Nice Rye Batter Cakes

A quart of lukewarm milk, two eggs, a large table-spoonful of fresh brewer's yeast or two of home-made yeast; sufficient sifted rye meal to make a moderate batter; a salt-spoon of salt; having warmed the milk, beat the eggs very light, and stir them gradually into it, alternately with the rye meal, adding the salt. Put in the meal, a handful at a time, till you have the batter about as thick as for buckwheat cakes. Then stir in the yeast, and give the batter a hard beating, seeing that it is smooth and free from lumps. Cover the pan, and set it in a warm place to rise. When risen high, and covered with bubbles, the batter is fit to bake. Have ready over the fire a hot griddle, and bake the cakes in the manner of buckwheat. Send them to table hot, and eat them with butter, molasses, or honey.

Yeast powders, used according to the directions that accompany them, and put in at the last, just before baking, are an improvement to the lightness of all batter cakes, provided that real yeast or eggs are also in the mixture. But it is not well to depend on the powders exclusively; particularly when real yeast is to be had. The lightness produced by yeast powders alone, is not the right sort; and though the cakes are eatable, they are too tough and leathery to be wholesome. As auxiliaries to genuine yeast, and to beaten eggs, yeast powders are excellent. But not as the sole dependence.

Indian batter cakes may be made as above; or rye and indian meal be mixed in equal proportions.

Indian Cup Cakes

A pint and a half of yellow indian meal; half a pint of wheat flour; a pint and a half of sour milk; (buttermilk is best;) a small tea-spoonful of saleratus or soda dissolved in warm water; two eggs; a level tea-spoonful of salt. Sift the indian and wheat meal into a pan and mix them well, adding the salt. If you have no buttermilk or other sour milk at hand, turn some sweet milk sour by setting a pan of it in the sun, or stirring in a spoonful of vinegar. Take out a small tea-cupful of the sour milk, and reserve it to be put in at the last. Beat the eggs very light, and then stir them, gradually, into the milk, alternately with the meal, a little at a time of each. Lastly, dissolve the soda or saleratus, and stir it into the cup of sour milk that has been reserved for the purpose. It will effervesce; stir it while foaming into the mixture, which should be a thick batter. Have ready some tea-cups, or little deep tins. Butter them well; nearly fill them with the batter, and set them immediately into a rather brisk oven. The cakes must be thoroughly baked all through. When done, turn them out on large plates, and send them hot to the breakfast or tea-table. Split them into three pieces, and eat them with butter.

The soda will entirely remove the acidity of the milk, which will effervesce the better for being sour at first, adding therefore to the lightness of the cake. Taste the milk, and if you find that the slightest sourness remains, add a little more dis solved soda.

All the alkalies, pearlash, saleratus, soda, and sal-volatile, will remove acidity, and increase lightness; but if too much is used, they will impart a disagreeable taste. It is useless to put lemon or orange juice into any mixture that is afterwards to have one of these alkalies, as they will entirely destroy the flavor of the fruit.