Naples Biscuit

History

Foodymology titles this recipe "Naples Biscuit," following Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife (first published 1824). As printed in the book's Cakes section, the recipe is spare: twelve eggs beaten light, one pound of flour, and one pound of powdered sugar, all beaten together "till perfectly light," then baked in long divided pans so that each finished cake measures four inches long by one and a half wide. The batter contains no butter and no yeast or chemical leavening; its rise comes from the air beaten into the whole eggs.

"Naples biscuit" is one of the English names for the dry, sweet sponge-finger biscuit also known as the ladyfinger or savoy biscuit. In eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century Anglo-American receipt books, these biscuits were commonly made in advance and then grated or crumbled into other dishes as a base or thickener, though they were also eaten plain with tea or another beverage.

The Virginia House-Wife itself illustrates the ingredient use: its trifle directs the cook to line a deep dish with "slices of Savoy cake or Naples biscuit," wet them with white wine, and cover them with rich boiled custard — treating Naples biscuit and Savoy cake as interchangeable.

Beyond this, the historical record consulted here does not document a specific geographic origin, a lineage of transmission, or any social-status or class association for this particular biscuit. Such claims are omitted rather than inferred.

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 1 pound flour
• 1 pound powdered sugar

Instructions

1. Beat the twelve eggs until light. Add the flour and powdered sugar to the eggs, and continue beating all together until perfectly light. Bake in long pans with divisions, four inches wide, so that each finished cake will be four inches long and one and a half inches wide.