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Fifth Day: Icing

No. 57-WHITE ICING.

Beat the whites of two eggs until frothy only, not white; add ten oz. sugar, slowly, with one hand, while you beat with the other. Flavor with lemon juice or vanilla.

No. 58-CHOCOLATE ICING.

Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth, add half a pint of grated sweet chocolate, and half a pint pulverized (not granulated,) sugar.

No. 59-ORANGE ICING.

Beat the whites of three eggs to a stiff froth; add a quarter of a pound powdered sugar, and the grated rind and soft pulp of two large sour oranges and one lemon. There should be a gill of the juice, (half a tumbler full.) If it makes less than this, add another orange.

No. 60-ORANGE CAKE.

Make and bake drop cake as in the directions for jelly cake, and spread with orange icing; for a top-icing for the whole loaf, more sugar must be added.

No. 61-CHOCOLATE CAKE No. 2.

Use the directions for jelly cake, substituting chocolate icing for jelly. No. 62-CREAM CAKES.

Half a pint milk, the yolks of three eggs, one and a half tablespoonfuls sugar, one teaspoonful vanilla, one and a half even tablespoonfuls corn starch. Leave out enough milk to mix the starch with smoothly; boil the rest, and when hot stir in the starch until thicker than boiled custard; then add the other ingredients, beaten together, and continue stirring until it is so thick it will not pour from the spoon, but only drop from it. To do this successfully, the milk must be heated over, or in, boiling water; never directly on the stove. When the cream is thick enough, proceed as in directions for jelly cake.

No. 63-NUMBER CAKE.

One cup butter, two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs, half a cup milk, half a teaspoonful soda and one of cream tartar. A very little spice improves it to some tastes; not more than half a teaspoonful in all of cinnamon, ground cloves and allspice mixed. A variation may be made by putting a whole cup milk, a teaspoonful soda and two of cream tartar. This makes a still lighter mixture. "Now there is a grand store of recipes to select from," said Mrs. King; "we'll go over and set about our lunch." Rose and Jessie were watching for them impatiently, and after a little consultation with her sister, Aunt Jane went into the kitchen with her three pupils. "A hot fire and a tea kettle full of water," said she. "So much is ready at all events." "I thought Bridget was ironing to-day," observed Grace. "So she is," said Rose, "but she has her own little charcoal iron-heater in the laundry, and she won't interfere with us at all. And I've found out where everything is, so I can bring out anything you want, Aunt Jane." "I made out a list of what we should have, Rosie, when I talked it over with your mother. I find she has cold boiled chicken ready, thinking we should want chicken salad; but we are to have croquettes instead; also Saratoga potatoes; lettuce, with Mayonnaise dressing; cold tongue, which was boiled yesterday, and only needs cutting up; tipsy-cake, made with some sponge-cake from the baker's; chocolate, breakfast-puffs and drop-cakes." "Oh, Aunty! can we ever get it all ready in time?" "I think so; it is only nine o'clock now, and the lunch is not to be served until one. Why, we should be perfect snails if we did not finish it in four hours! Your mamma will set the table before her friends come, so we shall have nothing to do but prepare the eatables. I sent over to her before breakfast, when I first heard that she expected company, to have some potatoes pared and laid in cold water." "What was that for, Aunt Jane?" "You'll see presently. Now let us go to work at once. Get the scales, Rose, and weigh out the materials in Gracie's recipe for 'chicken croquettes'; Jessie, you may take the potato-slicer and cut the potatoes, for they have to lie another hour in cold water yet; Grace, I think you may be trusted to make the soft custard all by yourself; I'll have an eye to you, and tell you if I see anything going wrong." "Are these the potatoes that puff out like little balloons, Aunt Jane?" said Jessie! "Yes, the very same; and you shall fry them, too, so that it will be all your own dish. Now, Rose, as chopping the chicken is merely a mechanical operation, and rather a long one, I'll do that while you get the batter ready to mix with it."

When this was done, Mrs. King showed Rose how to make up the croquettes, somewhat in the shape of a short, fat sausage, and while this was going on, she herself grated the stale bread in which they were to be rolled. Then all was set away until it should be time to cook them.

Next came the Mayonnaise dressing, which was committed to Grace's care, after she had finished her custard, and Rose undertook to make some drop-cakes. Jessie, who was the youngest, was shown how to make up and melt the chocolate. After Grace had finished the saladdressing, she set about making the breakfast puffs, according to her recipe, and so the morning wore away until past twelve o'clock. "Now it's time to go to work in earnest," said Aunt Jane, whose sharp eyes had been inspecting every operation, while she gave a word of advice to one, of encouragement to another, or of reminder to a third. In the meantime she herself had not been idle, but had cut up a tempting-looking plateful of cold tongue, garnished with pretty sprigs of parsley, prepared the lettuce in a salad-bowl ready to receive the dressing, and neatly trimmed the drop-cakes, which required to be cut apart when they came out of the oven. "Now for a deep frying-pan of hot lard for the potatoes; Jessie, you mustn't think of another thing but your Saratogas from now to lunch time. Gracie may make the chocolate, now that her puffs are off her mind, and Rose, you must fry the croquettes. As it will be some time before they are ready to turn, you may cut up the sponge-cake and stick it full of those almonds that Jessie is cutting up; then pour the wine over it, and lastly the custard, which must be cold by this time, as it has been standing in the ice-box. Now the grand crisis approaches."

At five minutes before one o'clock everything was finished and ready to "dish"; the girls took off their cooking aprons and washed their hands, then carried in the hot part of the lunch, all the rest having been previously placed on the table or the sideboard. "Some time when we have company at home, and Rhoda gets the lunch," said Aunt Jane, "I'll show you girls how to set a table as beautifully as your mother does, if I can. See how everything has been provided for-not a fork or spoon forgotten! That's one of the great secrets of making any meal go smoothly."

The bell rang; Mrs. King took her seat among the guests, and the "three Hebes," as one of the ladies called them, waited on the table very gracefully and prettily, according to their previous instructions, which we will not stop to detail here, as Aunt Jane repeated them on another occasion. When the grown people had retired, the waiters took their places at the table, and though their excitement had prevented them from feeling hungry while the lunch was in preparation, when they did finally sit down to it, you would have thought they had had nothing to eat for a week.