Hickory Nut Cake and Bettina's Confectioner's Icing

Hickory Nut Cake
1/3 c butter
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
1/2 c chopped hickory nut meats
4 tsp baking powder
2 c flour
3/4 c milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon extract

Cream the butter, add the sugar and mix well. Add the egg yolks, the nut meats*, and the flour and baking powder sifted together. Then add the milk, vanilla and lemon extract. Beat vigorously for two minutes. Add the whites stiffly beaten. Mix thoroughly and pour into two layer cake pans prepared with buttered paper. Bake twenty-five minutes in a moderate oven. Ice with confectioner's icing.

* Editor's note, if using an electric mixer, you might wait to add the nuts until just before the egg whites, stirring both in gently by hand.

Bettina's Confectioner's Icing

2 Tbs cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 c powdered sugar

Mix the cream and extracts. Gradually add the powdered sugar sifted through a strainer. Add enough sugar to form a creamy icing which will easily spread upon the cake. (More than a cup of sugar may be needed.)