The Return of the Iced Cake.

It appears that the baker of the cake-with-revolver which featured in our story yesterday about a prison incident in 1934 was ahead of trend, if the following piece from an Australian newspaper in 1939 is an accurate reflection of bakery fashion of the time.

Old-Fashioned Iced Cake.

The old-fashioned iced cake is gradually coming back into favor along with the other Victorian ideas, and clever cooks are looking up old recipes for the afternoon tea table.

Next week a prize of 5/- will be given for the best recipe for an iced cake, the recipe to include both the cake mixture and the icing. Each contributor is requested to send in one entry only.

The Mail (Adelaide, SA) 10 June, 1939

And the winner was …….

Cake Recipe.

More Than 100 Years Old.

This recipe for a delicious old fashioned cake is in a cookery book which for more than 100 years has been in the family of Mrs. A. Preece, of 5 Fisher terrace, Mile End. Mrs. Preece entered it for the iced cake competition this week, and has been awarded the prize of 5/.

Take 1 lb. of pounded sugar candy, 1 lb. butter, 1 lb. flour, 10 eggs, 2 lb. currants, ½  lb. raisins (stoned and chopped ), ¼ lb. almonds (blanched and chopped), ¼ citron peel, ½ lb. candied orange peel, ¼ of candied lemon peel, ½ nutmeg, grated, ¼ oz,. of powdered allspice, the same

of powered mace, ginger, cinnamon, and corianda, and ¼ pint brandy.

The corianda is a hot seed procurable at a chemist's, and may be omitted.

All the ingredients should be well dried, the whites of the eggs well beaten up separately from the yolks, the butter well stirred, and beaten almost to a cream. Add the yolks tothe butter, then the flour, and the rest of the ingredients gradually, the whites of the eggs last (taking care they are well beaten), and mix thoroughly into the cake. Haveready a large tin, well lined with buttered paper, pour in the cake, and bake in a slow oven for three hours.

Icing. — To 1 lb. icing sugar allow .the whites of four eggs and 1 oz. of cornflour. Beat the eggs to a strong froth, and gradually sift in the sugar, which should be reduced to the finest powder possible, then by degrees add the cornflour. Beat the mixture well until nice and smooth, then with a broad knife lay the icing equally over the cake. This should be placed in a very cool oven, and the icing allowed to dry and harden, but not to color.

The icing may be colored with strawberry or fruit juices or cochineal, and flavored. If it is put on the cake as soon as it is withdrawn from the oven it will become firm by the time the cake is cold. For special occasions a layer of almond icing could be spread on top of the cake, and over that the icing as described. Decorate as desired.

The Mail (Adelaide, SA) 17 June, 1939.