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Flour Mixtures Continued: Cake: Ingredients

INGREDIENTS USED IN CAKE-MAKING Pastry flour, on account of its whiteness and smoothness and the quality of its gluten content, is better adapted to cake-making than are the so-called bread flours. Powdered sugar gives a dry cake and, now that fine granulated sugar can be bought anywhere, it is rarely used. It is not necessary that the butter be made into handsomely stamped cakes as for the table, but in other respects the choicer the butter the better the cake. Eggs a day old are in the best state for beating. Four eggs should fill the measuring cup and weigh half a pound, but often five will be required to secure this weight and fill the cup. Often eggs are the only liquid used in cake. Water can always be substituted for sweet milk that is called for in a recipe, but there will be a difference in the cake; often the cake is more tender and delicate, but it does not look quite as spongy or white. The grated yellow rind of an orange or lemon that contains the rich, characteristic oil of the fruit gives a most delectable flavor to a cake, but the juice of these fruits contains little flavor, and this, as also the volatile flavor of extract of vanilla, are lost during the cooking. Lemon juice, being an acid, if used in a cake made with baking powder or cream of tartar and soda, will materially change the proportions of the leavening ingredients and spoil the cake. When used, soda to correct the acidity must also be used. Caramel gives a pleasing flavor to cake and one that is retained during cooking. In frosted cakes flavor may be added to the frosting just before it is spread upon the cake without danger of loss, and this will suffice to flavor the whole cake. PROPORTIONS OF INGREDIENTS Usually a cake batter is of such consistency that it needs to be spread in the pan. Sometimes the heat of the oven will cause it to sink to a level before cooking begins, but as a rule the batter should be spread with a spoon and drawn away from the center of the pan towards the edges. Exact proportions of ingredients that will answer for all cakes can not be given. In general, twice as much flour, by measure, as of liquid is a safe rule. Eggs are considered a liquid, but half a cup of milk could not replace half a cup of eggs. Butter equal to one-third the volume of flour is not often exceeded. From half to two-thirds the volume of flour is the usual proportion of sugar. MANNER OF MIXING A BUTTER CAKE Before beginning to combine the ingredients have everything ready, that the mixing may be done quickly. The oven of a coal or wood range must be put into a condition that will insure the proper heat when the cake is ready. If the butter be firm and cold, rinse the mixing bowl with warm water, wipe it dry and put into it the desired quantity of butter; break the butter in pieces and let stand to soften while other things are being made ready. Butter the pans in which butter cakes are to be baked, or, better, line the pans with paper and butter the paper thoroughly. Pans for sponge cake need neither lining nor buttering. To line a pan, turn it upside down; select thin wrapping paper, spread the paper over the bottom of the pan with the edge of the paper on the edge of the pan, then press down upon the paper over the opposite edge to crease the paper; fold and cut in the crease; put the paper in the pan with the ends hanging over a little. The pan is now ready to butter. Break the eggs, the yolks into one bowl, the whites into another, and set the whites aside in a cool place. Measure or weigh out the sugar and sifted flour, also the liquid and the leavening agents. Sift together, three or four times, the flour and baking powder, or cream of tartar and soda, also salt and spices when used. Have fruit and nuts ready to add to the mixture. Now with a perforated wooden spoon work the butter to a cream, then gradually beat in the sugar, keeping the mass light and fluffy. In cold weather warm the liquid a little, to avoid curdling the butter and sugar. If yolks are to be used, beat them till light and thick, then add to the butter and sugar; rinse the bowl with the liquid and add it to the mixture, alternately, with the flour, etc. Lastly add the whites, beaten stiff. Fruit or nuts may now be added, or they may be added to the creamed butter and sugar before the yolks of the eggs. This is the usual method of mixing a cake in which butter is used, but there are many variations from the rule.

METHOD OF MIXING A SPONGE CAKE Beat the yolks till thick and light-colored; gradually beat in the sugar; add flavoring (grated rind of an orange or lemon) and lemon juice, if used, then beat the whites till dry; fold half of the whites into the yolks and sugar; fold in half of the flour, the other half of the whites and the other half of the flour. In a sponge cake proper the lightness depends entirely upon the air beaten into the eggs, and great care must be exercised to handle the mixture in such a manner that none of the air cells be broken down. Stirring must be avoided. The cake is mixed entirely by beating and folding, and when ready for the pan will be a delicate, fluffy mass. The long beating of the eggs necessary to insure a light cake renders a sponge cake dry; this may be remedied to some extent by using a greater number of yolks than of whites. Cheaper sponge cakes may be made by cutting down the number of eggs and using milk or water as a part of the liquid; with such cakes a leavening agent must be employed.

BAKING CAKE In baking cake the size of the cake has much to do with the required temperature of the oven; the larger the cake, the longer is the cake, the longer is the time necessary to heat the mixture and expand the mass. The cake must not crust over (by heat) until it has risen to the proper height. A cake, in layers, will bake in from fifteen to twenty minutes; in a sheet, in about thirty minutes; in a loaf, from forty minutes to two hours, according to its thickness. The oven should be at a temperature to raise the cake to its full height in one-fourth the time required for baking. During this time, the cake should not brown. During the second quarter of the time in the oven, the cake should brown in spots. During the third quarter, the browning should be completed. The heat should be gradually reduced, during the last half of the time in the oven. When baked, butter cakes will separate from the sides of the pan. This will be seen in the last quarter, and during this time the cake will also settle a little in the pan. Let stand a few seconds after removal from the oven, then carefully turn from the pan to a wire cake cooler. Often a cake may be lifted from the pan by the paper hanging from the ends of the tin. Sponge cakes, baked in unbuttered tins, may be inverted and cooled, upside down, in a draft of air. When a cake is thus suspended, the air cells are elongated until dry and firm; and if the cake was light when taken from the oven, lightness is assured thereafter. The oven door may be opened at will during the baking, if it be closed at once and gently. ANGEL OR WHITE SPONGE CAKE Whites of 4 eggs 3/4 cup of sugar 1/4 teaspoonful of cream of 1/2 teaspoonful of vanilla tartar 1/2 cup of sifted pastry flour Add the cream of tartar to the whites of eggs, beat dry, and fold in the other ingredients. Bake in tube pan or sheet about 25 minutes. SPONGE CAKE 2 whole eggs 1/2 cup of flour 1 yolk of egg Grated rind of 1/2 lemon 1/2 cup of granulated sugar 1 tablespoonful of lemon juice Prepare according to the directions given above for mixing sponge cake. Bake from twenty to thirty minutes. Baked in the regular sponge-cake pan with feet for cooling, this cake will not be very thick. It may be baked in a new bread pan and then inverted to cool by setting something under the ends of the pan. In serving do not cut sponge cake, but break it apart with two silver forks. BISCUITS D'EPERNAY The whites of 3 eggs 1 tablespoonful of fine-chopped The yolks of 4 eggs almonds 1/2 cup of granulate sugar 1/2 cup of sifted pastry flour Grated rind of 1/2 lemon 2 tablespoonfuls of melted butter Prepare as sponge cake, adding the almonds to the yolks and sugar and the melted butter last of all. Bake in small, fancy tins, well buttered, or in a sponge cake pan.