seen
at French pastry cooks; for this purpose you require a dozen small-sized
_round_ charlotte russe molds, which fill half full only, as they rise
very much; bake these in a hotter oven, light brown paper heat; try with
a twig as you would any other cake, if it comes out dry it is done; then
prepare a syrup as follows: Boil half pound of sugar in a pint of water,
add to this the third of a pint of rum, and some apricot pulp--peach
will of course do--and boil all together a few minutes; pour this half
an inch deep in a dish, and stand the cake or cakes in it; it should
drink up all the syrup, you may also sprinkle some over it. If any syrup
remains, use it to warm over your cake when stale, instead of the
sherry.

Baba was introduced into France by Stanislas Leczinski, king of Poland,
and the father-in-law of Louis XIV.; and his Polish royal descendants
still use with it, says Careme, a syrup made of Malaga wine and one
sixth part of _eau de tanaisie_.

But, although our forefathers seemed to have relished tansy very much,
to judge from old recipe books, I doubt if such flavoring would be
appreciated in our time.

SAVARINS--commonly called wine cake by New York pastry cooks--are made
as follows:

One pound of flour, of which take one quarter to make a sponge, using
half an ounce of German compressed yeast, and a little warm milk; when
it has risen to twice its bulk, add one gill of hot milk, two eggs, and
the rest of the flour; mix well; then add one more egg and beat,
another, still beating; then add three quarters of a pound of fresh
butter, a quarter of an ounce of salt, half an ounce of sugar, and half
a gill of hot milk, beat well; then add eggs, one at a time, beating
continually, until you have used five more. Cut in small dice three
ounces of candied orange peel; butter a tin, which should be deep and
straight-sided--a tin pudding boiler is not a bad thing--and sprinkle
with chopped almonds. Fill the mold half full, and when risen to twice
its bulk, bake in a moderate oven, dark yellow paper heat. When served,
this cake should stand in a dish of syrup, flavored with rum, as for
baba, or with sherry wine.

BOUCHEES DES DAMES, a very ornamental and delicious little French cake,
is sufficiently novel to deserve a place here, I think. Make any nice
drop cake batter (either sponge, or sponge with a little butter in it I
prefer); drop one on buttered paper and bake; if it runs, beat in a
_little_ more flour a