Lafayette Cake

This is a bakeshop note rather than a full recipe: it assumes you already have a pound cake formula in hand and know how an icing behaves. The instructions worth expanding are the pan depth, the oven, and the marking.

• No quantities givenThe recipe assumes the reader already has a pound cake batter to hand. A conventional pound cake of one pound each butter, sugar, eggs and flour would fill two shallow pans of about 9x13 inches, but the original specifies neither quantity nor pan size; scale to whatever pans you have.
• "Shallow baking pans"Probably sheet or jelly-roll pans rather than a deep loaf; the text says nothing more precise. A layer of roughly half to three-quarters of an inch is a reasonable reading. Grease and line them, and expect thin batter to bake fast.
• OvenThe recipe says nothing about the oven. In a modern one, a sheet this thin bakes well at around 325-350F for roughly 18-25 minutes; higher heat browns the surface before the centre sets and gives a dry sheet that cracks when you spread jelly on it.
• The jelly layerUse a firm, clear jelly rather than a loose jam, and warm and stir it just enough to spread smoothly. A wet or seedy preserve soaks into a pound cake crumb and makes the assembled slab difficult to cut cleanly.
• The icingThe recipe says only "ice it over". A plain sugar-and-water glaze, spread flat, suits the marking that follows; beaten egg-white icings were also common in this period. Whatever is used should be thin enough to level itself and set firm enough to score.
• Marking before it driesThis is the hinge of the whole thing. Score the icing into oblongs while it is still tacky so it crusts along the cut lines; once the glaze has set hard, a knife shatters and drags it into flakes. Wipe the blade between cuts.
• Yield and servingCut into finger-length oblongs, an assembled slab of this sort gives roughly 30 to 40 pieces, depending entirely on the pans used. Letting it stand before cutting helps the jelly firm and the layers hold together.