Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-11-03
THE ART OF CAKE MAKING.
: Sc Good Materials and Follow Rule
Closely.

Use good materials if you want good
cake. There is no alchemy in the oven
to transmute stale eggs. sticky sugar,
strong butter and lumpy -four in some
thing rich and toothsome. Neither will
the most skillful mixing and baking do
away with the acrid flavor resulting
from poor baking powders.
To judge -four rufiie the surface Of it
1.-THE shadows between the heaps Look
family creamy. Bluc-White -four is apt
10 have a taint Of corn -four or corn
starch. or else to have been ground
from wheat below the highest grade.
Perfect -four. grasped in the hand. will
show when released all the veins of the
palm. as well as keep shape. II has
also a sort of velvet feel. which may
be learned but cannot be more ac-
curately described.
a soft. we'll favored coffee sugar
with only a faint saccharine smell IS
for many sorts Of cake better than
either granulated or cut loaf and
first class grocers will supply on de-
mand 4 light yellow, soft sugar much
better for dark cakes than any of the
white sugar tribe.
Butter speaks for itself TO eye and
nose. Eggs carry within the hall
mark OF freshness. II is in the air
bubble at each end. between the lin
ing membrane and the shell. When
the bubble is small and located at the
ends the eggs are AT least reasonably
fresh. II it has shifted to the top or is
as big as your thumbs end. they are
open to suspicion. Eggs are better
il r.
weather it is well TO lay them in ice
water or set them in refrigerator
half an hour or so before using.
cake making single handed. Is q
matter for method. First measure
your butter and set il where Il Will
soften without melting. Melted butter
cannot be creamed. and creaming is
essential to lightness in the cake. Put
il in a bowl big enough to admit of
vigorous stirring. Then measure your
-four. sitting it first. put in the soda or
the baking powder and sift again. Cake
-four should always be siftcd twice.
If IL is measured as II comes out Of the
barrel YOU will infa!libly get too much
Of it, If il feels the least bit clammy,
or even if the day is damp. set 1t
where il will warm without ScOrChinC
until YOU are ready for II.
Next measure your sugar. and be
sure the measure is exact. Sift it
and set il also to warm. but be sure it
does not melt. Now. break your eggs
and separate yolks and whites. BreaE
each one over a small dish. then If
Won find a bad one. you Will not ruin
the who.c batch. Put the yolks into
\ ,. te n "
enoush:it should be twice the capacity
of the finished batter. to allow for
beating. Beat the yolks till they foam
and look almost creamy white. then
nut in the sugar. a Cupful at time.
and beat again.
After that. cream the hutter-r"ally
cream i'll DO not be satisfied Whcn u
IL soft enough to stir Keep beating
and stirring il. always the same way.
until il drops from the spoon i'll :
frothy rope. Add il to the egg ana
sugar. alternately with the Hour. and
take care to stir in every bit OF -four
before you put in more butter
drop of butter falling upoH dry flour
makes lump il is almost Impossible
10 be rid Of When all the butter ana
-four are in. beat hard for ten minutes.
then 20 to work whipping the whites
Of eggs Beat them very stiff, and mix
il lightly Now. if you have used soda
alone, put in your lemon juice strained.
or YOUR sour cream. Beat the whole
mixture for three minutes longer. add
yo,r f,avoring, then pour into noulds
and set in the oven.
Here is an excellent quick sponge
cake especially good to break and eat
hot. or serve with sauce as dessert
Break FIVE eggs. white and yolks to-
two cups of sifted sugar-threc scant
Guns of twice -sifted -four. Beat smooth,
then add a cup of strictly boiling va
ter. in which you have dissolved halt
a level teaspoonful of baking soda
Stir hard, then follow it with the
strained Juice of two lemons, tea
spoonful of lemon extract, and the
grated yellow rind of the cake. Bake in
a quick oven.
This makes fine layer cake. by bak
ing thin Spread a layer still warm
with frosting. then strew chopped nuts
and seeded raisins on the frosting. and
nut on another layer. Repeat unit! the
cake is as high as you like. Let cool,
trim smooth all round, and frost thick