139 Observations Respecting Sweet Cakes
If you wish your cake to be good, it must be made of nice materials. The butter, eggs, and flour should not be stale, and the sugar should be dry, and of a light color. Brown sugar answers for most kinds of cakes, if rolled free from lumps, and stirred with the butter, until it is a very light color. The flour should be sifted and if damp, it should be dried perfectly, or it will make the cake heavy. Where sifted flour for cake is measured, it should be shaken down in the measure to be accurate; if there is not flour enough in cake, it will not be light. The eggs should be beaten to a froth, on a shallow plate, and for very nice cake the whites and yolks, should be beaten separately. Where saleratus is used, it should be thoroughly dissolved and strained. Raisins for cake, should have the seeds taken out, and Zante currants should be carefully washed and rubbed in a cloth, to get out the sticks; they should be perfectly dried before they are put into the cake. All kinds of cake that has not yeast in it, should be stirred till it goes into the oven. It should not be moved while in the oven, if it can be avoided. The quicker most kinds of cake are baked, without burning, the better they will be. It is impossible to give any exact rules as to the time for baking cake, as so much depends on the heat of the oven; it should be narrowly watched and if likely to burn covered with a thick paper. To ascertain when rich cake is sufficiently baked, stick a clean broom splinter through the thickest part, and if none of the cake adheres to it, it is baked enough. When cake that is baked on flat tins, moves easily on them it is sufficiently done.