Home › The Principles of Cookery › Wedding Cake, Excellent

Wedding Cake, Excellent

A wedding cake is an expensive article to purchase, and if it is not wanted very large, may be made at home without much difficulty, and with a great saving of expense. It will improve with keeping-indeed, confectioners do not use their cakes until they have been made some months; and if a cake is cut into soon after it is made it will crumble. To make a wedding cake, first procure the following ingredients. One pound and a half of flour, one pound and a half of butter, half a pound of candied lemon, half a pound of candied orange, half a pound of candied citron, one pound of dried cherries, one pound and a half of dried currants (if the cherries cannot easily be procured, they may be omitted, and two pounds and a half of currants used instead), eight ounces of almonds, eight eggs, the rind of four oranges or of two lemons rubbed upon sugar, half an ounce of spices, consisting of powdered cinnamon, grated nutmeg, and powdered cloves in equal proportions, a tea-spoonful of salt, and a small tumblerful of brandy. If objected to, the brandy may be omitted, and another egg may be added. Wash, pick, and dry the currants, cut the cherries into moderate-sized pieces, slice the candied peel into thin shreds, blanch and pound the almonds, or cut them into very small pieces, and crush the flavoured sugar to powder. Put the butter into a large bowl, and beat it to cream, either with a wooden spoon or with the hand. Add very gradually the sugar, flour, and eggs, and when they are thoroughly mixed work in the rest of the ingredients. Put them in a little at a time, and beat the cake between every addition. It should be beaten fully three-quarters of an hour. Line a tin hoop with double folds of buttered paper, pour in the mixture, and place it on a metal baking-sheet with twelve folds of paper under it, and four or five on the top, to keep it from burning. Put it in a moderately-heated oven, and keep the oven at an even temperature until it is done enough. If the cake is to be iced, first prepare the almond part: Take half a pound of almonds, throw them into boiling water, and skin them. Pound them in a mortar with a few drops of orange-flower water, one pound of fine white sugar, and as much white of egg as will make a soft, stiff paste. Spread this over the top of the cake, and keep it from the edge as much as possible. Put it in a cool oven, or in a warm place, till it is dry and hard. To make the sugar icing, put two pounds of icing sugar into a bowl and work into it the whites of two eggs, or, if necessary, three, or even four. The whites must not be whisked, but thrown in as they are. Work the mixture to a stiff shiny paste, and whilst working it add occasionally a drop of lemon-juice. Be careful to obtain icing sugar. If a drop of liquid blue is added it will make it look whiter. The icing will need to be worked vigorously to make a paste which will not run, and the fewer eggs taken the better. The cake ought not to be iced until a short time before it is wanted, as it may get dirty. The icing should be spread evenly over with hands wetted with cold water, then smoothed with an ivory knife, and it should be put in a gentle oven to harden. It may be ornamented with little knobs of icing placed round the edge; and on the day of the wedding a wreath of white flowers and green leaves may be placed round it by way of ornament. If anything more elaborate is required, a pretty centre ornament may be made with glazed white cardboard, silver paper, and orange-blossom; or a stand and a drum, with artificial flowers, may be hired of the confectioner. Time to bake the cake, about six hours. Probable cost, 10s., or thereabouts. A cake of the same size, if bought at the confectioner's, would cost at least 30s. Sufficient for a cake the size of a large dinner-plate. This, when placed on a stand and ornamented, will have a very good appearance.