PLUM-CAKE

First in place, Plum-cake is seen o’er smaller pastry ware, And ice on that. Swift. Pick two pounds of currants very clean, and wash them, draining them through a cullender. Wipe them in a towel, spread them out in a large dish, and set them near the fire or in the hot sun to dry, placing the dish in a slanting position. Having stoned two pounds of best raisins, cut them in half, and when all are done, sprinkle them well with sifted flour, to prevent their sinking to the bottom of the cake. When the currants are dry, sprinkle them also with flour. Pound the spice, two tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, two nutmegs, powdered; sift and mix the cinnamon and nutmeg together. Mix also a large glass of wine and brandy, half a glass of rose-water in a tumbler or cup. Cut a pound of citron in slips; sift a pound of flour in a broad dish, sift a pound of powdered white sugar into a deep earthen pan, and cut a pound of butter into it. Warm it near the fire, if the weather is too cold for it to mix easily. Stir the butter and sugar to a cream; beat twelve eggs as light as possible; stir them into the butter and sugar alternately with the flour; stir very hard; add gradually the spice and liquor. Stir the raisins and currants alternately in the mixture, taking care that they are well floured. Stir the whole as hard as possible, for ten minutes after the ingredients are in. Cover the bottom and sides of a large tin or earthen pan with sheets of white paper well buttered, and put into it some of the mixture. Then spread some citron on it, which must not be cut too small; next put a layer of the mixture, and then a layer of citron, and so on till all is in, having a layer of mixture at the top. This cake will require four or five hours baking, in proportion to its thickness. Ice it next day.

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