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Lady-fingers (Method Add the sugar)
Method. - Add the sugar and extract to the cream and beat until solid; let chill, then spread quite thick upon lady-fingers or sponge drops.
This is the method half of a sweet sandwich: sweetened whipped cream spread thickly between two lady-fingers. The ingredient list has been separated from the instructions in the original text, so quantities are a matter of judgment.
- Missing quantitiesThe original gives no amounts. A workable ratio for whipped cream of this kind is about 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and half a teaspoon of extract, which fills roughly a dozen sandwiches.
- "Cream" means heavy creamTurn-of-the-century recipes calling for cream to be beaten mean the thick top cream, at least 30 percent fat. Modern heavy or whipping cream works; half-and-half and light cream will not hold.
- "Beat until solid"This means stiff peaks, not the soft billows usually wanted for topping. A filling that will sit between two biscuits without sliding out needs to be firm, but stop the moment the cream loses its gloss or it will turn grainy and then buttery.
- Cold everythingCream whips faster and stiffer when the bowl, the beaters and the cream itself are thoroughly chilled. Warm cream is the usual reason a filling refuses to set up.
- The extractUnspecified in the method; vanilla is the default reading, though almond, lemon or rose were all in ordinary use in books of this date. Rose water, if used, is much weaker than an alcoholic extract and needs several times the quantity.
- Sponge dropsSmall rounds of the same sponge batter as lady-fingers, piped as discs rather than lengths. Any plain crisp sponge biscuit substitutes; the savoiardi sold for tiramisu are essentially the same sort of biscuit.
- Assemble lateThe biscuits begin softening as soon as they meet the cream. Fill within an hour or two of serving if you want any snap left; overnight in the refrigerator gives something closer to a soft cake.
Lady-fingers appear in the sandwich chapter of this book because the Edwardian sandwich was a far broader category than it is now - anything spread and closed counted, including sweet ones meant for tea, receptions and card parties. Books of the 1900s routinely list sweet sandwiches on sponge biscuit, macaroon or thin bread and butter alongside the chicken and watercress. The biscuit itself is much older than the book: the fine, egg-foam sponge piped into finger shapes is traditionally associated with the courts of Renaissance Italy and France, though that account is tradition rather than documented history. Its virtue for a hostess was that it required no cutting, no crusts and no last-minute baking, and the fingers could be bought ready-made rather than baked at home.