When two layers of pastry are to be stuck together, brush the top of one with water, and lay the other on it before baking them.
Chapter XXI
CAKE
Baking. The most difficult part of cake-making is the baking. Unless the oven is right, the cake will be a failure, no matter how carefully it may have been mixed.
RULES
Have everything ready before beginning to mix the cake.
Have the weights and measures exact.
Fire. Have the fire so it will last through the baking, and the heat of the oven just right (see [below]), for on this the success of the cake mostly depends.
Do not mix the cake until the oven is entirely ready for it to go in.