German Honey Cakes

The following are various forms of German Christmas Cakes. They are so good that one wonders why they are limited to one short period of the year. If the cakes become hard keep an apple in the cooky jar.

Honey, like molasses, is apt to be troublesome. Old German cooks used to insist on its being over a year old. Very good cakes are made with fresh honey but then the amount of flour is a little hard to gauge. These cakes will keep for six months and longer if placed in a closed tin.

Heat slightly in a large saucepan:

6 pounds honey or molasses

Add and melt:

  1 cub butter

Sift and add sufficient:

  Bread flour

to make a semi-liquid dough. Add:

1 pound almonds, blanched and shredded

1/2 pound chopped citron

4 cups sugar

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6 tablespoons mixed spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, allspice)

4 teaspoons grated lemon rind

When the dough is nearly cold add:

1 ounce carbonate of powdered ammonia, dissolved in 1/2 cup water, wine or rum

sift and add sufficient:

Bread flour

to make a dough that will stick to the hands. The dough may be baked at once, but the cakes are better when the dough has been aged. It will keep for weeks in a cold place. Roll out the dough or pat it (it may be necessary to warm it) and spread it to the thickness of 1/4 inch in shallow greased pans. In doing this use as little flour as possible or roll the dough between sheets of waxed paper. Bake it in a moderate oven 350 degrees F.(175 degrees C). Cut the cake into squares and ice them with the following icing:

German Honey Cakes with Eggs I

Cut into small pieces and combine:

3 ounces citron

3 ounces candied lemon peel

Add:

1 cup chopped blanched almonds

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind

3 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon cloves

3 and 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar

Beat until light and add:

6 eggs

Bring to the boiling point, then cool until lukewarm:

1 pint honey

Dissolve:

1 tablespoon soda

in:

2 tablespoons hot water

Add this to the egg mixture with the honey and:

1/4 cup orange juice

Shift and stir in:

5 cups bread flour

Permit the dough to stand for 12 hours or more. Drop it from a spoon, well apart, on a greased baking sheet. Bake the cakes in a moderate oven 350 degrees F. When they are cool decorate the cakes with Icing for Christmas Cakes:

Sift:

Confectioner's sugar

Flavor it with:

Grated lemon rind

Moisten it with:

Lemon juice

Drop a small quantity from a teaspoon onto a cake and permit it to spread and harden.

Decorate them before baking with:

Blanched almonds.

German Honey Cakes with Eggs II

These are more lightly spiced than Honey Cakes with Eggs I. They are very delicate.

Blanch and shered:

1 pound almonds

Chop:

1/4 pound citron

Sift:

4 cups bread flour

Resift with:

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon allspice

Dissolve:

1 teaspoon carbonate of powdered ammonia

in:

1/4 cup brandy

Boil:

1 quart honey

Cool it slightly. Stir in part of the flour. Beat in one at a time:

4 eggs

Stir in the brandy, almonds, citron and the rest of the flour. Chill the dough for 12 hours. Drop it from a spoon, well apart onto a greased baking sheet. Honey is a difficult ingredient. Sometimes it "acts up". It may become necessary to use more flour in the dough. Bake it in moderate oven 350   350 degrees F. Ice it with Lemon Icing for Christmas Cakes.