The original recipe in French
Le gâteau a été fabrique le premier. Il composait de huit jaunes d’œufs battus avec trois blancs pendant que 125 grammes de beurre et un verre d’eau chauffaient ; en ajoutant ceci aux œufs, on jeta en pluie presque une verre de farine, un grain de sel, de la levure. Après avoir bien battu la pâte, on la dispu (sic) sa dans des moules beurrés, qu’on eut soin de ne remplir qu’a moitié car il fallait mettre revenir cette pâte près du feu … de la faire cuire au four.
Le gâteau peut se faire meilleur en mettant quinze faunes d’œufs au lieu de huit (sic) il en additionnant de la crème. Il nous a semblé excellent.
Il fut mangé avec une crème foulée. Une compagne avait apporté de le crème, nous l’avons bien battue en ajoutant un demi quart de sucre en poudre.
The recipe translated into English
The cake was made first. It consisted of 8 egg yolks beaten with 3 egg whites, while 125 grams of butter and a glass of water were heated. Then adding to the eggs, almost a glass of flour, a pinch of salt, and baking powder were thrown down (in). After mixing the batter well, we poured it into a buttered baking tin, which we took care to only half fill because it was necessary to put the batter near the fire to cook in the oven.
The cake can be made better by putting in 15 ‘wild’ eggs instead of 8 and by adding cream. It seemed excellent to us.
It needs to be eaten with whipped cream. A companion bought cream, we beat it well, adding half a quarter of powdered sugar.
Notes for a Modern Kitchen
8 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/2 a cup of warm water (or full cream milk!)
125 grams of softened butter
2 cups of flour
Teaspoon of baking soda
Optional: half a cup of sugar.
Mix together eggs then add the flour. Melt together the water/milk and butter. Mix gently through the eggs and flour. Pour into the pan and then bake until cooked at 180C/350F.
You can do this without sugar, as per the original recipe, but it will be a bit of a strange taste for modern palettes! Definitely serve with whipped cream and fruit if you are foregoing the sugar.