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A VERY GOOD SEED-CAKE
Photo: David Holifield

A VERY GOOD SEED-CAKE

12 ingredients 5 steps gutenberg
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Estimated Nutrition (whole recipe, rough)

545
Calories
19g
Protein
7g
Fat
97g
Carbs

Counts 3 of 5 ingredients — the other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and contribute nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume — 3 portions →
Ingredient Portion assumed kcal
Flour 1 cup (125g) all-purpose 455
Egg 1 large egg (50g) 78
Nutmeg 1 tsp ground (2.2g) 12
Brandy not in our table 0
Mace not in our table 0

Totals for the whole recipe, adding one typical portion per ingredient — listed above. Quantities in the recipe are not counted, so this is a rough guide only — not suitable for medical or dietary planning.

Ingredients

  • 1 wineglassful of brandy
  • 6 eggs
  • two circular stones
  • one within hearing
  • three sieves
  • one batch of household bread as in spain would last them a week
  • eight donkey-loads of bread they send every night from their oven
  • 3 lbs
  • two long narrow wooden tables on trestles are then placed down the room
  • one side of the tables
  • mace
  • nutmeg

Directions

1

1776. INGREDIENTS.--1 lb. of butter, 6 eggs, 3/4 lb. of sifted sugar, pounded mace and grated nutmeg to taste, 1 lb. of flour, 3/4 oz. of caraway seeds, 1 wineglassful of brandy.

2

_Mode_.--Beat the butter to a cream; dredge in the flour; add the sugar, mace, nutmeg, and caraway seeds, and mix these ingredients well together. Whisk the eggs, stir to them the brandy, and beat the cake again for 10 minutes. Put it into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake it from 1-1/2 to 2 hours. This cake would be equally nice made with currants, and omitting the caraway seeds.

3

_Time_.--1-1/2 to 2 hours. _Average cost_, 2s. 6d.

4

_Seasonable_ at any time.

5

BREAD-MAKING IN SPAIN.--The bread in the south of Spain is delicious: it is white as snow, close as cake, and yet very light; the flavour is most admirable, for the wheat is good and pure, and the bread well kneaded. The way they make this bread is as follows:--From large round panniers filled with wheat they take out a handful at a time, sorting it most carefully and expeditiously, and throwing every defective grain into another basket. This done, the wheat is ground between two circular stones, as it was ground in Egypt 2,000 years ago (see No. 117), the requisite rotary motion being given by a blindfolded mule, which paces round and round with untiring patience, a bell being attached to his neck, which, as long as he is in movement, tinkles on; and when it stops, he is urged to his duty by the shout of "_Arre, mula_," from some one within hearing. When ground, the wheat is sifted through three sieves, the last of these being so fine that only the pure flour can pass through it: this is of a pale apricot-colour. The bread is made in the evening. It is mixed with only sufficient water, with a little salt in it, to make it into dough: a very small quantity of leaven, or fermenting mixture is added. The Scripture says, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump;" but in England, to avoid the trouble of kneading, many put as much leaven or yeast in one batch of household bread as in Spain would last them a week for the six or eight donkey-loads of bread they send every night from their oven. The dough made, it is put into sacks, and carried on the donkeys' backs to the oven in the centre of the village, so as to bake it immediately it is kneaded. On arriving there, the dough is divided into portions weighing 3 lbs. each. Two long narrow wooden tables on trestles are then placed down the room; and now a curious sight may be seen. About twenty men (bakers) come in and range themselves on one side of the tables. A lump of dough is handed to the nearest, which he commences

By Isabella Beeton · Recipe sourced from gutenberg

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