FoodNetArchive

Buckeye cookery

1892

Page 31

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
hair im a net or other covering, to prevent any from falling, and _ brush the shoulders and back to be sure none are lodged there that | might. blow off; make the hands and finger nails clean, roll the ie _ sleeves up aie the elbows, and put on a large, clean apron. Clean the kitchen table of utensils and every thing not needed, and. pro- vide every thing that will be needed until the cake is baked, not. ~ forgetting even the broom-splints previously picked off the new broom and laid away carefully in a little box. (A knitting-needl ; _ may be kept for testing cake instead of splints.) If itis warm weather, place the eggs in cold water, and let stand a few minutes, _as they will then make finer froth; and be sure they are fresh, as they will not make a stiff froth from any amount of beating if old ‘The cake-tins should be prepared before the cake, when baking _ powder is used, as it effervesces but once, and there should be no _ delay in baking, as the mixture should LS made firm by the heat while the eflervescing process is going on. Grease the pans with fresh lard, which i is much better than butter ; line the bottom with CAKE. MAKING. ae a ) be t teall be oak in bits and pale ‘0 pashan a little; if very hard, warm carefully, but in no case allow any of it to melt. Good ‘butter must be used; as the heat develops any latent bad qualities. Use pulverized sugar for all delicate cakes; for rich cakes coffee- erushed, powdered and sifted; for dark cakes, the best brown ‘sugars are best; for jelly-cakes, light fruit-cakes, etc., granulated a and coffee ‘‘A” are best and most economical. Beat the yolks of eges thoroughly, and strain; set the whites away in a cool place until the cake is ready for them, then beat them vigorously in a cool room, till they will remain in the dish when turned upside down. Sift a part of the measured flour with the baking-powder or soda and cream tartar through a hand-sieve (which should be among the _ utensils of every housekeeper), and mix thoroughly with the rest of the flour. In using new flour for either bread or cake-making, it | ean be “‘ripened” for use by placing the quantity intended for bak- ing in the hot sun for a few hours, or before the kitchen fire. In using milk, note this: that sour milk makes a spongy, light cake ;. sweet milk, one that cuts like pound cake; remembering that with sour milk soda alone is used, while with sweet milk baking powder or soda and cream tartar are to be added. Having thus gathered the material, cut butter (in cold weather) into small pieces, and warm, not melt; beat the butter and sugar te -acream, add the milk in small quantities (never use fresh and stale milk in same cake), next the yolks of eggs, then a.part of the flour, _ then a part of the whites, and so on until the whole is used; lastly, _ add the flavoring. Many good cake-makers first stir the milk ané flavoring into the creamed butter and sugar, then the yolks, next the whites, and lastly the flour, first taking about two-thirds of it and thoroughly mixing the baking powder through it; the re- _ mainder of the flour is then left to be used at discretion. A little ‘more or less flour may be needed, according to the climate, or te the kind of flour used, as the “New Process” flour requires one- ‘ eighth less than other brands. There is great ‘* knack” in beating: . cake; don’t stir, but beat thoroughly, bringing the batter up from the Gan botion of the dish at every stroke; in this way the air is driven into” the cells of the batter, instead of out of them—but the cells will be _ finer if beaten more slowly at the last, remembering that the motion