This is the finest of all gingerbread, but should not be kept long, as in a few days it becomes very hard and stale.
A DOVER CAKE.
Half a pint of milk.
A small tea-spoonful of pearl-ash, dissolved in a little vinegar.
One pound of sifted flour.
One pound of powdered white sugar.
Half a pound of butter.
Six eggs.
One glass of brandy.
Half a glass of rose-water.
A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon.
Dissolve the pearl-ash in vinegar. Stir the sugar and butter to a cream, and add to it, gradually, the spice and liquor. Beat the eggs very light, and stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately, with the flour. Add, gradually, the milk, and stir the whole very hard.
Butter a large tin pan, and put in the mixture. Bake it two hours or more, in a moderate oven. If not thick, an hour or an hour and a half will be sufficient.
Wrap it in a thick cloth, and keep it from the air, and it will continue moist and fresh for two weeks. The pearl-ash will give it a dark colour.
Flour the fruit well, and stir it in at the last.
