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Bride Cake

Commence operations by washing, picking, and putting two pounds of currants to dry before the fire, and then slicing thinly half a pound each of candied peels, orange, citron, and lemon. Next, bruise one pound of sweet almonds with a little orange-flower water, and pound a quarter of an ounce each of mace, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmegs to a powder. Wash four pounds of butter, and whip it to a cream; beat up the yolks and whites, separately, of eighteen or twenty eggs--the whites should be frothed. Get two pounds of sifted sugar, half a pint of brandy, and the same of sherry, and four pounds of Vienna flour, well dried and sifted. Put the creamed butter into a large basin, and by degrees mix in the sugar, stirring it constantly. Next add the frothed whites of the eggs, and beat all together with the yolks; then the almonds, spices, and, very gradually, the flour, till all are thoroughly blended. Beat well, and add the currants, sprinkling them in very gradually, so as to distribute them equally, and finish by making all smooth with the brandy and sherry. Keep up the beating till all is ready for the baking. A double paper, well buttered, must be put as a lining to the baking-tin, and the mixture should not fill the hoop more than three parts, that it may have room to expand. Put a paper over the top, and bake the cake in a moderately heated oven. Cover it with almond icing, allow it to dry, and then add ornamented sugar-icing, three-quarters of an inch in thickness. (See also Wedding Cake.) The bride cake shown in our illustration was made for the wedding of their Majesties King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra.