General Directions for Cake-Making
Utensils.—Use earthenware bowls and wooden spoons for mixing.
Several sets of tins are necessary if cake is to be made often. One or two ordinary round tins, a tin with a hollow tube in the centre, square tins, and shallow round tins about 8 inches in diameter for jam sandwich and layer cakes, should be kept. A small dripping-pan is very good to bake gingerbread in, and for very light cakes the German tin with a loose bottom should be used. These tins are excellent, for the bottom can be pushed up, away from the sides, and there is no danger of the cake being broken in taking it out of the tin. They can be bought at Harrod’s Stores, Brompton Road.
Measuring.—Flour, sugar, salt, ground spices, soda, must always be sifted before measuring. This is of the utmost importance in making good cakes.
A cup is a breakfast-cup holding half a pint. The spoons are the silver ones in general use.
A spoonful of dry material is one in which the convexity at the top corresponds to the concavity of the spoon. A scant spoonful should be made level with the edges of the spoon.
In measuring half a tea-spoon of dry material, fill it first, and then divide it with a knife long-ways down the spoon.
A “heaping cupful” is a cup filled as full as it will hold. A “cupful” should be levelled. A “scant cupful” should not be filled above about quarter of an inch from the top.
It is necessary to remember in measuring half or quarter cups that a cup is smaller at the bottom than the top. It is more satisfactory measuring to have half-pint measures marked into quarters.
Table of Measures
4 cups flour = 1 quart or 1 lb.
2 cups of butter (solid) = 1 lb.
2¹⁄₂ cups powdered sugar = 1 lb.
1 cup = ¹⁄₂ pint
1 glass = ¹⁄₂ pint
1 pint milk or water = 1 lb.
9 large eggs = 1 lb.
1 table-spoon butter = 1 oz.
1 heaping table-spoon butter = 2 ozs.
Butter the size of an egg = 2 ozs.
Baking Powder.—Baking powder can be used in the making of most cakes. In some however the proportion of carbonate of soda and cream of tartar of which it consists is not right, in which case the two ingredients should be used separately according to the directions. Almost invariably soda should be mixed with milk or water, which should then be strained in order to keep back any dregs. Cream of tartar should be mixed with the flour, which should then be sifted. Both cream of tartar and soda should be pulverized before they are measured or used.
Baking powder can be bought, or made as follows:—
1 part carbonate of soda
2 parts cream of tartar
It should be kept in an air-tight tin.
In nearly all cases baking powder is best mixed with the flour, which should then be sifted through a fine sieve.
To clean currants.—Sprinkle the currants with flour, put them on a coarse sieve and rub them until the stems and grit are separated and go through the sieve. Then wash thoroughly in water, changing it until clear. Drain on a towel and pick over. Dry, if the weather permits, in the sun, not in an oven.
To stone raisins.—Pour boiling water over the raisins, and let them stand in it for ten minutes. Drain and rub each raisin between finger and thumb till the seeds come out. Cut open or chop.
Sultanas.—Pick over sultanas carefully, removing the little stems.
To blanch almonds.—Put the almonds into boiling water and let them soak in it until the skins rub off easily between the finger and thumb. Drain and spread out to dry.
To pound almonds.—After blanching let them soak for an hour in cold water, then pound in a good sized mortar until reduced to a soft pulp. Whilst pounding add a few drops of orange-flower water or lemon juice.
Mixing.—There are three ways of mixing. Stirring, Beating, Cutting (or Folding).
To stir.—Let the spoon touch the bottom and sides of the basin and move it round quickly in circles of various sizes. Do not lift it out of the mixture, and work well against the sides.
To beat.—Tip the bowl to one side. Bring the spoon or fork quickly down into the mixture and through it, take it out the other side and bring it over and down again, scraping the sides well each time it goes in.
It is important to keep the bowl of the spoon well scraped out during mixing.
Beat quickly and hard.
To cut or fold.—Turn over the mixture with a spoon and lift it up, folding in the white of egg as lightly as possible. Do not stir or beat but mix very gently until quite blended.
To beat eggs.—It is generally best to beat the yolks and whites separately. For beating them there is nothing better than a Dover egg beater, although a fork can be used for the yolks and a steel knife for the whites.
Beat the yolks in a bowl until they thicken and become light and creamy.
Beat the whites on a platter until they are stiff and absolutely dry.
To beat butter.—In beating butter to a cream, if very hard it can be slightly warmed in the oven or put into a hot bowl, but it must on no account be melted. It should just be softened in order to make it more easy to beat it.
To grease and fill tins.—Tins can be greased with fresh butter, lard or sweet oil. Sides and bottom should be evenly but not thickly smeared with grease.
When a tin is to be lined with paper, cut a piece to fit the bottom exactly, another piece to go right round the sides. This piece should project two or three inches above the top of the tin.
Grease the papers thoroughly before putting them in the tin.
Fill the tins two-thirds full, leaving a very slight depression in the centre if a flat cake is wanted, as the tendency is to rise in the middle.
The oven.—Nearly all cakes should be baked in a moderate oven, and the fire should be so made up before putting a cake in the oven, that it will not have to be touched again until the cake is taken out. If this is impossible, owing to the length of time it takes, add a little coal frequently to the fire instead of letting it down and making it up with a great deal of fuel.
In baking in a gas stove, it is important that there should be no draughts from window or door.
Set the cake in the middle of the oven and do not move it until it has risen its full height, which will take about half the time in which it is baked. For the first quarter of an hour it is not necessary to look at the cake unless there is a fear that the oven is too hot. Afterwards do so occasionally, opening and shutting the oven door very gently and never taking the cake out. After it has fully risen, the cake can be turned round if it is baking quicker on one side than the other.
Do not have anything else in the oven while baking a cake.
For layer cakes and thin cakes make up a larger fire. They should bake quickly.
To test whether a cake is done, put a clean straw or skewer into the thickest part of it. If it comes out clean the cake is done.
To remove cakes from tins.—With a few exceptions cakes should be taken out of their tins directly they come out of the oven. Turn the tin upside down, and, if necessary, loosen the sides with a knife. Set on a sieve to cool.
To all cake mixtures add a little salt, sifting it with the flour in the proportion of a small salt-spoon of salt to every half-pint of flour.
Keep flour and sugar in a dry place, or dry thoroughly before using.