Nadine's Diary, "Ice Cream and Cake"

Friday, Oct. 26, 94.  In school.  Went to the Cresent in the evening with Misses Dyer, Flagg, Fennimore and Rochford.  Staid a little while then came down to Mr. and Mrs. Fritz' rooms.  They gave a party, served ice cream* and cake*.  Met several young men.  Came home about 12 oclock.  Mr. Frink came home with me.

Ice Cream maker from the 1890s

*Recipe for Ice Cream from my great-grandmother Emma Tankersly's 1911 edition of Every Woman's Home Cook Book:

ICE CREAM--3

1 pint milk

1 quart cream

2 cups sugar

1 saltspoon salt

1 tablespoon flavoring

2 tablespoons flour

2 eggs

Scald the milk in a double boiler.  Beat the eggs, flour, and 1 cup of sugar together till light, and then turn into the milk.  Stir constantly till thickened, and then occasionally.  Cook 20 minutes.  When cold add the second cup of sugar, the cream and the flavoring, strain into the freezer and freeze.

General directions for freezing:  Use the best freezer, and have all things in readiness.  Allow ten pounds of ice and two quarts of rock salt to a gallon to freezer.  Put the ice in a coffee sack and pound very fine for the first freezing.  Set the cylinder in the tub, and pour in the cream, which should be very cold.  Cover, and turn the crank to see if it works right.  Put in ice to the depth of three inches, then one inch of salt, and fill the tub with alternate layers, finishing with a layer of ice.  Turn the crank slowly and steadily, but do not freeze the cream too fast.  In twenty or thirty minutes unscrew the crank, wipe off the cover, and remove the dasher.  Scrape down the cream from the sides with a broad knife, a wodden one is best, and beat hard several minutes.  This makes the cream smooth.  Replace the cover, plug the dasher hole, taking great care that no salt creeps in.  Drain off the water and repack with coarser ice and salt.  Cover with a thick piece of carpet and set away in a cool place.  Or, apck in moulds, and place in pails filled with layers of salt and ice.  Cover and set away.  Wrap a hot cloth around the mould for a few minutes and the cream will turn out readily.  Should the ice in the tub melt rapidly while freezing, drain off the water, add more ice and salt, see that it is packed solidly, and continue the work of freezing.  If any cream or ice is left in the freezer, pour it out into porcelain-lined pans, and keep in a cold place to ice again.  Great care should be used in keeping the freezer sweet and clean.

From the same cookbook, marked in Emma Tankersly's handwriting, "this one":

CHOCOLATE CAKE--2

3 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 cup sweet milk

2 1/2 cups flour

5 eggs, reserving 3 whites

2 teaspoons baking powder

This makes 2 flat cakes.

Icing.

3 eggs, whites

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

6 tablespoons grated chocolate

2 teaspoons vanilla