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Seed Cakes, Cheap

No. 1.--Rub six ounces of sweet dripping into a pound of flour, add a pinch of salt, a tea-spoonful of mixed spice, a table-spoonful of caraway-seeds, and six ounces of sugar. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Put a tea-spoonful of carbonate of soda into half a pint of milk, and set it in the oven till the soda is dissolved. Let the milk cool a little, and when it is lukewarm add a tea-spoonful of vinegar, and stir it into the cake. Beat the cake well, put it into a buttered hoop, and bake in a moderately-heated oven. Time to bake, one hour. Probable cost, 4d. per pound. Sufficient for a moderate-sized cake. No. 2.--Rub a quarter of a pound of butter into three pounds of flour; add half a tea-spoonful of salt, three heaped tea-spoonfuls of baking-powder, two tea-spoonfuls of mixed spice, two ounces of caraway-seeds, a pinch of powdered mace or grated nutmeg, eight ounces of sugar, and two ounces of candied peel chopped small. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Beat them to a paste with a pint of milk, and bake in a well-heated oven. Time to bake, three-quarters of an hour to one hour. Probable cost, 5d. per pound. Sufficient for two moderate-sized cakes. No. 3.--Rub six ounces of butter into a pound of flour, add a pinch of salt, six ounces of moist sugar, and two table-spoonfuls of caraway-seeds. Mix the dry ingredients thoroughly. Dissolve a small dessert-spoonful of carbonate of soda in a table-spoonful of milk. Add this to as much milk as will make up half a pint altogether, stir the milk to two well-beaten eggs, and afterwards beat the whole into the cake. Put the mixture into a buttered tin, and bake in a moderately-heated oven. A little spice and candied peel can be added, if approved. Time to bake, one hour. Probable cost, 8d. per pound. Sufficient for a moderate-sized cake. No. 4.--Rub six ounces of butter into three-quarters of a pound of flour, add a pinch of salt, five ounces of the best moist sugar, and a dessert-spoonful of caraway-seeds. Dissolve half a small tea-spoonful of soda in a tea-spoonful of hot milk. Beat this up with two eggs already well whisked, and stir the whole into the cake. Put the mixture into a buttered tin, and bake in a moderately-heated oven till the cake is done. Time to bake, from thirty to forty minutes. Probable cost, 9d. per pound.