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Citron Cake
1/4 lb. butter 1/2 lb. flour 1/2 lb. sugar 1 tablespoon brandy 3 eggs 1 cup citron, thinly sliced, then cut in strips 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, yolks of eggs well beaten, milk, and flour mixed and sifted with baking powder. Beat whites of eggs until stiff, and add to first mixture, then add brandy and citron. Bake in a moderate oven one hour.
A plain pound-cake batter carrying candied citron, measured by weight in the old confectioner's manner. Weigh rather than scoop and it comes out reliably.
- The weights in cups1/4 lb butter is 1/2 cup (113 g); 1/2 lb flour is about 1 3/4 cups (227 g); 1/2 lb sugar is about 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (227 g). A scale is the safer route, since scooped flour can run 20 percent heavy.
- Moderate ovenRead that as 350F (175C). At an hour, a cake of this density in a single loaf pan will be done or nearly so; test with a skewer at 50 minutes.
- The milkMilk is folded into the method but no quantity is given in the ingredient column. For a batter of this weight, expect somewhere near 1/2 cup — add it gradually until the mixture drops thickly from the spoon rather than pouring.
- CitronThis is candied citron peel, the thick-rinded citrus preserved in sugar, not the citron melon and not lemon peel. It is still sold around the winter holidays; toss the strips in a spoonful of the measured flour so they do not sink.
- Baking powder in 1900Baking powder of the period -- Baking powders of the era were single-acting and could vary in strength between brands, so they do not behave identically to modern double-acting powder. Use 1 1/2 teaspoons as written.
- Folding the whitesThe whites are the only lightener beyond the powder, so fold them in with a spatula in two or three additions and stop while streaks are just gone. Beating them into the batter costs you the crumb.
- Pan and yieldUse one buttered and floured 9x5 inch loaf pan, or two small ones. It makes roughly 10 to 12 slices and keeps well wrapped for several days, improving on the second day.
- The brandyOne tablespoon is for flavour, not moisture. Add it after the whites so the alcohol does not deflate them, and stir no more than necessary.