Page 27

11
To Make The Lady Stroud's Cake
Take your flour and put it in a warm oven all
night to dry. Wash and pick clean 12 pounds of currants
and let them dry in the oven with the flour. When they are dried
weigh ten pound and a half of flour and put it into
a large bowl and put to it a pound of almonds, blanched and beaten with a little fair water to keep them from
oiling. Rub them well into your flour and put in your
currants and two nutmegs, grated; and a little cinnamon
and mace, beaten; and half a pound sugar, beaten small;
a quart of good ale yeast; and 40 eggs, with half the
whites beaten very well together; a pint of sack; and
3 quarts of thick cream; and three pounds of butter.
Set your cream on the fire and put your butter into it
and let it stand till the butter be almost melted.
Then take it off and when it is blood warm, put it into
the other things and mix them all well together. Then lay
a cloth over it and set it before the fire to rise
while the oven is a-sweeping. Then take it up and stir
it well together. So put it into your case or hoop,
which must be very well buttered. Cut it and prick
it in several places to the bottom, so set it into
the oven. When it is baked, pull off the papers and ice
it with fine loaf sugar beaten with the white of eggs
and rose water. And if you please, [you] may grind a
little musk with your sugar. When it is iced you must
set it in the oven till the ice be hardened. The oven must not
be too hot.
When you set it into the oven make
this mark in the middle of the cake, with
a knife down to the bottom. It will hinder
it from hufing [puffing?].
S