Savoy Cake
INGREDIENTS. -7 eggs, the weight of 4 in pounded loaf sugar, the weight of all in flour, a little grated lemonrind, essence of almonds, or orange-flower water. AVERAGE COST, 10d.
Break the eggs, putting the yolks into one basin and the whites into another, Whisk the former, and mix with them the sugar, the grated lemonrind, or any other flavouring to taste; beat them well together and add the whites of the eggs, whisked to a froth.
Put in the flour by degrees, continuing to beat the mixture for 1/4 hour, butter a mould, pour in the cake, and bake it from 1 to 1¼ hour. This is a very nice cake, and it may be iced for a supper table, or cut into slices and spread with jam, which converts it into sandwiches.
TIME.-14 to 1½ hour.
SAVOY CAKE WITH PISTACHIOS.
SEASONABLE at any time.
A weighed sponge in the eighteenth-century manner, mixed by proportion rather than by cup. Two things in the printed text need sorting out before you start: the flour quantity and the garbled times.
- The flour is ambiguous as printedThe flour is heavy as printed -- "the weight of all" means the weight of all seven eggs in flour, which at roughly 2 oz per egg in the shell gives about 14 oz flour against 8 oz sugar, a stiff proportion for a foam-risen sponge. Weigh your own eggs before mixing and judge the batter as you go.
- Weighing by eggWeigh the four eggs whole and in the shell to fix the sugar; a large modern egg runs about 2 oz, so expect roughly 8 oz (225 g) sugar. Separated yolks and whites from seven eggs come to about 12 fl oz of liquid, so the mould must be a generous one.
- Pounded loaf sugarLoaf sugar was a hard cone broken up and crushed in a mortar. Caster sugar is the direct equivalent; granulated will not dissolve fully in the yolks in the time given.
- OvenThe book gives no oven instruction at all; a modern equivalent is 325-350F (165-175C). The method says 1 to 1¼ hours, while the TIME line reads "14 to 1½ hour", which is printing damage for 1¼ to 1½ hours. Test with a skewer and look for the cake shrinking slightly from the sides.
- The quarter-hour of beatingContinuing to beat for a quarter hour was necessary with a hand whisk and no chemical leavening — the eggs are the only lift. With a stand mixer, beat yolks and sugar until pale and ribboning, whip the whites to soft-peak froth, then fold the flour in by thirds. Do not beat after the flour goes in or the sponge tightens.
- The mouldA Savoy mould is tall and fluted. Butter it thoroughly and dust with a mix of flour and caster sugar so the pattern releases; a 9-inch bundt or a deep 8-inch round tin both work.
- Flavourings"Essence of almonds" is almond extract; use a few drops only, as it is easy to overdo. Orange-flower water needs about a teaspoon; more turns the cake soapy.
- Yield and servingEnough for 10 to 12 slices. Beeton's suggestion of slicing and spreading with jam is worth taking: the crumb is dry by design and improves with jam, cream or a soaking syrup.
Savoy cake — biscuit de Savoie — is by tradition associated with the ducal court of Savoy in the late Middle Ages, though the story is culinary legend rather than documented history; by the eighteenth century it had settled into the standard European whisked sponge: eggs, sugar, flour, no butter and no raising agent, its lift coming entirely from air beaten into the eggs. English confectioners baked it in tall fluted moulds so the batter set into a decorative shape that needed no finishing, which is why Beeton can offer it plain, iced for a supper table, or cut and jammed. Its presence in All About Cookery reflects how useful such a cake was in a household without reliable chemical leavening: the technique was the leavening, and a cook who could keep a whisked batter aloft for a quarter of an hour had a cake that could be dressed up or down as the occasion required. The companion entry for a pistachio version, listed but not given here, points to the same cake's other life as a confectioner's showpiece.