For cake let the flour dry near the fire while the other ingredients are
being collected. Then sift it, and if cream of tartar or baking powder
is desired, sift that with the flour. Roll the sugar to avoid lumps
(granulated sugar never lumps), and then weigh or measure the desired
quantity, putting it in a clean dish or bowl on the table. For cake or
pastry, the butter should be washed in ice-cold water the night before
using, squeezed hard in a clean cloth, and put into ice-water, and set on
ice till needed. Raisins should also be stoned the night before ; and
currants washed, picked over, rubbed dry in a clean cloth, then spread
on a broad dish or platter till needed. The citron, when required, should
2. CREAM PUFFS. '
3. NATIONAL CAKE.
1. BRIDE'S CAKE.
SPONGE CAKE.
MARBLE CAKE.
HO W TO MAKE IT. 409
be cut in very thin slices, all covered up closely, and set on the ice. By
attending to these preliminaries the evening before making cake, the
morning work is much expedited.
When ready for immediate work, gather all these things compactly
on the table, butter the pans, or line with white paper well buttered.
Use butter, not lard or drippings, for this, or the under crust will taste
unpleasantly. Cake is not as likely to burn at the bottom when the
pans are lined with buttered paper. Keep clean brown paper to cover
the top, if there is any danger of scorching. The cheap white unglazed
paper on which newspapers are printed answers every purpose for lining
cake pans, is more economical than letter paper, and safer, as writing
paper has often some poisonous substance like arsenic employed in
finishing it.
Eggs used for cake should be put into cold water in summer while
the preliminary work is going on. Then break each one in a cup sepa-
rately to be sure it is good. If it proves so, turn it into the bowl they
are to be beaten in, break the next into the cup, and so on till all are
broken. If broken, without this precaution, into the bowl they are to
be beaten in, there is the risk of breaking one poor one and so ruining
the whole. Have nutmegs grated and allspice measured on hand.
First beat butter and sugar together till white and creamy ; then the
eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately always, for the whites require
much longer time to be beaten perfectly. Strain the yolks after beating,
and add to them the well-beaten sugar and butter. Next add the spices.
Stir the flour gradually before using the sweet or sour milk needed.
If soda or cream tartar are to be used, the latter should be sifted with
the flour (also, as above stated, when only baking powder is called for).
Dissolve soda in cool water or milk, never in anything hot, as heat
destroys the best part of it. Put in the soda after the milk has been
added and well beaten with all the other ingredients.
Page 351
Presented as published in 1886. 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
For cake let the flour dry near the fire while the other ingredients are being collected. Then sift it, and if cream of tartar or baking powder is desired, sift that with the flour. Roll the sugar to avoid lumps (granulated sugar never lumps), and then weigh or measure the desired quantity, putting it in a clean dish or bowl on the table. For cake or pastry, the butter should be washed in ice-cold water the night before using, squeezed hard in a clean cloth, and put into ice-water, and set on ice till needed. Raisins should also be stoned the night before ; and currants washed, picked over, rubbed dry in a clean cloth, then spread on a broad dish or platter till needed. The citron, when required, should
2. CREAM PUFFS. '
3. NATIONAL CAKE.
1. BRIDE'S CAKE.
SPONGE CAKE. MARBLE CAKE.
HO W TO MAKE IT. 409
be cut in very thin slices, all covered up closely, and set on the ice. By attending to these preliminaries the evening before making cake, the morning work is much expedited.
When ready for immediate work, gather all these things compactly on the table, butter the pans, or line with white paper well buttered. Use butter, not lard or drippings, for this, or the under crust will taste unpleasantly. Cake is not as likely to burn at the bottom when the pans are lined with buttered paper. Keep clean brown paper to cover the top, if there is any danger of scorching. The cheap white unglazed paper on which newspapers are printed answers every purpose for lining cake pans, is more economical than letter paper, and safer, as writing paper has often some poisonous substance like arsenic employed in finishing it.
Eggs used for cake should be put into cold water in summer while the preliminary work is going on. Then break each one in a cup separately to be sure it is good. If it proves so, turn it into the bowl they are to be beaten in, break the next into the cup, and so on till all are broken. If broken, without this precaution, into the bowl they are to be beaten in, there is the risk of breaking one poor one and so ruining the whole. Have nutmegs grated and allspice measured on hand.
First beat butter and sugar together till white and creamy ; then the eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately always, for the whites require much longer time to be beaten perfectly. Strain the yolks after beating, and add to them the well-beaten sugar and butter. Next add the spices. Stir the flour gradually before using the sweet or sour milk needed. If soda or cream tartar are to be used, the latter should be sifted with the flour (also, as above stated, when only baking powder is called for). Dissolve soda in cool water or milk, never in anything hot, as heat destroys the best part of it. Put in the soda after the milk has been added and well beaten with all the other ingredients.