[Modern cookery, in all its branches / By Eliza Acton].

  • Acton, Eliza, 1799-1859.
Date:
[1884?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: [Modern cookery, in all its branches / By Eliza Acton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    610/716 (page 552)
    of all half an ounce of carbonate of soda,* dissolved in a very small cupful of warm water; stir the whole briskly together, pour the mixture into very shallow tins, put it immediately into a moderate oven, and bake it for an hour and a half. The gingerbread made thus will be remarkably light and good. For children part of the spice and butter may be omitted. Flour, 2 lbs.; butter, 8 oz.; sugar, ^ lb.; powdered ginger, 2 oz.; eggs, 3 ; carbonate of soda, £ oz.; water, very small cupful: baked 1£ hour. Obs.—We think that something less than the half ounce of soda would be sufficient for this gingerbread, for with the whole quantity it rises in the oven to three times its height, and is apt to run over the tops of the tins, even when they are but half filled with it at first; or if it were well beaten into the mass without any water, after being carefully freed from lumps and mixed with a little sugar, the cake would still be quite light. ACTON GINGERBREAD. Whisk four strained or well-cleared eggs to the lightest possible froth (French eggs, if really sweet, will answer for the purpose), and pour to them, by degrees, a pound and a quarter of treacle, still beating them lightly. Add, in the same manner, six ounces of pale brown sugar free from lumps, one pound of sifted flour, and six ounces of good butter, just sufficiently warmed to be liquid, and no more, for if hot, it would render the cake heavy ; it should be poured in small portions to the mixture, which should be well beaten up with the back of a wooden spoon as each portion is thrown in : the success of the cake depends almost entirely on this part of the process When properly mingled with the mass, the butter will not be per- ceptible on the surface; and if the cake be kept light by constant whisking, large bubbles will appear in it to the last. When it is so far ready, add to it one ounce of Jamaica ginger and a large tea- spoonful of cloves in fi ne powder, with the lightly grated rinds of two fresh full-sized lemons. Butter thickly, in every part, a shallow square tin pan, and bake the gingerbread slowly for nearly or quite an hour in a gentle oven. Let it cool a little before it is turned out, and set it on its edge until cold, supporting it, if needful, against a large jar or bowl. We have usually had it baked in an American oven, in a tin less than two inches deep; and it has been excellent. We retain the name given to it originally in our own circle. CHEAP AND VERY GOOD G NGER OVEN-CAKE OR CAKES. Four French eggs (which must be perfectly sweet, or small • This should always be of the very best quality when used for cakes. Car- bonate of ammonia is recommended in preference to it by some writers.