
raisins, stoned, chopped and floured; or half a pound of currants.
If you use fruit, put in half a wine glass more of the yeast.


BATH BUNS.

Boil a little saffron in sufficient water to cover it, till the
liquid is of a bright yellow; then strain it, and set it to cool.
Rub half a pound of fresh butter into a pound of sifted flour, and
make it into a paste with four eggs that have been well beaten,
and a large wine glass of the best and strongest yeast; adding the
infusion of saffron to colour it yellow. Put the dough into a pan,
cover it with a cloth, and set it before the fire to rise. When it
is quite light, mix into it a quarter of a pound of powdered and
sifted loaf-sugar; a grated nutmeg; and, if you choose, two or
three spoonfuls of carraway seeds. Roll out the dough into a thick
sheet, and divide it into round cakes with a cutter. Strew the top
of each bun with carraway comfits, and bake them on flat tins
buttered well. They should be eaten the day they are baked, as
they are not good unless quite fresh.


JELLY CAKE.

Sift three quarters of a pound of flour. Stir to a cream a pound
of butter and a pound of powdered white sugar, and mix in half a
tea-cup of rose water, and a grated nutmeg, with a tea-spoonful of
powdered cinnamon. Beat ten eggs very light, and add them
gradually to the mixture, alternately with the flour; stirring the
whole very hard. Put your griddle into the oven of a stove; and
when it is quite hot, grease it with fresh butter tied in a clean
rag, and set on it a tin cake-ring, (about the size of a large
dinner plate,) greased also. Dip out two large table-spoonfuls and
a half of the cake batter; put it within the tin ring, and bake it
about five minutes (or a little longer) without turning it. When
it is done, take it carefully off; place it on a large dish to
cool; wipe the griddle, grease it afresh, and put on another cake.
Proceed thus till all the batter is baked. When the cakes are
cool, spread every one thickly over with grape jelly, peach
marmalade, or any other sweetmeat that is smooth and thick;
currant jelly will be found too thin, and is liable to run off.
Lay the cakes smoothly one on another, (each having a layer of
jelly or marmalade between,) and either grate loaf-sugar over the
top one, or ice it smoothly; marking the icing with cross lines of
coloured sugar-sand, all the lines meeting at the centre so as to
divide the cake, when cut, into triangular or wedge-shaped slices.
If you ice it, add a few drops of essence of lemon to the icing.

Jelly cake should be eaten fresh. It is best the day it is baked.

You may bake small jelly cakes in muffin rings.


SPONGE CAKE.

Sift three quarters of a pound of flour, [Footnote: Sponge cake
may be made with rice flour.] and powder a pound of the best loaf-sugar.
Grate the yellow rind and squeeze into a saucer the juice
of three lemons. Beat twelve eggs; and when they are as light as
possible, beat into them gradually and very hard the sugar, adding
the lemon, and beating the whole for a long time. Then by degrees,
stir in the flour slowly and lightly; for if the flour is stirred
hard and fast into sponge cake, it will make it porous and tough.
Have ready buttered, a sufficient number of little square tins,
(the thinner they are the better,) half fill them with the
mixture; grate loaf-sugar over the top of each; put them
immediately into a quick oven, and bake them about ten minutes;
taking out one to try when you think they are done. Spread them on
an inverted sieve to cool. When baked in small square cakes, they
are generally called Naples biscuits.

If you are willing to take the trouble, they will bake much nicer
in little square paper cases, which you must make of a thick
letter paper, turning up the sides all round, and pasting together
or sewing up the corners.

If you bake the mixture in one large cake, (which is not advisable
unless you have had much practice in baking,) put it into a
buttered tin pan or mould, and set it directly into a hot Dutch
oven, as it will fall and become heavy if allowed to stand. Keep
plenty of live coals on the top, and under the bottom till the
cake has risen very high, and is of a fine colour; then diminish
the fire, and keep it moderate till the cake is done. It will take
about an hour. When cool, ice it; adding a little essence of lemon
or extract of roses to the icing. Sponge cake is best the day it
is baked.

Diet Bread is another name for Sponge Cake.


ALMOND CAKE.

Blanch, and pound in a mortar, four ounces of shelled sweet
almonds and two ounces of shelled bitter ones; adding, as you
proceed, sufficient rose-water to make them light and white. Sift
half a pound of flour, and powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat
thirteen eggs; and when they are as light as possible, stir into
them alternately the almonds, sugar, and flour; adding a grated
nutmeg. Butter a large square pan; put in the mixture, and bake it
in a brisk oven about half an hour, less or more, according to its
thickness. When cool, ice it. It is best when eaten fresh.


COCOA-NUT CAKE.

Cut up and wash a cocoa-nut, and grate as much of it as will weigh
a pound. Powder a pound of loaf-sugar. Beat fifteen eggs very
light; and then beat into them, gradually, the sugar. Then add by
degrees the cocoa-nut; and lastly, a handful of sifted flour. Stir
the whole very hard, and bake it either in a large tin pan, or in
little tins. The oven should be rather quick.


WASHINGTON CAKE.

