Foods, their selection and preparation

until the mixture is foamy. Gradually beat the remaining sugar into the whites. Add the flavoring and continue beating until the mixture is stiff enough to hold a point when the egg-beater is lifted from it. The sugar-flour mixture is gradually added last, folded into the beaten egg-white mixture. The batter then is ready for the pan. Bake at once. The sirup method also may be used for angel-food cake. The sirup, made by boiling the sugar with half as much water to the proper concentration (238° to 240° F.,), is poured over the stiffly beaten whites, while the beating goes on. The flour is folded in last. The sirup method of making sponge cakes gives a fine-textured cake, but one of less volume than the first method described. Baking Sponge Cakes. Sponge cakes are usually baked in tube pans. They should be baked at a comparatively low temperature, 325° to 350° F. A temperature of 325° F. is a good standard temperature. These cakes are leavened by air which expands slowly as the temperature of the cake mixture rises. The mixture contains such a large proportion of egg that it coagulates very readily. If the cake is placed in an oven at too high a temperature, the top coagulates and crusts over before the mixture is heated through and the air has been expanded. The effect Mixing a Sponge Cake • {Left) Beat the egg whites until they are stiff enough to hold a point when the beater is removed; {Right) the sifted flour and the beaten whites are folded carefully into the stiff yolk mixture Courtesy General Foods Corporation of too low a temperature is a dry cake of low volume, with a crumb that is less delicate and desirable than it should be. The "justright” low temperature makes the sponge cake light and tender, while high temperature toughens it and prevents it from rising to the full extent. In a tube pan, at the range of temperatures suggested, approximately 40 minutes to one hour is needed for baking. Bake until the cake is delicately browned and springs back when lightly touched with a finger tip. Remove from the oven, and invert the pan so that it stands on the tube. Cool thor¬ oughly and then loosen the cake with a spatula and remove from the pan. Mock Sponge Cakes. When eggs are dif¬ ficult to obtain it is possible to make substi¬ tutions for part of the egg in sponge cakes. Liquid and baking powder may be sub¬ stituted for approximately half of the egg, in the proportion of 2 tablespoons water or milk and \ teaspoon baking powder for each egg omitted. In this case, the cake is not a true sponge cake, because of the use of baking powder. But it has no added fat and is similar in character to sponge cakes. It is light and spongy and in many instances more tender than the cakes of the typical group. Such substitution may be made in any of the sponge cakes. In combining these cakes, the liquid is mixed with the yolk when the whole egg is used. In angel-food cake, the dry ingre¬ dients are sifted together, the liquid is added to them slowly, and beating is con¬ tinued until the mixture is smooth. The stiffly beaten whites are folded in last. For best results, sift half the sugar with the dry ingredients, using the remaining sugar to make a meringue of the egg whites which is folded in last.