Royal baker and pastry cook

FANCY-CAKE makers and confectioners prefer to use “pastry” flour for the making of cakes and pastry, which is a flour of different grade from that used for bread and general baking purposes. Bread flour contains a large proportion of gluten, the nitrogenous property of the wheat grain, which gives bone and muscle, and makes bread a nutritious food. When bread flour is used for cake and pie crust the result is not quite as flaky and light as it should be, be¬ cause of the gluten in the flour. A special sack of pastry flour for use in making fine cakes and pastry will be advantageous . In ap¬ pearance pastry flour is whiter than bread flour. When rubbed between the fingers it feels as soft and fine as com-starch ; if squeezed in the hand it forms a firm ball. Because of this tendency to “pack” it should always be sifted very thoroughly. Generally speaking, Royal Baking Powder used with any good flour will make satis¬ factory cake which will be creditable to any housekeeper. Royal Baking Powder In no department of cookery is Royal Bak¬ ing Powder of greater use and importance than in making fine cake. Eggs are too expensive nowadays to be used as lavishly as they were a generation ago — ten or more to a cake. Not as a substitute wholly, but as an accessory, — as an aid toward producing the lightness and digestibility of the food, — we use the Royal Baking Powder. We thereby obtain uniformly good results and do a large amount of work at a minimum expense. The quantity called for by the receipt should be thoroughly mixed with the flour before the latter is sifted. The Royal Baking Powder has worked a revolution in cake-making. It is now no trouble to make at home the finest cakes in almost endless variety, which shall rival the productions of the confectioner. If you follow these directions there will be no spoiled or heavy cakes, no wasted materials through failures in mixing or baking. To Mix Cakes Containing Butter Cream the butter, beating till light. Gradu¬ ally add the sugar, beating till light and creamy. Add the yolks of eggs beaten till light, then the flavoring. Beat in alternately the liquid and flour, the latter mixed with salt and baking powder. Lastly, add the beaten whites, and fruit, if used. To Mix Cakes Containing No Butter Beat the egg yolks until very light and thick. Add the sugar gradually, beating till very light and spongy. Add the flavor¬ ing and liquid, if used. Have the whites of eggs whipped to a stiff froth. Add them alternately with the sifted flour (mixed with baking powder), and cut both in very lightly and quickly. To Bake Cakes Thin cakes need a hotter oven than loaf cakes. Cakes without butter (sponge cakes) should have a more moderate, longer baking than cakes of same size containing butter. The process of baking may be divided into four periods or quarters of time : in first quar¬ ter the cake begins to rise; in second quarter it is still rising and begins to color; in third quarter it browns all over; in last quarter it shrinks from sides of pan. To test, insert a clean broom-straw into the middle of the cake ; if it comes out clean, the cake is done. Hold the pan to the ear; it should scarcely “sing." Line loaf-cake pans with buttered paper; fruit cakes need several thicknesses of the same.