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8
How to Make Queen Elizabeth's Excellent Cake
Take a quarter of a peck of the finest flour
you can get; a pint of cream; 2 egg yolks
without the whites, well beaten; 3 quarters of a pound
of butter gently melted and poured on the flour;
1 pint of good ale yeast, strained; and half
a quarter of a pint of rose water with some
musk or ambergirs dissolved in it. Season all
these with a pennyworth of mace and cloves, a
little nutmeg, all finely beaten, with a little salt;
a pound and a half of the best currants, well picked
and washed in warm water; a pound of the best
raisins of the sun, stoned and shred small;
half a pound of almonds, blanched and beaten
very fine with a little rose water for fear of
oiling; half a pound of find sugar, beaten small.
First mingle, then knead all these things exceedingly
well together, then let them lie a full hour
in the dough, and when the oven is ready make
up the cake. Let not the oven be too hot, shut
not the mouth close but stir the cake not and
then that it may bake all alike. Let it not
stand a full hour in the oven. When you
draw it, you must have ready some rosewater
and fine white sugar beaten together in a
porringer until it be very thick, then with
a little brush or tuft wet the upper side of
the cake all over and set it into the
oven to dry.
Observe thse directions in the mingling, kneading and baking.