Buckeye cookery

should always be upward. In winter it is easier to beat with the hand, but in summer a wooden spoon is better. An iron spoon | turns the mixture dark. Never beat a cake in tin, but use earthen © a = or stoneware. 3 Unskillful mixing, too rapid or unequal baking, or a nae gudden decrease in heat before it is quite done, will cause streaks in the cake. Always bake a small cake first, fill a patty pan, or cover — es toa baking-powder can, one-third full, and bake; then add more | | ‘or less flour as required. If the cake is hard and solid, it needs a few tea-spoons of milk; if more flour is needed it will fall in the oO middle and be spongy and crumbly. Powdered sugar may be ‘sifted on the top of any cake while it is a little warm; if it.dissolves add more when it is cold, keep some for that purpose in a spice box with a perforated top. The white portion of orange or q lemon-peel should never be used; grate only the yellow. When — recipes call for soda and cream of tartar, baking powder may be used by taking the same quantity as required of both, or Horsford’s Bread Preparation will be found excellent. ‘‘ Milk” always means _ sweet milk. ‘A cup” always means a tea cup, not a coflee cup. Sour milk may always be used instead of sweet, by using soda only. The proportions of rising-powder to one quart of flour are three teaspoons baking-powder, or one tea-spoon soda and two tea-spoons cream tartar, or one measure each of Horsford’s Bread Preparation, or one pint sour milk and one level tea-spoon soda. Fruit CAKE. Most ladies think fruit cake quite incomplete without wine or brandy, but it can be made equally good on strictly temperance principles, by substituting one-third of a cup of molasses fora wine glass of brandy. The objection to the use of liquor in sauces does not, however, hold good against that used in cake-making, as the alcohol is converted to vapor by the heat and passes off with the other gases. There are many, however, who object to the use of | liquors in any way, and to keeping them in the house, and such will find the above an excellent and cheap substitute. eg Raisins should never be washed, as it is difficult to dry out the — - moisture absorbed by them, and every particle of moisture retained tends to make the cake heavy. To remove the stems and extraneous matter, place the raisins in 2 coarse towel and rub them in ‘e ves: this until as ‘clean as possible; then pick carefully, remove any stems or other defects which may be left. Chop the raisins fine with a sharp knife. Do not chop too fine; if for light fruit cake, seeding is all that is necessary. Slice the citron thin, and do not have. the a sharp knife. Do not chop too fine; if for light fruit cake, seeding is all that is necessary. Slice the citron thin, and do not have. the Currants should be kept prepared for use as follows: Wash in warm water, rubbing well, pour off water, and repeat until the water is clear; drain them in a sieve, spread on a cloth and rub dry; pick out bad ones, dry carefully in a cool oven or in the ‘theater’ (or in the sun and wind, with a thin gauze over them to keep off flies, insects and dust), and set away for use. When the portant in all cakes—add the spices, molasses, or liquors, then the milk if any used), next the eggs well beaten, adding whites with the flour, as previously directed. Always beat whites and yolks | separately if many eggs are used, but if only a few, it is just as well to beat both together. Next add the flour (which in making black | fruit cake may be browned), prepared with baking powder or soda and cream tartar, then the flavoring (lemon and vanilla, in equal - parts, make the best flavoring), and lastly the fruit dredged with a very litile flour. Some prefer to mix the fruit with all the flour. When but little fruit is used it may be dropped into the dough after r) it is in the pan, and pushed just beneath the surface, which prevents it from settling to the bottom. The batter for fruit cake should be quite stiff.