apple (get the pine-apple chunks if possible) and fill dish, first
pouring a little of the juice over the cake. Melt a very little agar-agar
in the rest of the juice. (Allow half the 1/4 oz. to a pint of juice.)
Pour over the mixture. Serve when cold.

29. TREACLE PUDDING.

Line a pudding-basin with short crust. Mix together in another basin some
good cane golden syrup, enough bread-crumbs to thicken it, and some grated
lemon rind. Put a layer of this mixture at the bottom of the
pudding-basin, cover with a layer of pastry, follow with a layer of the
mixture, and so on, until the basin is full. Top with a layer of pastry,
tie on a floured pudding-cloth, and boil or steam for 3 hours.

30. TRIFLE, SIMPLE.

Put a layer of sponge cake at the bottom of a glass dish. Better still,
use sections of good home-made jam sandwich. Pour hot boiled custard on to
this until the cake is barely covered. Blanch some sweet almonds, and cut
into strips. Stick these into the top of the cake until it somewhat
resembles the back of a hedgehog! Serve when cold.

X.--CAKES AND BISCUITS.

Cakes need a hot oven for the first half-hour.

If possible, they should not be moved from one shelf to another, but the
oven should be cooled gradually by opening the ventilators or lowering the
gas. A moderate oven is needed to finish the cooking.

All fruit cakes (unless weighing less than 1 lb.) need to be baked from
1-1/2 to 2 hours. The larger the cake the slower should be the baking.

The cake tins should be lined with greased paper.

If a gas oven is used, stand the cake tin on a sand tin (see Cold Water
Bread).

If the cake becomes sufficiently brown on top before it is cooked through,
cover with a greased paper to prevent burning.

To test if done, dip a clean knife into hot water. Thrust it gently down
the centre of cake. If done, the knife will come out clean and bright.

1. CAKE MIXTURE.

1/4 lb. butter, 1/4 lb. castor sugar, 6 ozs. flour, 2 eggs.

Half butter and half nutter gives just as good results and is more
economical.

Beat together the butter and sugar to a cream. Whisk the eggs to a stiff
froth and add. Stir in the flour gently. Mix well. Add a little milk if
mixture is too stiff. This makes a Madeira Cake.

For other varieties, mix with the flour 1 dessertspoon caraway seeds for
Seed Cake; 2 tablespoons desiccated cocoanut for Cocoanut Cake; 6 ozs.
candied cherries chopped in halves for Cherry Cake; 6 o