Foods and home making

C, cake pan with a removable bottom. A cake can be taken without breaking from a pan with a removable bottom. Sometimes one wants to serve sponge cake in square pieces. Then the cake should be baked in a square pan. Unless the pan has a removable bottom, it is well to line the bottom of the pan with paper. If a square pan is used, the paper may extend up two sides of the pan. Paper in the bottom of a cake pan makes it much easier to remove the cake without breaking it. For a sponge cake in which no baking powder or water is used, do not grease the pan. If baking powder and water are used, it is well to grease the pan. Cakes 551 How is a sponge cake mixed? The following is a typical recipe for sponge cake. Grated rind of \ lemon Sift some flour, then measure it. (If baking powder is used, add it to the flour.) Into a mixing bowl, put the egg yolks. Beat them well. The yolks should become lighter in color when well beaten. Add the sugar and flavoring. (If a sponge-cake recipe calls for any other liquid, it should be added at this time.) Beat well. Add the salt to the egg whites. Beat the whites until stiff, but not dry. Then through a sifter, add the flour to the yolk mixture. Beat until the ingredients are well blended. Now add the beaten whites. In order to lose as little as possible of the air beaten into the whites, fold them into the other ingredients as you did in making omelet. Turn the cake mixture into a pan. Variation: Orange Sponge Cake. — Use 4 eggs instead of 5. Add \ cup orange juice and § teaspoon baking powder. Bake in a tube cake pan. How is sponge cake baked ? It is possible to spoil a perfectly mixed cake by faulty baking. The temperature of the oven for sponge cakes should be lower than for butter cakes. Since the oven temperature is lower, the time is longer. If you do not have a heat-regulated oven or a portable ther- mometer, the following test may be used for the temperature of your oven : Put a piece of paper or a shallow pan containing a spoonful of white flour in the oven. Note the time. After five minutes open the oven door. The flour or paper should be light brown. Without a thermometer, the following is helpful in determin- ing whether the cake is baking properly : SPONGE CAKE 5 egg yolks 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 cup soft wheat flour 5 egg whites \ teaspoon salt 552 Hospitality 1. Divide the time of baking given in the recipe into quarters. 2. Open the oven door only at the end of each quarter. Do not keep the door open long. 3. Observe : a. End of 1st quarter — cake should have begun to rise. b. End of 2d quarter — cake should have continued to rise and begun to brown. c. End of 3d quarter — cake should have finished rising and browned more. d. End of 4th quarter — cake should have finished browning and shrunk from the sides of pan. In case you find your cake is not baking as it should, try to regulate the temperature. If the oven of a coal stove is too hot, you can reduce the temperature by placing a pan of hot water in the oven.