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Ribbon Cake
1/2 cup butter 2 cups sugar Yolks 4 eggs 1 cup milk 3 1/2 cups flour 5 teaspoons baking powder Whites 4 eggs 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon mace 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/3 cup raisins, seeded and cut in pieces 1/3 cup figs, finely chopped 1 tablespoon molasses Mix first seven ingredients in order given. Bake two-thirds of the mixture in two layer-cake pans. To the remainder add spices, fruit, and molasses, and bake in a layer-cake pan. Put layers together with jelly (apple usually being preferred, as it has less flavor), having the dark layer in the centre.
A plain one-bowl butter cake split into three layers, one of them darkened with spice, dried fruit and molasses. The original assumes you know how to handle the batter, so the sequence is worth spelling out.
- Read the ingredient order as the method"Mix first seven ingredients in order given" means cream the butter with the sugar, beat in the yolks, then add the milk alternately with the flour sifted with the baking powder, and fold in the stiffly beaten whites last. The whites are the seventh item and should not be stirred in hard.
- OvenNo temperature is given in the original. A moderate oven, around 350F, suits layers of this depth, which should take roughly 20 to 25 minutes; the dark fruited layer may need a few minutes longer.
- PansThree 8- or 9-inch round layer pans, greased and floored with paper. Two-thirds of the batter goes into two pans and the remaining third, with the fruit and molasses added, into the third, so the three layers come out much the same depth.
- Baking powderFive teaspoons to 3 1/2 cups flour is heavy by current standards. Powders of the period were commonly single-acting and are generally reckoned weaker than modern ones; about 4 teaspoons of modern double-acting powder should be enough.
- Figs and raisinsDried figs of the period were firmer than today's soft-pack fruit; chop them fine and toss the fruit with a spoonful of the measured flour so it does not sink through the batter. "Seeded" raisins means the seeds removed, not seedless-by-variety.
- MaceMace is the aril, the lacy covering of the nutmeg seed, and its flavour is close to nutmeg's, usually described as more delicate and less sweet. Ground mace is still sold; if you have none, a little extra nutmeg is the nearest substitute, though the result is sweeter.
- The jellyApple jelly is specified for its neutrality, and the point holds: the filling is there for moisture and to glue the layers, not to compete with the spice. Spread it thinly on cooled layers or it will slide.
- Assembly and yieldDark layer in the middle, so a cut slice shows the stripe that gives the cake its name. One cake of about twelve to sixteen slices.