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.