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Scotch Cake
Take one pound of fine flour, a half-pound of fresh butter, a half-pound of finely sifted loaf sugar; mix well in a paste, roll out an inch thick in a square shape, pinch the edges so as to form small points; ornament with comfits and orange-peel chips; bake in a quick oven until of a pale lemon color.
This is shortbread under an older name, and it is written in the shorthand of a cook who already knew what it should look like. Two things need attention: the sugar and the oven.
- The hinge: temperatureA "quick oven" is usually glossed as somewhere around 400-450F, which risks scorching a slab of butter paste an inch thick before the centre sets. Shortbread of this thickness is better baked at 300-325F, and "pale lemon color" is the doneness cue to trust, not the clock.
- Loaf sugarSugar was sold as a hard cone to be broken and scraped; "finely sifted loaf sugar" is the fine powder from that scraping. Caster sugar is the closest match. Granulated leaves the crumb gritty and the surface pebbled.
- ComfitsComfits were seeds or nuts coated in hard sugar, most often caraway, sometimes coriander or almond. Caraway comfits were a common dressing for shortbread of this kind. Sugared almonds or plain caraway seed pressed into the top are the practical substitutes.
- Orange-peel chipsCandied orange peel, cut into narrow strips. Buy peel in whole pieces and cut it yourself; the pre-diced kind is too soft and too wet, and it will bleed into the dough.
- The proportionsTwo parts flour to one each of butter and sugar is sweeter than the modern 3:2:1 shortbread ratio, and the dough will spread a little more. It is not an error; it is the older style. Reducing the sugar to 6 oz gives a firmer, sandier result if that is what you want.
- MixingThere is no liquid and no leavening. The butter must be soft enough to bring the flour and sugar together into a paste by hand, and it should be handled just until it coheres. Overworking develops gluten and makes it tough rather than short.
- ShapingRoll to a square about an inch thick, then pinch the edge at intervals to raise small points. Docking the surface all over with a fork before baking helps it bake evenly and flat.
- Yield and cuttingA pound of flour makes about 2 lb of dough, roughly a 7-inch square at that thickness. Score it into fingers or wedges as soon as it comes out, while still hot and soft, then cut through once cold. It serves 16 to 20.
"Scotch cake" is one of several older English names for what Scotland calls shortbread, and the recipe here is the classic three-ingredient paste of flour, butter and sugar with no egg, no liquid and no raising agent — the richness of the butter alone makes it short. The pinched or notched edge is traditionally explained as a survival of the round Yule bannock, whose scalloped rim is often said to represent the rays of the sun, though the square shape given here shows how loosely that convention was held. The caraway comfits and candied orange chips place it in the older festive tradition: sugar-coated seeds and candied peel were common ornaments for celebration baking well before glacé cherries arrived.