Stir together a pound of butter and a pound of sugar; and sift
into another pan a pound of flour. Beat six eggs very light, and
stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately with the flour
and a pint of rich milk or cream; if the milk is sour it will be
no disadvantage. Add a glass of wine, a glass of brandy, a
powdered nutmeg, and a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon.
Lastly, stir in a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash, or salaeratus,
that has been melted in a little vinegar; take care not to put in
too much pearl-ash, lest it give the cake an unpleasant taste.
Stir the whole very hard; put it into a buttered tin pan, (or into
little tins,) and bake it in a brisk oven. Wrapped in a thick
cloth, this cake will keep soft for a week.


CIDER CAKE.

Pick, wash, and dry a pound of currants, and sprinkle
them well with flour; and prepare two nutmegs, and a large table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon. Sift half a pound and two ounces
of flour. Stir together till very light, six ounces of fresh
butter, and half a pound of powdered white sugar; and add
gradually the spice, with two wine glasses of brandy, (or one of
brandy and one of white wine.) Beat four eggs very light, and stir
them into the mixture alternately with the flour. Add by degrees
half a pint of brisk cider; and then stir in the currants, a few
at a time. Lastly, a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or sal-aratus
dissolved in a little warm water. Having stirred the whole very
hard, put it into a buttered tin pan, and let it stand before the
fire half an hour previous to baking. Bake it in a brisk oven an
hour or more according to its thickness. Or you may bake it as
little cakes, putting it into small tins; in which case use but
half a pound of flour in raising the batter.


ELECTION CAKE.

Make a sponge (as it is called) in the following manner:--Sift
into a pan two pounds and a half of flour; and into a deep plate
another pound. Take a second pan, and stir a large table-spoonful
of the best West India molasses into five jills or two tumblers
and a half of strong fresh yeast; adding a Jill of water, warm,
but not hot. Then stir gradually into the yeast, &c. the pound of
flour that you have sifted separately. Cover it, and let it set by
the fire three hours to rise. While it is rising, prepare the
other ingredients, by stirring in a deep pan two pounds of fresh
butter and two pounds of powdered sugar, till they are quite light
and creamy; adding to them a table-spoonful of powdered cinnamon;
a tea-spoonful of powdered mace; and two powdered nutmegs. Stir in
also half a pint of rich milk. Beat fourteen eggs till very smooth
and thick, and stir them gradually into the mixture, alternately
with the two pounds and a half of flour which you sifted first.
When the sponge is quite light, mix the whole together, and bake
it in buttered tin pans in a moderate oven. It should be eaten
fresh, as no sweet cake made with yeast is so good after the first
day. If it is not probable that the whole will come into use on
the day it is baked, mix but half the above quantity.


MORAVIAN SUGAR CAKE.

Cut up a quarter of a pound of butter into a pint of rich milk,
and warm it till the butter becomes soft; then stir it about in
the milk so as to mix them well. Sift three quarters of a pound of
flour (or a pint and a half) into a deep pan, and making a hole in
the middle of it, stir in a large table-spoonful of the best
brewer's yeast in which a salt-spoonful of salt has been
dissolved; and then thin it with the milk and butter. Cover it,
and set it near the fire to rise. If the yeast is sufficiently
strong, it will most probably be light in two hours. When it is
quite light, mix with the dough a well-beaten egg and three
quarters of a pound more of sifted flour; adding a table-spoonful
of powdered cinnamon, and stirring it very hard. Butter a deep
square baking pan, and put the mixture into it. Set it to rise
again, as before. Mix together five ounces or a large coffee-cup
of fine brown sugar; two ounces of butter; and two table-spoonfuls
of powdered cinnamon. When the dough is thoroughly light, make
deep incisions all over it, at equal distances, and fill them with
the mixture of butter, sugar and cinnamon; pressing it hard down
into the bottom of the holes, and closing the dough a little at
the top to prevent the seasoning from running out. Strew some
sugar over the top of the cake; set it immediately into the oven,
and bake it from twenty minutes to half an hour, or more, in a
brisk oven, in proportion to its thickness. When cool, cut it into
squares. This is a very good plain cake; but do not attempt it
unless you have excellent yeast.


HUCKLEBERRY CAKE.

Spread a quart of ripe huckleberries on a large dish, and dredge
them thickly with flour. Mix together half a pint of milk; half a
pint of molasses; half a pint of powdered sugar; and half a pound
of butter. Warm them by the fire till the butter is quite soft;
then stir them all together, and set them away till cold. Prepare
a large table-spoonful of powdered cloves and cinnamon mixed. Beat
five eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the other
ingredients; adding, by degrees, sufficient gifted flour to make a
thick batter. Then stir in a small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash or
dissolved sal-aratus. Lastly, add by degrees the huckleberries.
Put the mixture into a buttered pan, or into little tins and bake
it in a moderate oven. It is best the second day.


BREAD CAKE.

When you are making wheat bread, and the dough is quite light and
ready to bake, take out as much of it as would make a twelve cent
loaf, and mix with it a tea cup full of powdered sugar, and a tea-cup
full of butter that has been softened and stirred about in a
tea-cup of warm milk. Add also a beaten egg. Knead it very well,
put it into a square pan, dredged with flour, cover it, and set it
near the fire for half an hour. Then bake it in a moderate oven,
and wrap it in a thick cloth as soon as it is done. It is best
when fresh.

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