Cakes and Puddings

A Child's Christmas Cake

Cream three-quarters of a cupful of butter, alternately with three cupfuls of flour and four level teaspoonsfuls of baking powder, sifted together.  Flavor, stir in beaten whites of five eggs.  Bake for fifty minutes.  When cold, ice thickly and decorate with pecan nuts and small red candles.

To make plain plum pudding, mix together one pint of stale, dry breadcrumbs, one cupful of brown sugar, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, half a grated nutmeg and half a pound of finely chopped suet.  Stone half a pound of raisins and mix with them half a pound of cleaned currants and half a pound of shredded citron.  Dissolve half a teaspoonful of soda in a tablespoonful of warm water; add it to a half a cupful of New Orleans molasses.  Add this to three eggs, well beaten, and pour the whole over the dry ingredients.  Mix, and pack into greased moulds or kettles.  Steam or boil for four hours.

A plain Christmas pudding is made as follows: Chop fine one cupful of suet.  Stone one cupful of raisins.  Dissolve a teaspoonful of soda in two tablespoons of water and add it to one cupful of New Orleans molasses.  Now add this to the suet, then half a pint of milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of cinnamon and three cupfuls of sifted flour.  Beat vigorously for two minutes and add the raisins, floured.  Pour into a well-greased mould, put on the lid, and steam or boil continuously for three hours.

Dominoes are not difficult to make.  Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, adding gradually two cupfuls of sugar; add the yolks of four eggs.  Beat thoroughly; then fold in the well-beaten whites, and three cupfuls of pastry flour sifted with two teaspoonfuls of baking powder.  Pour into greased shallow pans to the depth of half an inch.  Bake in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes.  When done turn out a cloth to cool, and when cold cut with a sharp knife into oblong pieces the shape and size of a domino.  Cover the top and sides with white icing; when this has hardened, dip a wooden skewer into melted chocolate and draw the lines and make the dots of the dominoes.  Children are always delighted with these little cakes.

A plain fruit cake is made as follows: Mix one pound and a half of cleaned currants with one pound and a half of stoned raisins; add half a pound of shredded citron; sprinkle over a quarter of a pound of flour, and mix thoroughly.  Beat a pound of butter to a cream, adding gradually a pound of sugar.  Beat ten eggs, without separating, until light.  Sift a pound of pastry flour; add the eggs and four alternately to the butter and sugar, and beat well.  Add the grated rind and juice of one lemon, one grated nutmeg, a level teaspoonful of allspice, half a teaspoonful of cloves, a teaspoonful of cinnamon, a quarter of a teaspoonful of mace.  Mix, and add the fruit.  Line fruit-cake pans with greased paper; pour in the mixture, and bake in a moderate over for four hours.

"Poor Man's Fruit Cake" is a delicious cake, but must be made most carefully to about good results.  It, like all fruit cakes is better for standing.  Seed and chop fine one pound of layer raisins.  Dissolves a quarter of a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda in two tablespoonfuls of warm water, then stir it into to this half a pint of thick sour cream and a cupful of dark brown sugar.  Sift three and a quarter cupfuls of pastry flour; add it to the mixture, and beat thoroughly; then add a tablespoonful of allspice and a tablespoonful of cinnamon; add the raisins floured.  Turn into a square or round pan and bake in a moderate oven for one and and a half.