Domestic science (1914 text-book)

the bottom of the dish with the spoon, bringing it to the top and folding over the mixture thus brought to the top. 13. Grease gem pan and sprinkle with flour. 14. Pour in batter and bake in a moderate oven for about twenty minutes, or until they are a beautiful golden brown. Principles: Before the other ingredients are added, the butter and sugar must be creamed until they become of a semi-liquid consistency in order to make the muffins fine-grained and light. For the same reason, all the ingredients except the egg white must be thoroughly beaten. In this muflSn, two leavening agents are used: (1) The gas formed by the addition of liquid to the baking powder; (2) the air which is incorporated into the beaten egg white. Why then should the egg white be folded in? Sprinkling the greased pan with flour gives a glazed surface to the muffin. Twin Mountain Muf- [illustration: FIG. 54.— Muffins] luncheon or for breakfast. They may take the place of cake; they are, in fact, a sort of small cake. Table manners: Rule : Only the tips of the fingers, one hand at a time, should be dipped in the finger bowl. What has been learned: 1. A thorough creaming of butter insures fine grain in muffins. 2. The batter must be thoroughly beaten to insure lightness and fine grain. 3. Less baking powder should be added when whites of eggs are used. 4. Greasing and flouring tins gives a glazed surface. Digitized by Google Lesson XLVI Plain Cake Home Rule i c butter ^ c milk I c sugar li c flour 1 or 2 eggs ^ tp flavoring 1 tp baking powder I tp salt Materials used: Class Rtile 1 tp butter I tp baking powder 1 tb sugar 2i tb flour 1 tp egg 3 drops of flavoring 1 tb milk pinch of salt Utensils needed: Large bowl small bowl Dover egg beater wooden spoon Work to be done: 1. Put oven on to heat. 2. Cream the butter as directed in Lesson XLV. 3. Add the sugar gradually and cream it with the butter till the sugar has dissolved. 4. Beat the egg. 5. Add the beaten egg to the creamed sugar and stir vigorously. 6. Sift all dry ingredients. 7. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, stirring constantly. 8. Grease the tin well by brushing it with soft lard or melted butter. Fig. 55.— Cake Rack sieve spoons cake tin cake rack measuring cup Digitized by Google 9. Fill the tin about two-thirds full of the batter, drawing the mixture away from the center toward the corners or edges of the tin. 10. To test the oven, place a piece of white paper in it. If this paper turns a rich brown in five minutes, the oven is right for the cake. 11. Place cake on the bottom grate of the oven. 12. When the cake has risen and bubbles and brown spots r begin to appear, very carefully move it to the upper grate. Fig. 56 Cake Out of Tin Testing with Straw Batter in Tin 13. When the cake has browned all over the top, and has shrunk from the sides of the pan and settled, and no batter sticks to a straw pushed into it, carefully remove it from the oven. At this stage it should spring back when touched lightly with the finger. 14. As soon as the cake is taken from the oven invert the tin. 15. If the cake sticks, lay a damp cloth on the bottom of the inverted tin. 16. Place cake on a rack and let air circulate around it. Digitized by Google Principles: 1. The method of mixing the ingredients, which is called the butter-cake method, gives a fine grained textm^ to the cake. 2. Because a leavening agent, in this case baking powder, is used, a gas will be given off, which will make the cake rise. So in order that the cake shall not run over the top of the tin, the tin should be filled only about two-thirds full.