Plain Cider Cake

A historical recipe from Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches, by Eliza Leslie (1840).

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A historical recipe

Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches, by Eliza Leslie (1840). Project Gutenberg eBook #9624.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Ingredients 3 ingredients

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Sift into a large pan a pound and a half of flour, and rub into it half a pound of butter.
Mix in three-quarters of a pound of powdered white sugar and melt a small tea-spoonful of sal-aratus or pearl-ash in a pint of the best cider.
Pour the cider into the other ingredients while it is foaming, and stir the whole very hard.
Have ready a buttered square pan, put in the mixture, and set It immediately in a rather brisk oven.
Bake it an hour or more, according to its thickness.
This is a tea cake, and should be eaten fresh.
Cut it into squares, split and butter them.