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Gold Cake
3/4 cupful butter, 2 cupfuls sugar, yolks 10 eggs, 1 1/2 pints flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking-powder, 1 cupful thin cream, 1 teaspoonful each extract lemon and nutmeg. Rub the butter and sugar to a white cream; add the yolks, three at a time, beating a little after each addition; add the flour sifted with the powder, the thin cream, and the extracts; mix into a pretty firm batter; bake in a paper-lined cake-tin, in a steady oven, fifty minutes.
A rich butter cake built on ten egg yolks, the traditional partner to a white cake made with the whites. Nothing here is difficult, but the measurements are given in old volume terms and the oven instruction needs a number.
- Flour by the pint1 1/2 pints is 3 cups by volume, roughly 13 oz of all-purpose flour. Sift it with the baking powder as directed; the batter is stiff and even distribution matters.
- Thin creamThis means light cream, roughly 18 to 20 percent fat; modern half-and-half (about 10 to 12 percent) is a passable stand-in. Whole milk will work but gives a slightly drier crumb.
- Steady ovenRead this as a moderate, even oven, in modern terms somewhere around 350F, with the heat kept steady rather than rising. Fifty minutes suits a deep tin of roughly 9 inches or a tube pan; test with a skewer at 45 minutes.
- Nutmeg extractExtract or oil of nutmeg was used in this period and is now hard to find. About 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg is a reasonable substitute; a full teaspoon of grated nutmeg will dominate the lemon.
- Yolks three at a timeThe instruction is the hinge of the recipe. Ten yolks added at once will slacken the creamed butter and sugar; three at a time, beaten in, keeps the emulsion and the cake's fine texture.
- Paper-lined tinButter the tin, line the base and sides with parchment, then butter the paper. A cake this sugary and this rich in yolk browns fast at the edges and sticks readily.
- Yield and the leftover whitesMakes one large cake, 12 to 16 servings. The ten whites were commonly used for a silver or white cake; otherwise they keep several days refrigerated or freeze well.