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Christmas cake: Mrs Beeton's recipe number 1754

Ingredients:

5 teacupfuls flour
1 teacupful melted butter
1 teacupful cream
1 teacupful treacle
1 teacupful moist sugar
2 eggs
½oz of powdered ginger
½lb of raisins
1 teaspoonful carbonate of soda
1 tablespoonful of vinegar

Make the butter sufficiently warm to melt it, but do not allow it to oil; put the flour into a basin; add to it the sugar, ginger, and raisins, which should be stoned and cut into small pieces.

When these dry ingredients are thoroughly mixed, stir in the butter, cream, treacle, and well-whisked eggs, and beat the mixture for a few minutes.

Dissolve the soda in the vinegar, add it to the dough, and be particular that these latter ingredients are well incorporated with the others; put the cake into a buttered mould or tin, place it in a moderate oven immediately, and bake it from 1 ¾ to 2¼ hours.

Time: 1¾ to 2¼ hours