1511 | Angel Cakes à la Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt.
—Sift together on a paper half a pound of flour, two ounces of corn-starch, and half a pound of powdered sugar; beat up in a copper basin the whites of ten eggs, with a wire whip, to a very stiff froth (reserving the yolks in a bowl in the ice-box for ice-cream or any other purpose desired); remove the whip, and then, with a skimmer in the right hand, with the left lift up the paper containing the ingredients, and gradually drop the contents into the basin; thoroughly mix with the skimmer for five minutes, adding meanwhile a gill of maraschino. Have a plain, round, two-quart cake-mold with a tube in the centre, lightly butter and flour the inside all around; then place the preparation in the mold, and put it into a very slow oven to bake for two hours and a half; remove from out the oven, lay it on a table, and let cool for at least three hours; then carefully run a thin knife all around the mold, so as to easily detach the cake from top to bottom of the mold. Place a wire grate over the mold, turn it upside down, remove the mold, then glaze the cake all around with the following glaze:
Pour into a saucepan two gills of water, with twelve ounces of powdered sugar; thoroughly mix with the spatula for two minutes, then place the pan on the hot range, stir all well until lukewarm; take from off the range, lay the pan on a table; then pour in half a gill of good brandy, mix well together for two minutes, and then pour this glaze over the cake, evenly spreading all around with a knife; let dry for twenty minutes, and then decorate with the following glace royale:
Pour into a bowl the white of one egg, with six ounces of extra fine sugar; briskly beat with the spatula for five minutes; squeeze three drops of lemon juice, sharply beat again for ten minutes longer; make a paper cornet, transfer the glace into it, close the upper part with the hand, and with scissors cut away a small piece from the point the eighth of an inch long; then gently press down the glace on the cake, artistically decorating the top and all around, giving, if possible, an angel shape on the surface, and let dry for two hours. Have a silver dish, with a fancy paper over it. Lay the cake over and serve.