pies, and sifting salt into butter, excluding all lumps. The strainer
may be placed over a tumbler or bowl, resting on the knob on one
side and handle on the other.
For a very Targe cake, which requires three or four hours to
bake, fit three papers carefully, grease thoroughly, make thickpaste
of equal parts Graham and white flour and water enough to wet
thoroughly, place one paper in J)an, greased side down, pasting
sides to pan in places to keep it from slipping down, and spread
paste evenly inside of paper about an eighth of an
inch thick, press the second paper carefully into
place inside first and over the paste, greased side up.
Then put in the third paper and pour on the cake
batter. Earthen pans are good to bake cakes in as '»**»c»kep»u.
they heat slowly and the crust is less likely to burn. To use a pan with-
out stem, fill a glass bottle with shot and place it in the middle of pan«
CAKE-MAKING. 59
A cap of brown paper, fitted nicely over the pan and with the
comers so pinned up that it will not touch cake, should be put
over all except layer cakes when first placed in oven, and allowed
to remain fifteen to thirty minutes. Before baking, the stove should
be cleaned out so that all corners of flues will be free from ashes,
and the best of fuel should be ready. Build a moderate fire and
when ready add fuel so as to have it nicely burning when cake goes
into oven. Ovens are oftener too hot than too cool at the begin-
ning, but if there is not heat enough the cake will be ruined. A
moderate oven is needed for fruit cake and it requires three to four
hours to bake an ordinary loaf. A cake should rise and begin to
bake before browning much on the surface. Large cakes require
about the same heat as bread. Layer cakes must bake quickly and
the oven must be hot. To prepare oven, fill stove with hardwood,
let it burn until stove is well heated, turn damper so as to throw
heat under oven for ten minutes so as to thoroughly warm it before
cake is put in. Put cake in, close hearth and add wood in small
quantities to keep up heat. More heat is needed at the bottom of
the oven than at the top, and in some stoves the dampers need fre-
quent changing, but as ovens differ, one must study the stove and
learn by observation and experience how to judge and regulate the heat
Do not open oven door until cake has had time to harden, and
then open only when necessary and close quickly and gently as
jarring cake before it has hardened injures it« When necessary to
open oven door, be sure no draft from open doors or windows can
strike it. * If one side bakes faster than the other turn gently. Test
thoroughly and be sure that it is done before removing from oven.
In a quick oven it will require to bake about thirty minutes for each
inch of thickness in cake. Test by inserting a splint from broom
or a knitting needle. If it comes ou^ free from dough the cake is
done. When done set cake, still in pan on an inverted sieve to cool.
This gives air all around it and cools it evenly.
Page 45
Presented as published in 1890. 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
pies, and sifting salt into butter, excluding all lumps. The strainer may be placed over a tumbler or bowl, resting on the knob on one side and handle on the other.
For a very large cake, which requires three or four hours to bake, fit three papers carefully, grease thoroughly, make thickpaste of equal parts Graham and white flour and water enough to wet thoroughly, place one paper in J)an, greased side down, pasting sides to pan in places to keep it from slipping down, and spread paste evenly inside of paper about an eighth of an inch thick, press the second paper carefully into place inside first and over the paste, greased side up. Then put in the third paper and pour on the cake batter. Earthen pans are good to bake cakes in as they heat slowly and the crust is less likely to burn. To use a pan without stem, fill a glass bottle with shot and place it in the middle of pan.
A cap of brown paper, fitted nicely over the pan and with the comers so pinned up that it will not touch cake, should be put over all except layer cakes when first placed in oven, and allowed to remain fifteen to thirty minutes. Before baking, the stove should be cleaned out so that all corners of flues will be free from ashes, and the best of fuel should be ready. Build a moderate fire and when ready add fuel so as to have it nicely burning when cake goes into oven. Ovens are oftener too hot than too cool at the beginning, but if there is not heat enough the cake will be ruined. A moderate oven is needed for fruit cake and it requires three to four hours to bake an ordinary loaf. A cake should rise and begin to bake before browning much on the surface. Large cakes require about the same heat as bread. Layer cakes must bake quickly and the oven must be hot. To prepare oven, fill stove with hardwood, let it burn until stove is well heated, turn damper so as to throw heat under oven for ten minutes so as to thoroughly warm it before cake is put in. Put cake in, close hearth and add wood in small quantities to keep up heat. More heat is needed at the bottom of the oven than at the top, and in some stoves the dampers need frequent changing, but as ovens differ, one must study the stove and learn by observation and experience how to judge and regulate the heat
Do not open oven door until cake has had time to harden, and then open only when necessary and close quickly and gently as jarring cake before it has hardened injures it. When necessary to open oven door, be sure no draft from open doors or windows can strike it. * If one side bakes faster than the other turn gently. Test thoroughly and be sure that it is done before removing from oven. In a quick oven it will require to bake about thirty minutes for each inch of thickness in cake. Test by inserting a splint from broom or a knitting needle. If it comes out free from dough the cake is done. When done set cake, still in pan on an inverted sieve to cool. This gives air all around it and cools it evenly.