Elements of the theory and practice of cookery

424. How to mix butter cakes. — Cream the butter and sugar thoroughly ; unless they become partially lique- fied before the other ingredients are added, the cake will be coarse grained, perhaps heavy. Add the yolks of the eggs, beaten slightly, then a little of the milk, then part of the flour with the other dry ingredients sifted with it, a little more milk, and so on till all the flour and milk are stirred in, taking care to keep the mixture always of about the same degree of stiffness. Fold in the whites beaten very stiff. Add the flavoring and beat the mixture well. If fruit is to be added, fold it in, well floured, last of all. Compare these directions with those for mixing Egg Muffins. What difference do you observe ? For Cot- tage Pudding the butter is melted.. Note the propor- tion of butter to sugar, and think why this is done. 425. How to inix sponge cake. — Beat the yolks till thick and lemon colored. Beat the sugar into them, add the flavoring (and other liquid, if the recipe calls for any) . Beat the whites till stiff and dry ; slip them SUGAR AND SWEETS 267 into the mixing-bowl ; sift the flour over them, and fold all together. Sponge cake beaten after adding the flour will be close and tough. 426. Mixing molasses cakes. — Mix milk and molasses and stir them into the flour. Add soda last, sifted with a little of the flour reserved for this purpose. 427. Fruit must be well floured and added last, or it will sink to the bottom of the loaf. To stone raisins, cover them with boiling water. When they become soft, squeeze out the seeds. Cut citron in thin strips. (For the preparation of currants, see § 235.) 428. Directions for baking. — The baking is the most important part of cake making. No matter how skil- fully cake is mixed, it will be spoiled if not properly baked. 429. Greasing cake pans. — Grease cake pans well with melted butter (§ 189). Sponge-cake tins need not be greased ; line them with ungreased paper. 430. The oven. — The oven should be less hot for cake than for bread. It is right for butter cakes baked in loaves, if it turns a piece of writing paper light brown in five minutes. For small cakes it should be hotter. Sponge cake may be baked either in a hot oven or in a moderate one, allowing it forty to fifty minutes in the latter case. Loaf cake requires about one hour. Small cakes and layer cakes, about twenty minutes. When cake is done it shrinks from the pan, and a broom straw run into it comes out clean. Take 268 THEORY AND PRACTICE OF COOKERY it at once from the pan, and set it on a clean towel to cool. 431. The points of good cake. — A good butter cake is smooth on top and an even golden-brown all over. It should round up slightly in the middle, but not sink from the edges and rise sharply with a crack on the top. Such a cake either contains too much flour or has baked too fast. The inside of the loaf should be slightly moist, but not sticky, and of a fine, even grain, with no heavy streaks. Coarse-grained cake is usually caused by lack of beating or by too slow an oven. Sponge cake should rise in the oven, and settle to a levels not lower, after being taken out. The top crust should be slightly sugary, the texture looser than that of butter cake, but tender and velvety. Too much flour makes sponge cake tough.