Spanish Cake

A plain butter layer cake scented with cinnamon, written in the telegraphic style of early cookery school books, where "mix ingredients in order given" stands in for a whole method.

• Read the order as a methodThe listing is telegraphic, and the conventional reading is to cream the butter with the sugar, beat in the yolks, then add the sifted flour, baking powder and cinnamon alternately with the milk. The stiffly beaten whites go in last, folded rather than stirred.
• OvenNo temperature is given. A moderate oven, around 350F, suits a cake of this kind; shallow layers of this size should take roughly 20 to 25 minutes, and the cake is done when it springs back and a skewer comes out clean.
• Shallow tinsThe recipe specifies only 'shallow tins'. Two 8-inch round tins, greased and floured, suit this quantity of batter; in a 9-inch pair the layers would come out noticeably thinner.
• Baking powderThree teaspoons to 1 3/4 cups flour is generous by modern standards; period recipes commonly call for more powder than we would now. With modern double-acting powder, 2 teaspoons is ample; the full three can leave a coarse crumb and a faint metallic edge.
• FlourThe flour a period cook used was often softer than modern all-purpose. Cake flour, or all-purpose with two tablespoons per cup replaced by cornstarch, gives a tender crumb.
• Caramel frostingThe capitalisation implies a Caramel Frosting recipe elsewhere in the book. Any cooked brown-sugar frosting will serve; such frostings are best spread while still fluid, since they stiffen as they cool.
• YieldOne two-layer cake, eight to ten servings. Keep it covered; it is at its best within a day or two of baking.