WEDDING CAKE WITH ALMOND ICING

Two pounds flour, 2 lb. butter, 2 lb. powdered loaf sugar, 20 eggs, 4 lb. currants, ½ lb. almonds, 1 lb. citron, ½ lb. orange peel, ½ lb. lemon peel, one wineglassful of brandy, 1 packet of minced spice. Bring the butter to a cream with the hand, mix with it the sugar and spice, work all well together, beat the eggs separately, then add them to above ingredients, and beat all for 20 minutes. Add the brandy and the flour, stir well together, add the currants which must be well washed and dried, then the citron and other peel and the almonds, which must be chopped and blanched. Stir all together and put into tins lined with buttered paper. Bake for four and a half hours in a slow oven with six folds of buttered paper on top.
The almond icing: Put ½ lb. of almonds into boiling water and skin them, pound them well in a mortar with a few drops of plain water, 1 lb. of fine icing sugar, and as much beaten white of egg as will make a soft paste, spread this over the top of cake, keep it from the edge as much as possible, put into a cool oven till dry and hard, then ice with sugar icing, which is made as follows: Put 2 lb. of icing sugar into a bowl and work into it the white of two eggs or as many whites as necessary. Sometimes 3 or 4 are required. The whites must not be whisked, but thrown in as they are, work the mixture to a stiff, shiny paste, and while working it, add an occasional drop of lemon juice.
The cake should not be iced until shortly before wanted, as it may get dirty. The icing should be spread evenly with an ivory or bone knife.