A Nice Useful Cake

Ok, so I'll be honest with you guys. When I started choosing vintage recipes for my final major project, I wanted to choose recipes that I hadn't heard of before, but also that looked enticing and, most importantly, yummy. Looking at the recipe, these cake seemed fairly ordinary, but I just couldn't resist making a cake who's title was its purpose, not its flavour. Now, the original recipe calls for candied peel and currants, but I'm not a big fan of candied peel, so I followed the instructions at the end of the recipe that went as follows: "The currants and candied peel may be omitted, and a little lemon or almond flavouring substituted for them: made in this manner, the cake will be found very good." And it was indeed a good cake! Granted, it is very large and a little denser than your modern day cake but served warm with a little cream, it was actually very nice, and not overpoweringly sweet. Not only this, but the chopped almonds provided a nice texture that you don't usually get in cakes.

Here is the original recipe that I was working with:

A Nice Useful Cake

Bare Necessities:
4oz/115g Butter
4oz/115g Sugar
1/2tsp Lemon Essence
1lb/450g Plain Flour
2tsp Baking Powder
3 Eggs
1cup/8fl.oz/250ml Milk
2oz/60g Chopped Almonds

1. Pre-heat the oven to 320F/160C.
2. Grease and line a cake tin.
3. Mix together all of the ingredients until fully combined and well mixed.
4. Pour the mixture into the tin.
5. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
6. Slice up and enjoy!