English Recipes

Mrs Beeton's Traditional Pound Cake

This cake is called a pound cake because of the weight of the ingredients.

Ingredients

1lb Flour
1lb Butter
1lb Caster Sugar
1lb Currants
2oz Candied Peel
½oz Lemon Peel
½oz Sweet Almonds - blanched and chopped
9 Eggs
Ground Mace (optional)

Method

1. Cream the butter.
2. Sift in the flour.
3. Add the sugar, currants, candied peel, and almonds, and mix together well.
4. Whisk the eggs separately and blend thoroughly with the dry ingredients.
5. Beat the cake well for 20 minutes.
6. Put into a round tin, lined at the bottom and sides with a strip of buttered paper.
7. Bake it for 1½ to 2 hours and in a well heated oven.

Definitions

To bake: To cook in an oven.

To beat: To thoroughly combine ingredients and incorporate air with a rapid, circular motion. This may be done with a wooden spoon, wire whisk, rotary eggbeater, electric mixer or food processor.

To blend: Mix thoroughly.

To cream: To mix fats and sugar together until creamy in appearance.

To dissolve: To mix dry ingredient with liquid until in solution.

To mix: To beat or stir foods together until they are combined.

'To sift : To put dry ingredients such as flour or sugar through a sifter or mesh screen to loosen particles and incorporate air.

To whisk: To beat a mixture vigorously with a whisk.