I have just finished cataloguing Douce’s folders of woodcuts, which contain quite a few illustrations from late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century German almanacs. The autumn months are often represented by apple-picking:
E. W. Zimmer, September, early 19th century, woodcut (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)
In one of his commonplace books, Douce wrote down the following recipe, which had been given to him by the housekeeper of his friend the Rev. Edward Goddard in 1830:
Baked apple pudding
Purée and core 6 apples. Put them in a stew-pan with as much water as will cover them. When done rub them through a hair-sieve. Add to the pulp 2 ounces of fresh butter, the yolks of 2 eggs & the white of one, a little grated lemon peel & nutmeg & sugar to your taste. Line your dish or mould with puff paste, then pour it in. Twenty minutes will bake it in a quick oven.
(Ms. Douce e.105)
Bakery: cake bases in the oven © 2012 ARTstor, Inc. All Rights Reserved