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Classic
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page 42
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 breador cake-making, it can be "ripened" for use
by placing the quantity intended for baking 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, beat the butter to a cream, add the sugar
gradually, then 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. There is
great "knack" in beating cake; don't stir, but beat thoroughly, bringing the
batter up from the bottom 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 should
always be upward. In winter it is easier to beat with the hand, but in summer a
wooden spoon is better. Never beat a cake in tin, but use earthen or stoneware.
All cakes not made with yeast should be baked as soon as possible after they are
mixed. Unskillful mixing, too rapid or unequal baking, or a sudden decrease in
heat before it is quite done, will cause streaks in the cake.
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 for a wine-glass of brandy.
To facilitate the operation of seeding raisins, pour boiling-water on a few at a
time. This will not injure the fruit or cake. To seed, clip with the scissors,
or cut 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
pieces too large, or they will cause the cake to break apart in cutting.
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