Principles of cooking

‘chocolate, and one egg well beaten. Mix thoroughly, and add one fourth cup of milk, one teaspoon of vanilla, two and one fourth cups of flour, three teaspoons of baking powder, and one fourth teaspoon of salt, sifted together. Roll out thin, cut, and bake in a moderate oven. a CAKES All cakes are grouped into two general classes, — those made with butter or some kind of shortening, and those made without shortening, as sponge, angel, or sunshine cakes. The directions for mixing butter cakes are practically the same for every case. Grease and flour the cake pans, and prepare the oven. Measure all dry ingredients first, and sift the flour, salt, baking powder, or soda, and spices together. Flour raisins or currants, if they are to be used. Beat the eggs, beating the yolks and whites together, unless the directions call for the whites and yolks’ beaten separately. In that case beat the yolks until smooth and thick, and the whites until they are so dry that the bowl in which they are beaten may be turned upside down without danger of loss of eggs. When all is in readiness, cream the shortening; this is done by working it against the side of the bowl with the mixing spoon until it is soft as cream. Add the sugar gradually, and work it into the shortening until it is partially dissolved. Add the beaten eggs and beat the mixture thoroughly so that sugar, shortening, and eggs are perfectly blended. Add the milk and flour alternately so as to keep the same consistency throughout the process. CAKE MAKING. Never stir a cake after the eggs are added, because stirring breaks the air bubbles. The cake should be beaten, using long strokes of the spoon and going through the batter to inclose as much air as possible. During baking, watch the oven carefully. If the oven is too hot, the cake will not rise sufficiently. Small cakes demand a hot oven, large cakes a moderate oven, as in the latter case the heat must be slow enough to penetrate to the center of the cake. A good cake is slightly rounded, smooth, and an even brown all over. If it cracks, it contains too much flour, or it has baked too fast. The grain should be fine and uniform throughout. When acake is baked, it shrinks from the sides of the pan, it is firm on top, when touched with the finger, or, if a clean straw is inserted, it comes out dry. | A great variety of cakes may be made from the recipe for Plain Cake by adding spices, nuts, raisins; chocolate or other fillings, and frostings. A cake should never contain more than half as much shortening as sugar. It should contain less than half as much milk as flour. Ii more than two eggs are used in a cake, less baking powder will be required than for a two-egg cake. Too much baking powder makes a cake dry and crumbly. Plain Cake. — Cream four tablespoons of butter, or some other shortening ; add one cup of sugar, two eggs well beaten, one half cup of milk, and one and one half cups of flour, one fourth teaspoon of salt, three teaspoons of baking powder | sifted together, and one half teaspoon of vanilla. Mix according to directions given. Cover with chocolate frosting. Spice Cake. — Cream one cup of butter; add two cups of brown sugar, and yolks of four eggs; beat well. Add one cup of milk and two and one half cups of flour, one teaspoon of cloves, one teaspoon of nutmeg, one teaspoon of cinnamon, and three teaspoons of baking powder. When thoroughly mixed, carefully add the beaten whites of four eggs, and bake in layers. Put chocolate frosting between the layers and on top.