HFF 6.18: Cake

 

The Challenge: Cake. Make a cake or cakes!

The Recipe: Very fine cocoa-nut macaroons from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families.

VERY FINE COCOA NUT MACAROONS
Rasp a fresh cocoa nut, spread it on a dish or tin, and let it dry gradually for a couple of days, if it can be done conveniently; add to it double its weight of fine sifted sugar, and the whites of eight eggs beaten to a solid froth (see page 543), to the pound. Roll the mixture into small balls, place them on a buttered tin, and bake them in a very gentle oven about twenty minutes. Move them from the tin while they are warm and store them in a very dry canister as soon as they are cold.
Cocoa nut, 1/2 lb; sugar, 1 lb; whites of eggs, 8; very gentle oven 20 minutes.

This is in the cakes chapter, so I think it counts.

The Date/Year and Region: 1845 (4th edition), London

 

How Did You Make It: 1/4 Scale. This recipe is really nice for that. The ratios work out neatly to 1 oz coconut and 2 oz sugar per egg white. 

 

I beat two egg whites to stiff peaks, and then added the 2oz coconut and 4 oz granulated sugar. I used a pre-heated (but turned off) oven as the "very gentle oven" and baked them 20 minutes, then a further 10 minutes since the were still sticky (though at this point the oven was quite cool so any future cooking times will likely be less than the aggregate 30 minutes here).

 

Time to Complete: Ten minutes prep, plus baking time.

 

Total Cost: About $1 at this scale.

 

How Successful Was It?: Tasted fine, though they were still a little under-cooked in the centers. Will definitely try again (and remember how to persuade my oven into actually holding at 180F, which seems the better way to cook meringues). It's very similar to Beeton's meringue recipe, with the coconut providing a nice flavor variation.

How Accurate Is It? Modern shortcuts (pre-shredded coconut and electric mixer) made this a quick and easy recipe. Without those, it would be much more labor intensive.