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Sponge Cake

A historical recipe from The Healthy Life Cook Book, 2d ed., by Florence Daniel (1915).

A historical recipe

The Healthy Life Cook Book, 2d ed., by Florence Daniel (1915). Project Gutenberg eBook #10632.

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

Source and licence

From The Healthy Life Cook Book, 2d ed., by Florence Daniel (1915). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #10632 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10632). 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.

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Ingredients

Method

  1. Take the weight of two eggs in castor sugar and flour.
  2. For a richer cake take the weight of two eggs in sugar and the weight of one only in flour.
  3. Well grease the cake-tin, and sprinkle with castor sugar until thoroughly covered, and shake out any that remains loose.
  4. Well whisk the eggs with a coiled wire beater.
  5. They must be quite stiff when done.
  6. Add the sugar, a teaspoon at a time, while whisking.
  7. Or separate the yolks and whites, beating the yolks and sugar together and whisking the whites on a plate with a knife before adding to the yolks.
  8. Lastly, dredge in the flour.
  9. Stir lightly, but do not beat, or the eggs will go down.
  10. Pour mixture into tin, and bake about one hour in a moderate oven.
  11. 13.
  12. SULTANA SCONES.
  13. 1 oz.
  14. cane sugar, 3 ozs.
  15. nutter, 1 lb.
  16. flour, 1/4 lb.
  17. sultanas, a short 1/2 pint water.
  18. Mix the flour and sugar;
  19. rub in the nutter;
  20. add sultanas;
  21. make it into a dough with the water;
  22. roll out about 1/2 in.
  23. thick;
  24. form into scones;
  25. bake in a moderate oven.
  26. 14.
  27. SUSSEX CAKE.
  28. 1 lb.
  29. flour, 6 ozs.
  30. nutter, 1/4 lb.
  31. sultanas, 1/4 lb.
  32. castor sugar, grated lemon rind.
  33. This cake is included especially for the non-users of milk and eggs.
  34. Of course it does not turn out quite like the orthodox cake;
  35. some people might even call it "puddeny," but it is not by any means unlike the substantial household cake if the directions are minutely followed and the baking well done.
  36. But if any attempt is made to make it rich, disaster follows, and it becomes as heavy as the proverbial lead.
  37. Made as follows, however, I am told it is quite common in some country places:--Beat the nutter and sugar to a cream.
  38. Upon the amount of air incorporated during this beating depends the lightness of the cake.
  39. Beat the flour into the creamed nutter.
  40. Now add enough water to make cake of a consistency to not quite drop off the spoon.
  41. Put the mixture into a greased hot qr.
  42. qtn.
  43. tin.
  44. Put in a very hot oven until nicely brown.
  45. This will take from 20 minutes to half an hour.
  46. Cover top with greased paper, and allow oven to get slightly cooler.
  47. The baking will take from 1-1/2 to 2 hours.