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Viennese Biscuits, for Dessert
Beat five eggs for fully a quarter of an hour with half a pound of powdered white sugar. Add gradually half a pound of flour, and beat the mixture again till it is light and smooth. Have ready some baking-sheets buttered and floured for the purpose. Put the batter into a biscuit-forcer, and gently press it out upon the baking-sheets in shapes broad at the ends and narrow in the middle. Dredge powdered white sugar on the surface, and bake the biscuits in a brisk oven. When they are lightly browned they are done enough. Time to bake the biscuits, about eight minutes. Probable cost, 1s. for this quantity.
A whole-egg sponge batter piped into fingers — essentially a savoiardi or ladyfinger by another name. The whole thing turns on how much air you beat into the eggs, since there is no chemical leavening and no fat.
- WeightsHalf a pound of sugar and half a pound of flour are 8 oz (225 g) each, with five eggs. That is a classic sponge ratio; use plain white flour, not self-raising.
- "Fully a quarter of an hour"Fifteen minutes is a hand-whisking time. In a stand mixer on high, eggs and sugar reach the ribbon stage — pale, thick, and holding a trail for several seconds — in about 6 to 10 minutes. Undermixing here is the usual cause of flat, dense biscuits.
- Folding in the flourThe instruction to "beat the mixture again till it is light and smooth" is misleading by modern standards. Sift the flour over the foam and fold it in with a spatula; beating at this stage knocks out the air the eggs have just taken up.
- A brisk ovenRoughly 400 to 425F (200 to 220C); the book gives no temperature of its own. At that heat eight minutes is right for fingers of this size; they should be set and only lightly coloured at the edges.
- Biscuit-forcerA Victorian piping syringe. A piping bag with a plain half-inch tip does the same job. The "broad at the ends and narrow in the middle" shape is made by easing off pressure as you draw the middle of each finger.
- The sugar dredgeDredging before baking is what gives these their pearled, crackled top. Dust, wait a minute for it to dissolve slightly, then dust again and tip off the excess before the tray goes in.
- Baking sheetsButtered and floured works, but the batter grips; parchment is easier and lets you slide the fingers off intact while still warm.
- YieldAbout 30 to 36 fingers, depending on length. They soften within a day, so store airtight or dry them out in a cooling oven if you want them crisp for trifle.
Sponge fingers of this kind travelled across Europe under a string of national labels — Savoy biscuits, Naples biscuits, boudoirs, savoiardi — and "Viennese" is attached to a good many sweet things in English cookery books of the later nineteenth century, probably reflecting the prestige Viennese pastry and confectionery then carried. The title's "for Dessert" uses the word in its older sense: dessert was the final course of fruit, nuts, ices and small dry biscuits set out after the sweets had been cleared, and a plain crisp finger was there to be eaten with wine or a compote rather than on its own. The costing of a shilling for the batch is a reminder of what the book was for — a middle-class household manual where the mistress was expected to know what a dish ought to cost before she authorised it.