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Solid Ratafia
Crumble six ounces of macaroons and two ounces of ratafia cakes, put them into a bowl, and pour upon them a pint of boiling cream sweetened and flavoured with lemon-rind. Stir the mixture till it is almost cool, and the biscuits are dissolved, then add half an ounce of isinglass or gelatine which has been dissolved in a tea-cupful of milk. Stir the cream till it is cold, pour it into a damp mould, and leave it in a cool place till firm. Turn it upon a glass dish, and serve in the same. Time, about twelve hours to set the solid. Probable cost, about 3s. Sufficient for a quart mould.
A Victorian set cream in the blancmange family, built on crushed almond biscuits rather than starch. The one thing that decides success is the gelatine: dissolve it gently in the milk and add it to cream that is warm but well off the boil, since heat above a bare simmer weakens its setting power.
- Ratafia cakesSmall, crisp almond biscuits, roughly the size of a penny, historically flavoured with bitter almond. Amaretti are the closest supermarket equivalent; use them for both the six ounces of "macaroons" and the two ounces of ratafias if you cannot find the latter.
- Isinglass and gelatineIsinglass is a collagen extract from sturgeon swim bladders, once sold in leaf or shred form. Half an ounce is about 14 g of modern powdered gelatine (two 7 g sachets) or roughly seven leaves, which will give a cream firm enough to unmould.
- A pint of creamAn imperial pint, so 20 fl oz, a little under 2 1/2 US cups (about 570 ml). Single cream or light cream is nearer the period's "cream" than heavy whipping cream, which makes the finished solid heavy.
- Flavouring the creamPare the lemon rind in wide strips with no white pith, heat it in the cream, then strain it out before pouring over the biscuits. Sweetness is left to the cook: 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar suits the almond biscuits, which are already sweet.
- Dissolving the biscuitsCrumble the biscuits finely and stir persistently as the mixture cools; anything left in lumps will sink and leave a gritty base. Stirring until cold also keeps the almond solids suspended rather than settling to the bottom of the mould.
- A damp mouldRinse the mould in cold water and do not dry it. The film of water lets the set cream release cleanly; a brief dip of the mould in hot water and a firm shake will free it onto the dish.
- Setting timeTwelve hours reflects a cool larder. In a refrigerator it will be firm in four to six hours, though overnight gives a cleaner turn-out and a better flavour.
- YieldA quart mould, about 1.1 litres, serving six to eight. Serve it on a glass dish as directed, with stewed or fresh fruit if you want something to cut the richness.
"Ratafia" began as the name of a sweet cordial flavoured with fruit kernels or bitter almonds, and the name is generally held to have passed to the small almond biscuits associated with it; by the nineteenth century these were a standard British confectioner's line. A "solid" in Victorian dessert usage appears to mean a cream stiffened with isinglass or gelatine so that it can be turned out of a shaped mould and stand on its own, set in a cool larder rather than on ice.