hour in a warm place. The sponge should then be sufficiently light. Mix with it and the rest of the flour the remaining milk, the eggs, and a little salt, beating the whole well with a wooden spoon; then put it into a buttered tin, set it to rise for another hour, bake in a moderate oven, and, when cold, cut the cake into thin slices and dry them in a quick oven, having previously sprinkled them with pounded sugar. These rusks will be found a delicious substitute for toast for an invalid, and are appetising and nourishing.
Time.—1 hour. Average Cost, 1s. 6d.
3458.—ITALIAN RUSKS.
Ingredients.—A stale savoy or sponge cake may be converted into very good rusks, in the following manner. Cut the cake into slices, divide each slice in two; put them on a baking-sheet in a slow oven, and when they are of a nice brown and quite hard the rusks are done. They should be kept in a closed tin canister in a dry place, to preserve their crispness.
Pannicled Millet. This cereal has the smallest seeds of any of the corn plants, being a true grass; but the number of seeds contained in each ear makes up for their diminutive size. It grows in sandy soils that will not sustain many other kinds of grain, and forms the chief sustenance of the population in the arid districts of Arabia, Syria, Nubia, and parts of India. Millet is not cultivated in England, being principally confined to the East. The nations who make use of it grind it in the primitive manner between two stones, and make it into a form of diet which cannot properly be called bread, but is rather a kind of soft, thin cake, half-baked.
Icing
3459.—ALMOND ICING FOR CAKES.
Ingredients.—To 1 lb. of castor sugar allow ¾ of a lb. of ground sweet almonds, 2 or 3 eggs, a little rose or orange-flower water.
Method.—Weigh the castor sugar and ground almonds into a clean basin, and mix them well together; make a hole in the centre, break in the 2 eggs, add a little rosewater, and wet up into a firm paste, using another egg if necessary. Turn the mixture out of the pan on to the board, dusting it over with sugar to prevent it from sticking, then roll it out with a rolling pin to the size of the cake, place it on top and press smooth with the hand. This quantity of icing would be sufficient for a cake weighing from 2 to 3 lbs.
Time.—¾ of an hour. Average Cost, 1s. per lb.
3460.—ICING FOR MARBLE CAKE.
Ingredients.—1 teacupful of icing sugar, a little warm water.
Method.—Put some icing sugar into a clean basin, taking sufficient to ice the cakes, which of course will always depend upon the thickness put upon them, and pour upon the sugar sufficient boiling water to
