TO begin with the first steps in the science of mixing, I will
choose for the lesson a snow cake, one of the simplest,
most delicate and inexpensive of cakes. This receipt makes
a good-sized loaf or a large layer cake, using only the whites
of two eggs, a very satisfactory item in these days of high
prices. No cake in the great assortment of cakes I might
choose from is so tender of grain, so delicious, so crisp of
crust or so all round satisfactory as this is. The receipt is
one in everyday use in my own household, because it is
capable of infinite variation in the hands of an adaptive cook.
Here it is :
SNOW CAKE
Cream together quarter of a cup of butter and one cup of
sugar, then add half a cup of milk and one and two-thirds of
a cup of flour sifted with two and a half teaspoons of baking
powder, adding flour and milk alternately in small quantities.
When perfectly smooth and white, fold in the whites of two
eggs beaten to a stifif froth. Flavor with half a teaspoon of
vanilla✪ Snow Cake.
ICING, FILLING, CAKE 207
Before beginning the work, let me impress on you that
poor materials will never make good cake. One needs good
sugar, the best of tub butter, perfectly fresh eggs and pastry
flour to have delicate tasting, fine-grained, crisply crusted
cake. If poor cooking butter or eggs of a doubtful age are
used, it is of no avail tr}'ing to disguise the fact by adding
a double portion of vanilla ; the strongest taste is uppermost.
Before beginning work, get all your materials ready.
Sift the flour and lift from it one and two-thirds level cups,
smoothing off the top with a knife ; for in this receipt, and in
all others I give, the measurements are level, unless other-
wise stated. Put the flour and baking powder in the sifter.
Butter the cake pans with a bristle brush and sift flour into it
till a coating of wdiite covers the inside of the tin. This gives
a fine crust ; it is easier than lining a tin w' ith buttered -paper,
and the cake is not liable to burn. Measure the butter, sugar,
and milk, separate the egg, and see that the oven is in good
condition. If you bake in a gas stove, light both oven
burners ; it takes about as long for the oven to heat as it does
to mix the cake.
If the w^eather is cold and the butter is hard, warm an
earthen bowd by allowing hot w^ater to stand in it for a few
minutes. Pour it out, dry the bow'l, then put the butter to
soften, but never to melt. Butter which has melted will never
produce a smooth white cream. Take a wooden slitted spoon
and beat the butter till creamy ; this process allows of a per-
fect blending with the sugar, which add gradually, beating
constantly all the time. When the cream mixture is light
and snowy white, sift in a few spoons of flour to keep the
butter and sugar from separating, as would happen if the
milk went in first. By the way, always use a slitted spoon
when making cake. The air, wdiich you are endeavoring to
beat into the cake, is caught and driven through the slits
and a perfect blending of ingredients can be quickly accom-
plished. With the ordinary bowlspoon this process is arrived
at very slowly. Few cooks realize what an important factor
quickness is in the beating of cake. The w^oman of slow.
298 THE HOME COOK BOOK
Page 162 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1905. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
TO begin with the first steps in the science of mixing, I will choose for the lesson a snow cake, one of the simplest, most delicate and inexpensive of cakes. This receipt makes a good-sized loaf or a large layer cake, using only the whites of two eggs, a very satisfactory item in these days of high prices. No cake in the great assortment of cakes I might choose from is so tender of grain, so delicious, so crisp of crust or so all round satisfactory as this is. The receipt is one in everyday use in my own household, because it is capable of infinite variation in the hands of an adaptive cook. Here it is :
SNOW CAKE Cream together quarter of a cup of butter and one cup of sugar, then add half a cup of milk and one and two-thirds of a cup of flour sifted with two and a half teaspoons of baking powder, adding flour and milk alternately in small quantities. When perfectly smooth and white, fold in the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Flavor with half a teaspoon of vanilla.
Before beginning the work, let me impress on you that poor materials will never make good cake. One needs good sugar, the best of tub butter, perfectly fresh eggs and pastry flour to have delicate tasting, fine-grained, crisply crusted cake. If poor cooking butter or eggs of a doubtful age are used, it is of no avail tr}'ing to disguise the fact by adding a double portion of vanilla ; the strongest taste is uppermost.
Before beginning work, get all your materials ready. Sift the flour and lift from it one and two-thirds level cups, smoothing off the top with a knife ; for in this receipt, and in all others I give, the measurements are level, unless otherwise stated. Put the flour and baking powder in the sifter. Butter the cake pans with a bristle brush and sift flour into it till a coating of white covers the inside of the tin. This gives a fine crust ; it is easier than lining a tin w' ith buttered -paper, and the cake is not liable to burn. Measure the butter, sugar, and milk, separate the egg, and see that the oven is in good condition. If you bake in a gas stove, light both oven burners ; it takes about as long for the oven to heat as it does to mix the cake.
If the weather is cold and the butter is hard, warm an earthen bowl by allowing hot water to stand in it for a few minutes. Pour it out, dry the bowl, then put the butter to soften, but never to melt. Butter which has melted will never produce a smooth white cream. Take a wooden slitted spoon and beat the butter till creamy ; this process allows of a perfect blending with the sugar, which add gradually, beating constantly all the time. When the cream mixture is light and snowy white, sift in a few spoons of flour to keep the butter and sugar from separating, as would happen if the milk went in first. By the way, always use a slitted spoon when making cake. The air, which you are endeavoring to beat into the cake, is caught and driven through the slits and a perfect blending of ingredients can be quickly accomplished. With the ordinary bowlspoon this process is arrived at very slowly. Few cooks realize what an important factor quickness is in the beating of cake. The woman of slow.
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Snow Cake