Neapolitan Cake

Crush one pound and ten ounces of almonds with a pound and a quarter of sugar; reduce to a fine powder; pass this through a sieve. Sift on the table two pounds of flour, make a hollow in the center and in it lay the almond and sugar powder, a pound and a half of butter, a pinch of salt and four whole eggs; work the whole together just enough to form a smooth, firm paste, for if worked too much it is liable to crumble. Lay it in a vessel and leave in a cool place to rest; one hour later divide this paste into sixteen or twenty even parts and roll them to a quarter of an inch thick by six and a quarter inches in diameter; empty out the centers with a two-inch pastry cutter. Have two of the flats a little thicker and two inches wider in diameter than the others; bake on a buttered and floured baking sheet in a hot oven, and as soon as done take them out and leave to cool under the pressure of a weight; pare the large rounds eight inches in diameter and put them once more under a weight; when cold ice either with white or pink icing (No. 102); mask the small flats with well-strained and reduced apricot marmalade (No. 3675); now lay them one over the other; pare them evenly to have the cake six inches in diameter, and cover the whole with well reduced and well-cooked apricot marmalade; place the cake on one of the large flats and over lay the second large one. Decorate around with fanciful cuts of almond gum paste and the top with a cupola of royal icing or gum paste. Ornament around the edge of the large flat with a double border of the same paste and arrange the cake on a richly decorated stand. This cake is intended for a sideboard. It can also be made with almond biscuit (No. 3229).