Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book

Line cake tins with paper, to prevent burning the bottom and edges and to aid in removing the cake from the pans. Lay the paper over the outside of the pan, and crease it round the edge of the bottom. Allow it large enough to come above the top of the pan. Fold in the The Boston Cook Book, middle lengthwise and crosswise, and cut out the open corners to the crease made by the pan. Then fit it into the inside of the pan, and grease the paper, not the pan, with fresh butter or lard. Many use a rag tied on a stick ; others grease with a brush. Nice brushes are very expensive (and no others are suitable), and unless carefully cleaned are quite objectionable. Rags and paper absorb the grease which should be put on the pan, and in any case the fingers should be washed after the process. So there is no quicker, easier, or more economical way of greasing a tin than to rub the butter on with the fingers. Mix cake in an earthen bowl, and never in a tin pan. Use a wooden spoon, as iron spoons discolor the hand and the mixture. Use only the best materials. Go without cake rather than try to make it, or eat it when made, with what is called cooking butter and second-rate eggs. Such cake cannot be good or wholesome. Wash the butter, if very salt. Brown sugar is good for fruit cake, but for all other varieties use the finest granulated or powdered sugar. Very coarse granulated sugar makes heavy cake, with a hard and sticky crust. The flour should be dry. When it has been kept in a cool place it should be slightly warmed, and always sifted before using. St. Louis flour — or pastry flour, as it is sometimes called — is best for cake. When new-process flour is used, take one eighth less. Soda, cream of tartar, and bakingpowders should be crushed and sifted into the flour, then sifted two or three times with the flour. Mix spices with the flour or with the sugar. Mix a little of the measure of flour with the fruit to keep it from sticking together or settling. If the sugar be lumpy, crush and sift before using. Eggs should be. fresh, and cooled by keeping in cold water or in the ice-chest. The yolks and whites should be beaten separately Break each egg on the edge of the cup, just enough to crack the middle of the shell, so the white will flow out, but not hard enough to break into the yolks. Then hold the egg over the cup, with the cracked side up, and break it apart. Let the The Boston Cook Book. white run into the cup, and keep the yolk in the half shell until all the white is drained off. Be careful not to break the yolk, as the smallest portion of it in the whites will prevent them from frothing. Beat the yolks in a bowl, and the whites in a platter if you use a fork or whisk, or in a bowl if you use a Dover beater. Never stop beating the whites until they are stiff and dry, as it is impossible to have them light if they become liquid again. Measure all the ingredients, and have the fire and all utensils ready before you begin to mix. Observe the following order in putting materials together.