[1772]
“A Rich Cake
Take six pounds of the best fresh butter, work it to a cream with your hands;
then throw in by degrees three pounds of double refined sugar well beat and sifted; Mix them well together;
then work in three pounds of blanched almonds, and having them altogether till they are thick and look white.
Then add half a pint of French brandy,
half a pint of sack,
a small quantity of ginger,
about two ounces of mace, cloves, and cinnamon each,
and three large nutmegs all beaten in a mortar as fine as possible.
Then shake in gradually four pounds of well dried and sifted flour;
and when the oven is well prepared, and a thin hoop to bake it in, stir into this mixture (as you put it into the hoop)
seven pounds of currants clean washed and rubbed,
and such a quantity of candied orange, lemon, and citron in equal proportions, as shall be thought convenient.
The oven must be quick, and the cake at least will take four hours to bake; Or you may make two or more cakes out of these ingredients, you must beat it with your hands, and the currants must be dried before the fire, and put into the cake warm.”
The Frugal Colonial Housewife, Susannah Carter [1772] (p. 102).