v w 
m, 
a 
'el 
®(ie !fcT0L3ies" Sftareil fiafiinet cm3 .f*ictoriat 
ionic taompeuuoii 
A LEAF FROM MY COOK-BOOK. 
CONCERNTIUG STOVES. 
Notwithstanding the progress of modern improve¬ 
ment, in the shape of houses warmed throughout by 
steam and heated air, there are hundreds of dwellings 
in the land that are dependent on stoves for this pur¬ 
pose. 
Now I would like to make a suggestion to the work¬ 
ers in iron, and to those whose,*business it is to design 
the patterns of these stoves. Why, instead of the great 
black cylinders which now encumber while they ren¬ 
der comfortable our parlors, could we not have an ele¬ 
gantly-draped statue in cast iron—say, of Ceres, with 
cornucopia; or of Pallas, with shield and helmet; or of 
Jove himself, with his thunderbolts, through whose 
hollow body, head, and members the hot air might 
permeate, while the eye rested with delight on the 
classic contour of its form ? For a church or Sabbath- 
school room, in place of these heathen deities, what a 
fine idea it would be to have a figure of Charity, offer¬ 
ing a warm welcome to all who, with blue noses and 
chilled fingers, gathered around her on a cold winter 
day ; or of Faith, pointing upward to future joys, and 
at the same time dispensing present comfort; or of 
Hope, leaning on an anchor, whose flukes should he 
flues, conveying warmth to the body while suggesting 
the safety of the soul. 
Polished to a brilliant blue-black by the patient 
brush of the stove-cleaner, one might almost imagine 
such a stove a statue of black marble designed by 
Phidias or Cauova. In the pedestal might he con¬ 
cealed the fire-pot, ash-pan, etc.; and perhaps some 
ingenious contrivance could be found to dispose of the 
necessary appendage of stove-pipe, so that its stern, 
uncompromising lines should not destroy the illusion. 
I merely throw out the suggestion, hoping that some 
one will work out the idea to perfection. 
And now a word on polishing stoves : As many 
ladies in the country are obliged to clean their own 
stoves, it is well to know the best, and easiest method 
of doing it. 1 have known persons to spend two hours 
in blackening a stove, and to he so tired after it that 
nothing more could he accomplished that day. This 
is a useless waste of time and strength. 
Have your stove perfectly cold, and, if possible, in a 
room with the windows open, as the air assists the 
process greatly. Apply the stove-polish with an old 
brush to a portion of your stove, and rub over with 
your polishing brush for a minute or two; then leave 
it to dry a little, while you serve another portion in 
the same manner, but he careful that it does not dry 
too much, or it will be grey in spite of all you can do; 
then return to it, and polish briskly for several minutes. 
In this manner go over the whole stove, returning to 
the charge again and again, until the brightness be¬ 
gins to appear—at first greyish-black, but becoming, 
as the friction is continued, a rich, jet black, both dur¬ 
able and beautiful. 
This is for the castings. For the sheet-iron parts, 
as well as for the stove-pipes, use a soft flannel cloth 
to apply the blacking, a small portion at a time, and 
rub up instantly with another flannel cloth, and in a 
few minutes—I bad almost said moments—you will 
have a smooth polished surface in which you may see 
your own grimy countenance reflected. I- M. 
How to make Crumb Cakes. —Gather up the 
crusts and crumbs, or bits of dry, light bread, biscuits, 
rolls, etc., from your bread jar; put them in a bowl, 
and pour over just enough milk as you think will bo 
absorbed, and let it stand over night. In the morning 
pour off the milk, if there is any unabsorbed; with a 
fork break up the lumps, and when quite smooth, stir 
in two well beateu eggs, a pinch of salt, a teaspoonful 
of soda, and a tablespoouful of flour. Bake on a hot 
griddle. They will require a little longer to brown 
than ordinary hot cakes, and one more difficult to turn 
until the hand is practiced. 
Bread and Apple Pudding. —Butter an earthen 
or tin pudding dish, and place in it alternate layers of 
bread-crumbs and thinly sliced apples, over which 
sugar should be sprinkled, that is, the sugar should he 
sprinkled over each layer of the apples; when the disli 
is filled, let the last or top layer he of bread-crumbs, 
over which two or three tablespoonfuls of melted 
butter should ho poured. Bake in a moderately hot 
oven, and place two or three nails under the pudding 
dish to keep from burning in the bottom; let it hake 
from three-fourths to a whole hour, according to the 
quality of the cooking apples. 
Sauce. —Take a pint of boiling milk, drop in a 
lump of butter, a large tablespoonful of sugar, and 
flavor with cinnamon or nutmeg. Or take boiling 
water, add tablespoouful of sugar, lump of butter, tea- 
spoonful of corn starch moistened iu cold water, the 
yolk of an egg, and flavor to taste. The egg should 
he well beateu and stirred iu when the sauce is par¬ 
way , at any rate, she shall have a warm place in my 
heart, lor I am anxious to surprise my husband with 
a dish he has so often extolled. Mrs. K. 
Oregon. 
RECIPES. 
tially cold, then return to the stove a moment or so 
"Wood Ashes and common salt, made compact 
with water, will stop the cracks of a stove, and pre¬ 
vent the smoke from escaping. 
only. 
