It is practically impossible to buy cakes that are equal to well-made home-baked
ones, and so they are always appreciated. The secrets of success are, care in following
the recipe exactly, and attention to the simple rules of mixing and baking.
With all cookery, method and order are great points to be considered. Have every-
thing in readiness before you begin to mix a cake, for it may be spoiled if you have to stop mixing or
beating to prepare an ingredient. First study and set your recipes to hand. Put out measuring cups,
boards, knives, egg beaters, flour sifters, pastry brushes, bowls, basins, cake tins, and scales and weights.
Measure or weigh the quantities required. Pay attention to the oven and see that it is likely to be
sufficiently hot by the time the cake is ready for it.
Then get ready the necessary cake tin or tins, and prepare them in a manner suited to the kind of
cake to be made.
The measuring cup should hold one-half pint. All measurements are level. All materials are meas-
ured level, i. e., by filling spoon or cup more than full and leveling with the back of knife.
Flour, meal, sugar, baking powder, and spices are measured after one sifting and heaped into the
measure lightly. This is of importance in making good cakes. Flour should not be shaken down into
the measuring cup. Flours vary in thickening qualities, therefore the exact amount of liquid cannot
always be given.
It is very important to have the flour dry, as damp flour would render any cake heavy.
There are three ways of mixing. Stirring, beating, and cutting or folding.
To stir: — Let the spoon touch the sides and bottom of the bowl and move it round quickly in circles
of various sizes. Do not lift it out of the mixture, and work well against the sides.
To beat: — Tip the bowl to one side. Bring the spoon or fork quickly into the mixture and through
it, take it out the other side and bring it over and down again scraping the sides well each time it goes
in. It is important to keep the bowl of the spoon well scraped, out during mixing. Beat hard and
quickly.
To cut or fold: — Turn over the mixture with a spoon or knife and lifl it up, folding in as lightly as
possible. Do not stir or beat but mix very gently until quite blended.
To beat butter: — In beating butter to a cream, if very hard it can be slightly warmed in the oven
or put into a hot bowl, but it must on no account be melted. The best method is to soften hard butter
by putting it through the food chopper. The sugar may be heated and added to the butter.
Inferior or tainted butter should never be used for cakes. If butter is employed it must be good,
sweet butter being the best. If the butter is very salt it will be better to wash it in cold water, and
dry it in a floured cloth before using.
For many of the plainer cakes, and especially when baking for large families, or where expense has
to be considered, a cheaper kind of fat may be substituted for butter. Lard, beef drippings, beef marrow,
margarine, or one of the different vegetable fats now on the market will generally answer the purpose.
Eggs must be fresh and good but not necessarily new laid. Well-preserved eggs serve the purpose
excellently. They should always be broken separately into a small cup or bowl before adding them to
the mixture.
With regard to sugars— always brown sugar for rich cakes that you want dark in color. Use granu-
lated sugar for other cakes except where otherwise stated, and always sift it before use.
—
Fruit must be thoroughly dried before being used if it has been necessary to wash it, and floured be-
fore adding to the mixture.
To free currants from stalks, put them in a colander, look them over carefully, and remove any
stones. Rub the fruit, and the little stalks will fall through the holes if the colander is shaken. Sul-
tanas will need picking, as the stalks are larger.
Seed raisins and cut them in halves.
Page 20
Presented as published in 1916. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
It is practically impossible to buy cakes that are equal to well-made home-baked ones, and so they are always appreciated. The secrets of success are, care in following the recipe exactly, and attention to the simple rules of mixing and baking.
With all cookery, method and order are great points to be considered. Have everything in readiness before you begin to mix a cake, for it may be spoiled if you have to stop mixing or beating to prepare an ingredient. First study and set your recipes to hand. Put out measuring cups, boards, knives, egg beaters, flour sifters, pastry brushes, bowls, basins, cake tins, and scales and weights. Measure or weigh the quantities required. Pay attention to the oven and see that it is likely to be sufficiently hot by the time the cake is ready for it.
Then get ready the necessary cake tin or tins, and prepare them in a manner suited to the kind of cake to be made.
The measuring cup should hold one-half pint. All measurements are level. All materials are measured level, i. e., by filling spoon or cup more than full and leveling with the back of knife.
Flour, meal, sugar, baking powder, and spices are measured after one sifting and heaped into the measure lightly. This is of importance in making good cakes. Flour should not be shaken down into the measuring cup. Flours vary in thickening qualities, therefore the exact amount of liquid cannot always be given.
It is very important to have the flour dry, as damp flour would render any cake heavy.
There are three ways of mixing. Stirring, beating, and cutting or folding.
To stir: — Let the spoon touch the sides and bottom of the bowl and move it round quickly in circles of various sizes. Do not lift it out of the mixture, and work well against the sides.
To beat: — Tip the bowl to one side. Bring the spoon or fork quickly into the mixture and through it, take it out the other side and bring it over and down again scraping the sides well each time it goes in. It is important to keep the bowl of the spoon well scraped, out during mixing. Beat hard and quickly.
To cut or fold: — Turn over the mixture with a spoon or knife and lifl it up, folding in as lightly as possible. Do not stir or beat but mix very gently until quite blended.
To beat butter: — In beating butter to a cream, if very hard it can be slightly warmed in the oven or put into a hot bowl, but it must on no account be melted. The best method is to soften hard butter by putting it through the food chopper. The sugar may be heated and added to the butter.
Inferior or tainted butter should never be used for cakes. If butter is employed it must be good, sweet butter being the best. If the butter is very salt it will be better to wash it in cold water, and dry it in a floured cloth before using.
For many of the plainer cakes, and especially when baking for large families, or where expense has to be considered, a cheaper kind of fat may be substituted for butter. Lard, beef drippings, beef marrow, margarine, or one of the different vegetable fats now on the market will generally answer the purpose.
Eggs must be fresh and good but not necessarily new laid. Well-preserved eggs serve the purpose excellently. They should always be broken separately into a small cup or bowl before adding them to the mixture.
With regard to sugars— always brown sugar for rich cakes that you want dark in color. Use granulated sugar for other cakes except where otherwise stated, and always sift it before use.
—
Fruit must be thoroughly dried before being used if it has been necessary to wash it, and floured before adding to the mixture.
To free currants from stalks, put them in a colander, look them over carefully, and remove any stones. Rub the fruit, and the little stalks will fall through the holes if the colander is shaken. Sultanas will need picking, as the stalks are larger.
Seed raisins and cut them in halves.