Plain Wedding Cake

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup milk

2 1/2 cups flour

3 1/2 teaspoons Calumet Baking Powder

1 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground cloves, grated nutmeg, powdered mace

3/4 cup seeded raisins washed, dried and cut in pieces

3/4 cup currants washed and dried

1/4 pound of citron cut in small, thin pieces

3 egg whites

Roll fruit in 1/2 cup flour, and sift the rest with the baking powder and spices. Mix like a feather cake; put butter in a mixing bowl, work it with a spoon until creamy, add sugar gradually, and continue creaming. Beat egg yolks until light-colored and thick, then add milk and egg mixture to the creamed butter and sugar, alternating with the leftover flour that has the baking powder and spices in it. Then, add the floured fruit just before the stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake in a thick loaf, in a moderate oven (325°F - 375°F). Cover with a plain, white frosting.

White Mountain Icing

No “plain, white frosting” recipe was listed in Mrs. Curtis’s Cook Book, but this recipe was suggested for use on wedding cakes.

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon McIlhenny’s Mexican Vanilla

1/3 cup water

1 egg white

Bring the water to the boil, add the sugar, and let the sirup cook without stirring until it will thread when lifted on the tip of a spoon. Pour it boiling hot over the egg white which has been beaten to a stiff froth. Whip the mixture until it is soft and creamy, add the flavoring and pour over the cake, spreading it smooth with a palette knife dipped in cold water.

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