Irish Country Kitchen - Tea & Supper Cakes: (3 of 3)

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A selection of cake recipes from An Irish Country Kitchen by Mary Kinsella, published by Appletree Press.

TEA & SUPPER CAKES

POITÍN CAKE
Poitín (pronounced pwah-cheen) is an illegal drink distilled from barley and potatoes and commonly made in rural Ireland. It is clear colourless drink like vodka, and, largely because the taxman is absent from the transaction, is far cheaper than any of our other spirits.The price will vary widely depending on demand and on the shrewdness or gullibility of the purchaser. Many of our overseas friends will buy a bottle of it. They’ll falsely label it, for instance, as “holy water”, put it into their suitcases, and sneak it through customs for an illicit tipple in the privacy of their faraway homes.
A good poitín drinker will pour himself a glass of poitín and swallow off the entire contents at one gulp – a practice that is not recommended to the uninitiated since it can mean a three-day separation of the skull from the contents of the head.
Irish cooks are very thrifty and so use poitín in place of whiskey or brandy. Poitín is often laced into already rich fruitcakes, though it doesn’t corrupt the innocent. The fruit is put to steep in poitín overnight and then is fed directly into the dough as well, moistening the cake and giving it a lovely flavour.
Serves 12
Preparation Time: 25 minutes
Oven Position: centre
Cooking Time: 3 hours
Oven Temperature: gas 3, 165°C, 325°F
Ingredients:
8oz raisins 225g 11/3 cups
8oz sultanas 225g 11/3 cups
2oz candied peel 50g 1/3 cup
2oz sliced glacé cherries 50g 1/3 cup
1oz chopped almonds 25g 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 cup poitín
12:10 20/05/2009 9oz flour 250g 21/4 cup
pinch of salt
6oz butter or margarine 175g 3/4 cup
6oz caster sugar 175g 3/4 cup
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
Method: Steep the fruit, spices and chopped almonds for a few hours in poitín. Line and grease a deep 8-inch tin. Sieve flour and salt together. Cream butter or margarine and sugar together, continue as for basic cake. Add soaked fruit, spices, baking powder and chopped almonds to cake mixture. Put mixture into prepared tin and spread out evenly. Arrange whole almonds on top. Cover with a double sheet of greaseproof or brown paper and bake for three hours. When baking is done, remove cake from oven and leave in tin until cold.

ROYAL ICING
To cover:: an 8-inch cake
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
2lb icing sugar 1kg 4 cups
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon glycerine
juice of 1 lemon
Method: Sieve the icing sugar onto a plate. Put the egg whites into a bowl with glycerine and strained lemon juice. Beat a little with a fork. Add all the icing sugar and beat until smooth for about 15 minutes. Keep icing covered with a damp cloth. Apply icing to cake by putting most of it on top (saving a little for decorating cake); with a palate knife work the icing out to the edge and down the sides. Allow the icing at least two days to dry out; then decorate cake.
Watchpoint: Omit glycerine if hard icing is required: for example, if using it to coat a wedding cake.

ALMOND PASTE
This is a highly flavoured rich paste used to coat cakes which are rich in fruit. This coating is further enriched by being decorated with toasted whole almonds and glacé green or red cherries.
To cover:: an 8-inch cake
Preparation Time: 20–30 minutes
Ingredients:
10oz ground almonds 275g 11/4 cups
10oz icing sugar 275g 11/4 cups
10oz caster sugar 275g 11/4 cups
a few drops almond essence
2 egg yolks
2–3 tablespoons whiskey or rum
apricot jam (sieved and heated)
Method for almond paste: Put ground almonds into a bowl and sieve in the sugars. Add almond essence, egg yolks and spirits. Mix to a smooth paste, using hands in preference to a wooden spoon. Turn out onto a board or work table dusted with icing or finely granulated sugar, and knead until smooth. Avoid over-kneading as this can cause the paste to become too oily and unmanageable.
Method for assembling almond paste on fruit cake: Spread the sides of cake with the heated jam. Divide the paste in half, reserving half for top of cake. For side of cake, divide the remaining paste into two. Roll each piece into a long strip, ensuring that there is sufficient fine granulated or powdered sugar on the worktable to prevent paste from sticking. Roll each strip out to a size and length sufficient to cover two sides of the cake in depth and width. Roll up each strip. Unroll strips, pressing them onto sides of cake; each strip should cover two of the four sides. Make neat joins where strips meet. Coat top of cake with jam. Roll out remaining paste on sugared worktable into shape of cake top. Using two hands transfer it to the top of cake. Using a knife, smooth all the joins. Roll top and sides of cake until smooth with sugared rolling pin. Store cake for a few days before applying royal icing, so that the almond paste will have dried out.

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