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Velvet Cake
1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cups flour 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup corn-starch Yolks 4 eggs 4 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 cup cold water Whites 4 eggs 1/3 cup almonds, blanched, and shredded Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, yolks of eggs well beaten, and water. Mix and sift flour, corn-starch, and baking powder, and add to first mixture; then add whites of eggs beaten until stiff. After putting in pan, cover with almonds and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Bake forty minutes in a moderate oven.
A plain butter cake made tender by replacing part of the flour with cornstarch, and finished before baking rather than after. Two details need translating: the oven and the pan.
- Moderate ovenSet the oven to 350F. Forty minutes suits a single deep cake; a shallower pan will be done in 25 to 30 minutes.
- Pan sizeNo pan is named. The batter is generous, in the region of 5 to 6 cups once the whites are folded in, which suits a 9-inch tube pan or an 8-inch square; two 8-inch rounds will give shallow layers that bake faster. Grease and flour, or line the base with parchment.
- Why cornstarchHalf a cup of cornstarch in place of flour cuts the gluten and gives a fine, close crumb, presumably what the name points to. Sift it with the flour and baking powder as directed, or it will streak.
- Baking powderFour teaspoons to two cups of dry ingredients is generous by current standards; recipes of the period were routinely formulated with more leavening than we now use. With modern double-acting powder, 2 to 2 1/2 teaspoons gives a better flavour and less risk of the cake doming and cracking.
- Folding the whitesBeat the whites to stiff but not dry peaks and fold them in last, in two or three additions, cutting rather than stirring. This is the only lift beyond the powder, and overworking here is what turns a velvet crumb coarse.
- Blanched almondsBlanched means skinned: cover with boiling water for a minute, drain, and slip the skins off, then shred lengthwise with a knife. Sliced almonds from a packet are an acceptable substitute.
- The almond topScatter the almonds over the raw batter and dust with powdered sugar before baking. The sugar sets into a thin crisp glaze; if the nuts colour too fast, lay a sheet of foil loosely over the top for the last ten minutes.
- YieldServes 10 to 12. It keeps two or three days well wrapped, and the crumb is firm enough to slice thin for tea.