Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-05-10

Il.
Is there piazza or porch over at least one Of
your doors? NOT Cannot You supply the lack
Immediately Piazzas are more needed than
parlors in summer. Women need more fresh
air and sunshine The more NE get of 1t the
more we want; but we sometimes get 90 ia the
habit Of stepping round and round in an indoor
treadmill, that we almost lose the instinct for
light and air. Almost all Of our sewing ought
to be done on the piazza when the weather is
bright and the sun Is right. If this were carried
out the world would gain In neighboriiness as
low and easy benches under the shade-trees,
and some Of rs should suggest to our " men
folks the need of more trees. We can carry
out cushions when we need them. -Ts-
The best place to take nap on warm sum-
mer day Is In hammock swung up in the shade
somewhere out of doors. HammOcks Of differ
few dollars each. They are especially desirable
for invalids; but we should probably have fewer
invalids IL hammocks were more used by hard
working people who need an hour Of quiet out
door rest evefy summer day.
ABoUT MAKING CAKE.-Success in this art
depends much upon the method OF putting the
ingredients together. In the first place, you
must have good materiais-nice -four, fresh
eggs, good sugar or moaSses, and good butter.
No favoring will atone for the use of rancid
butter. Beat the eggs thoroughly, keeping
them as cool as possible. The incest cakes are
rately. In that case beat the whites upon a
large plate, and do not give over until you can
cut the froth in pieces with knife. Beat the
foam and begin % look a little thick. The
whites are the last thing to put In your cake,
and keep them cool while they wait. For my
part, j seldom beat the whites and yolks sepa-
rately, for only the very plain kinds of cake
form part of our everyday fare; but the
plainest cake is excellent if carefully made and
baked, and If of good materials.
Never use unsifted flour il you would have cake
or anything else, as light as possible. When Ora
ham flour Is used for cake, it should be sifted.
and the bran can be mixed again with the sifted
baking g m 4 ha
mixed with the flour and sifted with it. The
more thoroughly these are mixed together
before putting with the other ingredients of the
cake, the more fine and even win be the pores
of the cake when done.
Roll the sugar with a rollng.pin if IL is lumpy
inthe least Warm the butter little II it is
hard, but do not melt it,
The butter and sugar go together first, and
should be stirred or beaten. with silver or
, w3Ssen spoon" we are always told: wonder
TO test IT some day; but usually stir with a
silver lplatedDspoon. STR the butter and
sugar to cream considerably lighter colored
Then add the eggs-oniy the yolks at this time
if you beat the whites aud yolks separately
In the latter case keep the whites cool and put
them into the cake the very last thing. Beat
the eggs in with the sugar and butter thor
oughly before going further. Then you may
put in the milk with soda, If :" soda and cream
of-tartar" form part of the recipe. If flavor
ing or spices are used, they come next in order;
then the flour mixed already with baking
powder or with cream-of- tarter. If the whites
OF eggs are waiting, they must be thoroughly
stirred in at the last moment. When all is web
mixed together it should go into an oven that is
Just tight" for it.
ment' if you have none to use? Well, practice
on the plainest cakes while you cultivate ssjudg-
ment" The cake should rise to its full height
before the crust begins to harden. If you fear
cake (if IL stands upon the bottom), and cover
the top with paper. You can turn the dam
Tor few minutes, if you sit close by to turn the
damper back at the right moment. If the oven
cools suddenly, by an open door or any other
cause, before the cake lie done, the cake may
To tell when the cake is done. pierce il with
clean, fine straw lone broken from a clean
broom Is best in the thickest part, and if moth
ing sticks to it the cake is done.
Last summer head a housekeeper Boosting
that she never used recipes, and she was
woman who generally has ''gOod luckD with her
baking, presume. That Is, she seldom makes
an absolute failure, but she quite as seldom
reaches any high point Of attainment. 1t often
becomes necessary for us to vary recipe i'm
some respect If we use it at all. At least, it is
so in the country, where we depend upon our
own hens for eggs, and our own cows for butter
ard milk. This can be done safely if q few gem
erai principles are remembered.
Eggs are not necessary to make light cake.
With baking-pOwder seldom more than a tea
spoonful for single Loaf, or with soda cream
of-tartar exactly measured always exactly half
as much soda as cream-Of-tartarl, lghtness
may be insured, with reasonable care In other
respects. $685.. 80
That the cake may be tender Tor "short-,,
cream or butter becomes essential. New milk
will answer for shortening If the cake is to be
used with cream or canned-fruit dressing for a
desert Many kinds of cake that are sweet to
the palate are wicked to the stomach, they are
so saturated with grease" A tablespoonful
Of butter with half q cup of milk is really
enough shortening to make any single mod
erate-sized loaf Of cake "tender."
That the cake may be sweet, we use sugar or
molasses, or both together. To get some de-
sired flavor we use spices or extracts in small
quantities i have heard persons OF weak d.
gestion complain Of the cloves or the CHINA
mon or nutmeg used in cake. Strong havorlng
seems to me as vulgar as the use Of strong per-
fumes. They are not necessary to good cake,
and should be used with delicacy.
IL is the safest way, especially for the mex
peIienced, to follow good recipes accurately,
but person who has some knOweledge of the
che mistry of cooking may vary these or invent
others without much risk of failure. In saving
this do not mean to Justify the old loose way
of putting things together pretty much as Il
happens, ga little' OF this and ga pinch, of
that, without much idea Of how it will "turn
cut"