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SAND CAKE (another way)
Take half a pound of fine flour, a quarter of a pound of potato-flour, half a pound of warmed butter, a quarter of a pound of sifted sugar, six eggs, and the rind and juice of a lemon. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and bake in a moderate oven. When the cake is three-parts done, draw it gently to the mouth of the oven, and strew the following quickly over it: Two or three ounces of almonds cut small and mixed with one tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon and two ounces of powdered sugar. Place the cake back in the oven to finish baking, taking care that the almonds on the top do not become too brown.
A German Sandtorte in Victorian dress: a plain butter cake whose only lift comes from the eggs, finished with an almond-cinnamon crust part-way through baking. The weights are given in the old avoirdupois pounds and convert cleanly.
- The hinge: aerate the eggsThere is no baking powder here, so all the rise comes from air beaten into butter, sugar and eggs. Cream the softened butter and sugar until visibly pale, then beat the eggs in one at a time; better still, separate them, beat the whites to soft peaks and fold them in last with the flours.
- Weights in cupsHalf a pound of flour is about 1¾ cups; a quarter pound of potato flour about ¾ cup; half a pound of butter is 2 sticks; a quarter pound of sifted sugar is a generous ½ cup. The topping is roughly ½ to ¾ cup chopped almonds, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 ounces of sugar (about ¼ cup granulated, appreciably more if truly powdered).
- Potato flourThis is potato starch, not the modern dried potato flour sold for bread. It is what gives the cake the dry, fine, faintly gritty crumb the name refers to. Cornstarch is the nearest substitute if potato starch is unavailable.
- "Warmed butter"Warmed to the point of softness, not melted and pourable. Melted butter will not hold air when creamed and gives a heavy, greasy cake.
- Moderate ovenUsually read as about 350F. A 9-inch round tin or a large loaf tin, buttered and floured, will take the batter; expect something like 45 to 55 minutes total.
- When to add the almonds"Three-parts done" means about 35 minutes in, when the top has set but is still pale. Adding the nuts earlier buries them in rising batter and gives them too long over the heat; the warning against over-browning is the real point, so watch the last 10 minutes.
- The lemonRind and juice of one lemon. Add the zest with the butter and sugar so the oils disperse, and the juice at the end with the flour, or the acid may curdle the creamed mixture.
- Sweetness and yieldBy modern taste the cake itself is barely sweet, which is why the sugared almond topping is not optional. Serves 10 to 12 in thin slices, and it keeps several days wrapped, improving on the second day.
Sand cake is a direct translation of the German Sandtorte or Sandkuchen, a nineteenth-century household cake whose name is generally traced to its texture rather than any ingredient: the high proportion of potato starch to wheat flour produces a short, fine, sandy crumb quite unlike a sponge. Potato starch became cheap and widely available in northern and central Europe through the 1800s as potato processing industrialised, and cakes built on it spread through German, Austrian and Scandinavian baking, where versions are still sold. The "another way" in the title marks it as a variant on a plainer sand cake given elsewhere in the book, this one dressed up with an almond, cinnamon and sugar crust.