In preparing ingredients for cake, weigh the sifted flour, first, slide it on a piece of clean brown paper, then
weigh the sugar, arrange the scales for the additional weight of butter and lay this carefully on the sugar ; the
cutter can then be creamed in the cake-bowl, and the sugar added by degrees from the tin receiver, which then
being quite clean, need be only wiped, whereas, had the butter touched it, it would require washing. It is
a:so a good plan to have a couple of paper bags near the scales marked " Flour, " and "Sugar," have them
large enough to hold two quarts each. It is easy to slide the flour and sugar into them from the end of the tin
receiver, and in every way they are better than plates or bowls. "
To cream butter is to stir it with a spoon until it is of the consistency of thick cream.
147
i4<5 HOME DISSERTATIONS.
TO MAKE CAKE.
•W" the Jlour oefore measuring. — Be accurate in your measuring. Attend to the oven, which must, for
mo«» (;ake, be of the heat required for baking bread. See that the fire is in condition to ensure heat for three-
fourths of an hour from the time the cake goes in, neither increasing nor decreasing. It is bad to add coal
while cake is in the oven, and it is equally bad to open oven-doors for cooling. A basin of water put into the
oven with cake or pastry will keep them from burning. Prepare the baking-pans. These must be thinly
buttered , and the lower part covered with paper ; many butter the paper also, but it is not necessary. Collect
all the ingredients, measure or weigh, as the recipe requires. Should the butter be quite salt it must be washed
in cold water ; press out the water and cream the butter, when the sugar may be gradually added and thor-
oughly beaten in. Beat the yolks of the eggs until they are thick and smooth and add them, beating well, to
the butter and sugar ; add the spice, then beat the whites of the eggs to so stiff a froth that they will adhere
to the bowl when it is turned upside down. If the recipe requires milk it should now be stirred in alternately
with the whites of the eggs and the flour, leaving a little of the flour to go in last ; if no milk is used, add the
whites of the eggs, then the flour, after which it should be stirred as little as possible. Add the fruit✪ To Make Cake last.
Flour the currants, raisins, and citron before adding to the mixture, which prevents the fruit from falling to
the bottom. Fill the pans but little more than half their depth, and if possible do not move them while the
cake is baking. Test whether a cake is done by running a clean straw into the thickest part. It should come
out clean if the cake is done.
Icing can be made while the cake, if in ordinary loaves, is in the oven. If the icing be ff>r jelly-cake,
which bakes in a few moments, it should be ready when the cake goes into the oven. The whites of three
eggs will make sufficient icing for two loaves of cake. Icing will keep for weeks, closely covered in a cool
place. If too stiff from partial drying, add a little water. The whites of eggs will keep several days. The
white of a common-sized egg weighs one ounce.
Page 132 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1891. 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
In preparing ingredients for cake, weigh the sifted flour, first, slide it on a piece of clean brown paper, then weigh the sugar, arrange the scales for the additional weight of butter and lay this carefully on the sugar ; the butter can then be creamed in the cake-bowl, and the sugar added by degrees from the tin receiver, which then being quite clean, need be only wiped, whereas, had the butter touched it, it would require washing. It is also a good plan to have a couple of paper bags near the scales marked " Flour, " and "Sugar," have them large enough to hold two quarts each. It is easy to slide the flour and sugar into them from the end of the tin receiver, and in every way they are better than plates or bowls. "
To cream butter is to stir it with a spoon until it is of the consistency of thick cream.
TO MAKE CAKE.
Sift the flour before measuring. — Be accurate in your measuring. Attend to the oven, which must, for most cake, be of the heat required for baking bread. See that the fire is in condition to ensure heat for threefourths of an hour from the time the cake goes in, neither increasing nor decreasing. It is bad to add coal while cake is in the oven, and it is equally bad to open oven-doors for cooling. A basin of water put into the oven with cake or pastry will keep them from burning. Prepare the baking-pans. These must be thinly buttered , and the lower part covered with paper ; many butter the paper also, but it is not necessary. Collect all the ingredients, measure or weigh, as the recipe requires. Should the butter be quite salt it must be washed in cold water ; press out the water and cream the butter, when the sugar may be gradually added and thoroughly beaten in. Beat the yolks of the eggs until they are thick and smooth and add them, beating well, to the butter and sugar ; add the spice, then beat the whites of the eggs to so stiff a froth that they will adhere to the bowl when it is turned upside down. If the recipe requires milk it should now be stirred in alternately with the whites of the eggs and the flour, leaving a little of the flour to go in last ; if no milk is used, add the whites of the eggs, then the flour, after which it should be stirred as little as possible. Add the fruit last. Flour the currants, raisins, and citron before adding to the mixture, which prevents the fruit from falling to the bottom. Fill the pans but little more than half their depth, and if possible do not move them while the cake is baking. Test whether a cake is done by running a clean straw into the thickest part. It should come out clean if the cake is done.
Icing can be made while the cake, if in ordinary loaves, is in the oven. If the icing be ff>r jelly-cake, which bakes in a few moments, it should be ready when the cake goes into the oven. The whites of three eggs will make sufficient icing for two loaves of cake. Icing will keep for weeks, closely covered in a cool place. If too stiff from partial drying, add a little water. The whites of eggs will keep several days. The white of a common-sized egg weighs one ounce.
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To Make Cake