Fine Almond Cake
A historical recipe from Modern cookery for private families, by Eliza Acton (1882).
A historical recipe
Modern cookery for private families, by Eliza Acton (1882). Project Gutenberg eBook #72482.
From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards. Its words name: a substance or vessel no longer considered safe. Check current food-safety guidance before following this.
Source and licence
From Modern cookery for private families, by Eliza Acton (1882). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #72482 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72482). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.
Read the original Public domain in the USA
What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.
- Additives or old utensils. The text names something no longer considered safe in food or for cooking in, such as lead, alum, borax, bitter almonds or copper pans. Don't use it.
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Ingredients
- eight ounces of fresh Jordan almonds
- one ounce of bitter
- one pound of fine
- a pound of dried
- a pound of almonds may be mixed
- twelve fresh eggs
- one egg
Method
- Blanch, dry, and pound to the finest possible paste, eight ounces of fresh Jordan almonds, and one ounce of bitter;
- moisten them with a few drops of cold water or white of egg, to prevent their oiling;
- then mix with them very gradually twelve fresh eggs which have been whisked until they are exceedingly light;
- throw in by degrees one pound of fine, dry, sifted sugar, and keep the mixture light by constant beating, with a large wooden spoon, as the separate ingredients are added.
- Mix in by degrees three-quarters of a pound of dried and sifted flour of the best quality;
- then pour gently from the sediment a pound of butter which has been just melted, but not allowed to become hot, and beat it very gradually, but very thoroughly, into the cake, letting one portion entirely disappear before another is thrown in;
- add the rasped or finely-grated rinds of two sound fresh lemons, fill a thickly-buttered mould rather more than half full with the mixture, and bake the cake from an hour and a half to two hours in a well-heated oven.
- Lay paper over the top when it is sufficiently coloured, and guard carefully against its being burned.
- Jordan almonds, 1/2 lb.;
- bitter almonds, 1 oz.;
- eggs, 12;
- sugar, 1 lb.;
- flour, 3/4 lb.;
- butter, 1 lb.;
- rinds lemons, 2: 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
- Obs.—Three-quarters of a pound of almonds may be mixed with this cake when so large a portion of them is liked, but an additional ounce or two of sugar, and one egg or more, will then be required.