Receipts for New Year’s Cake began to appear frequently
in 19th century published cookbooks. Here’s another,
from the ninth edition (1836) of Seventy-five Receipts
for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, by Eliza Leslie.
Interestingly, this was NOT included in her first edition
(1828) or any other earlier editions.
Other items of note in this receipt are: the layout,
with ingredients and their amounts listed separately,
followed by the instructions; the use of pearl-ash,
a leavening agent extracted from wood ashes,
instead of yeast; the amount of kneading; and
the option to apply a design.
The fun part, however, is the paragraph dealing
with the required kneading!
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NEW-YEAR’S CAKE.
Three pounds of flour, sifted.
A pound and a half of powered white sugar.
A pound of fresh butter.
A pint of milk with a small teaspoonful
of pearl-ash melted in it.
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Having sifted the flour, spread the sugar
on the paste-board, a little at a time,
and crush it to powder by rolling it
with the rolling-pin. Then mix it with
the flour. Cut up in the flour the butter
and mix it well by rubbing it in with your
hands. Add by degrees the milk. Then
knead the dough very hard, till it no
longer sticks to your hands. Cover it,
set it away for an hour or two, and then
knead it again in the same manner. You
may repeat the kneading several times.
Then cut it into pieces, roll out each piece
into a sheet half an inch thick. Cut it into
large flat cakes with a tin cutter. You may
stamp each cake with a wooden print,
by way of ornamenting the surface.Sprinkle with flour some large flat tin or
iron pans, lay the cakes in them and bake
them of a pale brown, in an oven of equal
heat throughout.These cakes require more and harder
kneading than any others, therefore
it is best to have them kneaded by
a man, or a very strong woman.They are greatly improved by the addition
of some carraway seeds worked into the dough.
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NEXT: New Year’s Cake at home
