The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-19

"tAhS S"bJtNt " HNuSthttptIS. Is II
not? And yet how many rush to
the nearest confectioner's and con-
tent themselves with buying the
highly colored, sweet, but insipid
connections which are so alluringly
set out.
Cake making occupies a unique
position in culinary work. Many
persons undertake to make a cake
who never think of doing anything
else in the way of cooking, but
those who desire to excel in this
art, for it is an art, must give at
tention to the minutest particulars.
The best ingredients are the most
economical. Cheap fruit is dirty,
and will take a long time to clean;
inferior butter is often rancid and
unwholesome, and cheap eggs are
often more than half bad.
Before beginning to make a cake,
look to the oven. Cakes, contain
ing a small quantity of fruit, need
a fairly hot oven at first, to pre-
vent the fruit sinking to the bottom,
but it must not be too hot or the
cake will be burnt before it is
cooked through. Before beginning
to mix cakes at all see that the
tins or molds are carefully prepared.
For rich cakes, the bottom and sides
of the tins should be lined with
double paper cut to the size and
well buttered. For plain cakes.
have the molds or tins perfectly dry,
we'll creased and busted out with
flour and the paper dispensed with.
Use only the best flour and warm
it before using to about the temper
|ature of the hand, Do this slowly.
and always sift the flour before
using it. Always keep the flour
in dry place The use of damp
flour is a great hindrance to sue
cessful cake making. Sugar for
cakes should be fine and white The
eggs should be quite fresh. Cakes
that are moistened sufficiently with
eggs without milk do not require
baking powder or yeast Cakes
made light with baking powder, soda
or beaten eggs should be baked
as soon as mixed Therefore, they
should not be mixed until all the in
gradients are prepared and the oven
heated.
Solid cakes, such as fruit and
pound cakes, require rather hot
oven; sponge and all light cakes,
as we'll as large cakes which con-
tain much baking powder, must have
a slow oven. A very light cake
put into a quick oven rises rapidly
round the sides, but leaves a hol-
low in the middle Do not move
cake about in the oven, and al
ways open and shut the oven door
as gently as possible. A sudden
jar" may cause the cake to sink
in the center. If a cake is incln-
ed to burn at the top, sheet of
paper should be put over it.
When baked, take all cake out of
the tins, and place them on sieve,
so that the steam may escape in
stead of condensing and making
heavy.
Layer cakes or small cakes re-
quire less flour than large loaves
Variations in cake are easily OBJ
tanned through changes in flavoring
ingredients. Chopped nuts, desic-
Gated cocoanut, raisins, currants,
dates, candied orange and lemon
peel, and citron in various COM
binations, help to give us many
cakes from a single recipe.
Honey Biscuits.
Melt together in saucepan over
the fire, one pound of honey and
one cupful of butter. Remove the
pan form the fire and stir in four
cupfuls of flour, flavoring to taste;
and few blanched and shredded
almonds. Allow the mixture to
cool; then stand it in a cold place
over night. Next day roll out the
dough about a quarter of an inch
thick, cut into narrow strips, dec
crate with split almond at one
end and piece of candied orange
peel at the other lay on buttered
tins and bake in moderate oven
until nicely colored.
Isabella Cake.
Cream together one cupful of but
ter and two cupfuls of sugar; then
work in the well-beaten yolks of
eight eggs. Add three cupfuls of
flour with which has been sifted