To Make Portugal Cakes is a traditional British recipe, based on Hannah Glasse's recipe of 1747, for a classic rich cake made from a flour sugar and butter blend mixed with well beaten eggs, incorporating currants and flavoured with sack and rose water. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: To Make Portugal Cakes.
(click this button to prevent the screen from sleeping so Cook Mode is 'ON')
This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Hannah Glasse's 1747 volume The Aft of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, the classic Georgian cookbook.
To make Portugal cakes.
MIX in a pound of fine flour, a pound of loaf-ſugar beat and ſifted, then rub it into a pound of pur ſweet butter till it is thick like grated white bread, then put to it two ſpoonfuls of roſe-water, two of ſack, ten eggs, whip them very well with a whiſk, them mix it into eight ounces of currants, mixed all well together ; butter the tin pans, fill them but half full, and bake them ; if made without currants they will keep half a year ; add a pound of almonds blanched, and beat with roſe-water, as above, and leave out the flour. Theſe are another ſort and better.
Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. Dice the butter, add to the flour mix and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Crack the eggs into another bowl. Add the rose water and sack and beat until frothy. Work this into the flour mixture until smooth then stir into the currants.
Butter and flour two cake tins and divide the batter between them. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 170°C and bake for about 40 minutes, or until well risen and golden on top (a skewer inserted into the centre should emerge cleanly.
Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before sandwiching together and decorating.
