Book of American Baking / A Practical Guide Covering Various Branches of the Baking Industry, Including Cakes, Buns, and Pastry, Bread Making, Pie Baking, Etc.

by Various

The development of the pound cake business in America during the last five years has been rapid. Especially is this true of the East. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore have all consumed large quantities, while the western cities have not been as large consumers. The reason for the latter, I believe, is because in most cases those who have been pushing the business have tried to sell their goods too cheap or have gone to the other extreme and charged prices out of reach of the general purchasing public as an everyday commodity. Those who have charged the higher price have made more of a success than those who tried to sell too cheap. Hence I shall treat this matter from a standpoint of high class goods.

In the first place I will consider the method of manufacture, and the first thing to be considered is the method of creaming.

Method of Creaming.

The creaming of butter is the most essential feature of the cake business. A large number of bakers fail in this important point. Hard, lumpy butter and soft, oily compound, or lard, are thrown together into the machine; then the sugar is thrown in regardless of the lumps it may contain, and then the maker expects a fine smooth eating cake. This is a great mistake, as from such mixing satisfactory results cannot be obtained. Where two or more substances are being mixed together they should be of the same degree of toughness, as near as possible.

Where it is desired to cream up a hard butter and a soft greasy butter or oily compound, the hard one should be worked either by the hand or the machine and made pliable, and the soft one should be put in the ice box to harden. When butter, or butter and lard or compound is being used, they should be of the same consistence as near as possible.

The speed of the machine is also an important factor. About 150 revolutions a minute is a safe speed. Under no circumstance should a hard wiry or brittle butter be used. If used at all, it should be well worked with the machine before adding the sugar. In fact, it is a good plan to let the machine revolve a number of times with the butter alone, then add half of the sugar, which should be previously sifted through a fine sieve. When this has been well worked, add the balance of the sugar, extracts, or spice, and if you are using a coloring, this should now be put in.

Let the machine run from five to ten minutes, according to the weather. In hot weather your materials all being hot the butter would gather heat and possibly cause your mixture to curdle. See that the mixture is scraped down in the machine thoroughly; then start machine again, adding the eggs a few at a time. When the eggs are all added, flour should be lightly mixed in, but never before it has been thoroughly sifted, as this is one of the greatest mistakes possible to make—to use flour that has not been incorporated with the air before mixing. When you are using glycerine, this should have been well worked up and added when a portion of the flour has been worked in, although if your butter is strong enough it is better to work the glycerine in when sugar is being mixed, but if your butter is any way soft this should not be done. In using glycerine too large quantities should not be used. The same is true of glucose, which if used in small quantities is an advantage, but when too large quantities are used most disastrous results are obtained. The judicious use of some of these articles are the roads between success and failure. It must not be supposed that these articles are used in all kinds of cakes, but in certain kinds of cakes they are the needed help, and are not used merely for the purpose of cheapening the cost, but to improve the quality.

A cake to sell well must have flavor, texture and grain, and neither of these can be obtained from an imperfect mixture, or one that is imperfectly made. In using eggs, great care should be used in their selection, as when the prices are high and eggs scarce, these are the times when large quantities of cake are usually sold. Therefore, in figuring the cost of your cake, don’t do it in June, when everything is naturally cheap. June and December do not work in harmony together, as a rule, and if you are basing your profits on June prices to sell in the spring months, when everything is high, you will have to readjust matters. With proper management, however, and carefully considering these matters, it will be possible to make a good cake at a popular price.

In baking your cakes the pans should be covered similar to a sandwich pan. If you have no pans suitably covered, the pans can be covered with thick brown paper or thin wood—anything to keep the top heat of the oven from browning the cake too much, as the sale of your cake will depend to a great extent upon the delicate appearance of it. When we state that these cakes are better if kept a few weeks before being sold, this possibly would seem strange to many of our readers; nevertheless, it is a fact that if this class of cake is properly made and properly baked, age up to a limited time will be the determining factor in its quality.

But it must be borne in mind that the storage of the cakes after being baked, or as soon as being removed from the oven, will have much to do with the future keeping qualities of the cake. It is a mistake to turn the cake out on the iron pans or on wooden shelves and allow them to remain there with the steam from the baking being kept in them, as you must recollect that the paper around the pans which in the baking has adhered to the cake has become thoroughly saturated with grease and has consequently practically formed an air-proof surface. Therefore the steam has very little chance of escaping readily, and in order to get the best from this class of cakes they should cool off readily, and as soon as they are thoroughly cooled should at once be wrapped in an air-proof paper and stored on shelves, with sufficient space between all sides for a circulation of air between each cake. Your shelves also should be formed from slats, or if made from solid wood should have two such slats running longways, in order that the air can get under as well as all around them. If placed flat on the shelves, the possibilities of moulding in hot weather is greater. I think now, that I have given pretty thorough instructions, on a general principle. Of course, there will have to be instructions given occasionally in the various cakes that I will describe, but if the instructions which I have given here are carried out, the others will be mere matters of small importance.