Almond Cake
1 1/4 pounds of sugar. 1 1/4 pounds of butter. 1 pound of flour. 12 eggs. 1 pound almonds.--Mrs. B.
Almond Cake. 12 eggs. 1 pound flour. 1 pound sugar. 1 pound butter. 1 pound almonds (blanched). 1 pound citron.
Blanch the almonds, and slice the citron thin. One wine-glass of brandy. Mix like pound cake.--Mrs. S. T.
Two versions of the same cake from two contributors, both written as pound cake — equal weights of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, with almonds and (in the second) citron and brandy folded in. Almost everything here is given by weight, which makes the recipes easier to follow than most of their vintage; the gaps are method, oven and pan.
- "Mix like pound cake"This is the hinge, and it is the only instruction given. Cream the butter with the sugar until pale, beat in the yolks one at a time, fold in the sifted flour, then fold in the whites beaten to soft peaks last. There is no chemical leavening in either version — all the lift comes from air beaten into the butter and whites, so undercreaming gives a dense, greasy cake.
- ScaleEach version runs to roughly 4 1/4 to 5 pounds of batter plus the almonds — a party cake for a large household. Half or quarter it freely. Twelve eggs is close to 1 1/4 lb shelled, which is about what balances the pound of flour; note that Mrs. B.'s version carries a quarter-pound more each of sugar and butter than flour, so it is not a strict equal-weight pound cake.
- A wine-glassIn American cookbooks of this period a wine-glass is about 2 fluid ounces, or 1/4 cup. Add the brandy after the flour, not before, or the batter may curdle.
- Blanching the almondsPour boiling water over the shelled almonds, let stand a minute, and slip off the skins. In 1879 the next step would be pounding them in a mortar, often with a little rose water or brandy to keep them from turning to oil. A food processor works, pulsed dry and in short bursts — run it too long and you have almond butter, which will weigh the cake down. Ground almonds or almond flour from a bag is a fair substitute.
- CitronCandied citron peel, sold in blocks and now easiest to find around Christmas. A pound is a great deal; slice it thin as directed and toss it with a spoonful of the measured flour so it does not sink. Candied orange or lemon peel stands in acceptably.
- Oven and pansBake at 325F. Divide between two 10-inch tube pans, well buttered and lined, and expect 1 1/4 to 1 3/4 hours depending on depth; test with a skewer at the centre. A cake this rich colours long before it is cooked through, so tent it with foil once the top is set.
- KeepingButter-and-brandy cakes of this type improve for several days wrapped tight, and will hold a week or more at room temperature. Cool completely in the pan before turning out or the crumb tears.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by more than two hundred Virginia housewives, prints recipes as they were sent in — which is why two ingredient lists sit here back to back, credited only to "Mrs. B." and "Mrs. S. T." and differing in sugar, butter, citron and brandy; the heading "Almond Cake" falls after "Mrs. B.", so the first list may in fact be the tail of the preceding receipt. Both belong to the pound-cake family, the English batter often traced to equal weights that gave its name to a whole family of cakes and needed no recipe book at all: a cook who knew the ratio could ornament it however her pantry allowed. Almonds and citron were imported goods bought by the pound at the store, so a cake carrying a pound of each was a statement of means as much as a dessert, and it belongs to the same tradition as the great keeping cakes made ahead for Christmas and weddings. The instruction "mix like pound cake" assumes a reader who has done it since girlhood, which is the assumption running through the entire book.