Potato Cakes. —Use the cold mashed potatoes 
left the day before. To a small dish full, heat up the 
yolk of au egg, add two tablespoonfuls of sweet milk, 
one tablespoonful of flour, a pinch of salt, aud a little 
black pepper. Have the potatoes mashed nicely, so 
that there will he no lumps ; add the above ingredi¬ 
ents, heat the whole untiL very light, and fry iu hot 
lard Or butter. 
Potato Custard. —To four medium sized Irish 
potatoes, boiled and mashed, add two heaping table¬ 
spoonfuls of sugar, two eggs, half a tea-cup full of 
milk, and au ounce of butter. Bake in a pudding 
dish—is best served with a brandy sauce. Potato pie 
may he made iu the same way, observing the above 
proportions, except that you may use eggs and milk 
more liberally, as per pumpkin pies, and allow two 
tablespooufuls of sugar to each pie. The milk should 
he added last; make very light crusts; use only au 
under crust. 
Custard Pies. —Made iu the usual way, except 
to use only the yolks for the custard, and reserve the 
whites until the pies are done; then allowing the 
whites of two or three eggs to each pie, heat to a stiff 
froth, allow a tablespoouful of pulverized sugar to each 
pie, and flavor with lemon. Put the top dressing on 
smoothly, return to the oven a moment or two, until 
a light brown, and set them away in a cool place. 
These are the best looking aud the best tasting cus¬ 
tards that I have yet learned to make. 
Bread Pudding made in the usual manner, is 
improved by spreading a glass of either currant or 
raspberry jelly over the top after it is done, and then 
spreading on a top dressing of the frosted eggs, as per 
the custard pies above described. 
Now if some lady reader of the Cabinet will give 
me a recipe for making Delaware or Maryland biscuits, 
I will hope to he able to repay the donor in some 
Lemon Cake. —-One cup of sugar, one of flour, 
lour eggs, and a piece of butter the size of au egg, 
one teaspoonful cream tartar, half teaspoouful of soda ; 
heat eggs separate ; hake iu layers. For jelly, grate 
the peel of one lemon with the juice, heat with two 
small eggs, one cup of sugar, butter size of a walnut, 
stir over a slow fire till it boils. 
Chocolate Cake. — Half cup butter, two cups 
sugar, one cup sweet milk, three arid a half cups flour, 
two teaspoonfuls cream tartar, one of soda: mix with¬ 
out separating the eggs. Grate chocolate in half the 
dough ; hake in six layers, putting plain icing between 
the layers, having the top cake light, the next one 
dark, and so on alternately. This is very nice. 
Delicate Cake. —One cup butter, two of sugar, 
three-quarter cup sweet milk, four of flour, six eggs 
(the whites only), three heaping teaspoonfuls of baking 
powder, sifted with the flour; whites of eggs put iu 
last of all, aud the whole well beaten. Excellent cup 
cake made as above, only adding the yolks. 
Frosting. — After a cake is frosted plain and it is 
hard, a nice way to trim it is to take a square of thick 
writing paper, form into a cornucopia, till with frost¬ 
ing, and squeeze so that it comes out at the small end; 
you can form a vine around the edge of the cake, 
hunches of grapes, mottoes, and many pretty devices. 
The frosting must be stiff; beat sugar and whites to¬ 
gether. add a little starch to make it whiter. M. 
Candy. — I send a candy recipe which I have not 
noticed in the Cabinet. It will please the children, 
for no other candy is comparable to it. Three tea¬ 
cups of white or coffee sugar, one and a half tea-cups 
uuskimmed sweet milk to dissolve it: boil till done 
and flavor with vanilla; after it cools a little, stir 
until hard, and eat when you please. A. Lee. 
Chocolate Cake.— Thinking that all the readers 
of the Floral Cabinet must admire “ the true, the 
beautiful, the good,’ r as much as M. Cousin himself, I 
send them a recipe which is true and good, while one 
can make it beautiful also, by a little icing. Take 
eight eggs, one pound of sugar, half a pound of flour, 
the grated rind and juice of a lemon, and a quarter of 
a pound of butter. Beat the whites of the eggs to a 
Stiff froth; cream the butter with half the sugar; 
when the yolks are beaten light, with the rest of the 
sugar, add the butter, then the stiff whites, and final¬ 
ly stir the flour iu slowly ; season and hake in round 
shallow tins, called jelly-cake pans. Now for the 
caramel. Half a pound of chocolate, one aud a half 
pounds of sugar, quarter of a pound of butter, one 
toaeupfnl of cream, or rich milk ; boil ten or twelve 
minutes; add a teaspoonful of vanilla. When nearly 
cold, spread between layers of the cake, as you would 
jelly, sift, powdered white sugar over the top, and it is 
done. I do not exaggerate when 1 say it surpasses 
fruit cake, equals cocoa-nut cake, and puts pound cake 
to the blush. E. J. S. 
Polish for Furniture. —Equal proportions of 
turpentine, linseed oil and vinegar well rubbed in, and 
then polished with a piece of chamois skin, will work 
wonders with furniture that lias become dingv from 
exposure to dust and old age. 
'NT 
