Bride's Cake

A white butter cake of the old "silver cake" type, leavened by baking powder plus a dozen stiffly beaten whites. The batter is enormous by modern standards and the paper lining is not optional.

• The hinge: fold, don't stirThe whipped whites carry much of the lift. Add them alternately with the milk in three or four additions and fold with a spatula only until no streaks remain; beating them in will deflate the batter and give a dense, rubbery crumb.
• Oven temperature"Moderate" in books of this period is usually taken as somewhere around 350F, though the term was never precise. For a loaf this deep, 325F is safer — the outside will set long before the centre, and the four thicknesses of paper are there precisely to slow the crust.
• Scant cupful butterA scant cup is a cup just short of level: about 7 oz / 200 g. Have it soft enough to cream properly with 3 cups sugar, which is a stiff mixture.
• Twelve egg whitesRoughly 1 1/2 cups, or about 360 ml, from large eggs. Whites separate and whip best when the eggs are cold but the whites themselves have come to room temperature.
• Cornstarch and flourThe cup of cornstarch stands in for cake flour, lowering the protein of the mix. Sift it with the flour and baking powder at least twice so it disperses; pockets of cornstarch taste raw.
• Lining the tinButter the tin, then line it with four sheets of parchment cut to fit, buttering between. This is the period's insulation trick for a long, slow bake and it prevents the sides scorching.
• Yield and timingThis is a very large batter — more than a single 9-inch round tin will hold; a big deep loaf tin or, better, two or more tins, which will also bake more evenly. Expect something in the region of 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours at 325F, and test with a skewer in the centre rather than by clock alone.
• FlavouringUse pure almond extract sparingly — 1/2 teaspoon with 1 teaspoon vanilla is ample for this quantity.