Victorian recipe of Apricot Cake

Apricot Cake

• Half a tin of apricots
• Quarter pint of apricot juice
• Four ounces of rich short pastry
• Five ounces of sugar
• Whites of three eggs
• A little almond essence

Method; Roll the pastry into a round the size of a dinner plate, roll scraps of pastry into strips to form edging. Wet the edges of the pastry and form a lip with the strips. Place on a flat baking tin, make two or three incisions with a fork in the centre of the round of pastry to keep it flat and bake until a light brown. Whip the eggs to a stiff paste and sweeten with two ounces of sugar and almond essence. Using a force bag add plenty of the stiff paste around the whole circle to produce a high edge then dust with sugar; return to the oven until it is lightly brown. In tandem with the above place a quarter pint of apricot juice with three ounces of sugar into a saucepan; boil gently until it sets, test by dropping a little from a spoon onto a plate. When both the pastry and the syrup had cooled arrange the apricots and pour over the syrup

Recipe of Victorian Apple Cheesecakes

Victorian Apple Cheesecakes

• Eight ounces of apples
• Three cloves
• Three ounces of brown sugar
• Two eggs
• One ounce of butter
• One tablespoonful of castor sugar
• Some scraps of short or puff pastry

Method; Roll out the pastry and cut into rounds, then line some patty tins.

Peel and core the apples then cut into quarters, place in a saucepan with one tablespoonful of water together with the cloves, then stew until soft.

Add the butter and sugar and when dissolve mix with the cooked apples then rub through a fine wire sieve; beat up the eggs and add the apples. Place a little of the apple mixture into each patty tin and bake for fifteen minutes. The cakes may be decorated if so wished.