Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 231, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1916 — CAKE AT ITS REST [ARTICLE]

CAKE AT ITS REST

Mixture of ingredients an IMPORTANT MATTER. Measuring Cup Bhould Always Be Used, Unless One Is Especially Gifted—Other Things It Is Well to Remember. The measuring cup is the first aid to the amuteur cake baker. Nowadays most professional cooks weigh uud measure with great care. To be Rure there are still old southern mammies and gifted New England housewives who- can put a cake together without the help of any measuring apparatus save a scoop und tlielr own good eyjtv A glass measuring cup—better than a tin one because it is easier to get exact fractions of a cup in one that is transparent —better also because it is easier to keep I* thoroughly clean and dry—a teaspoon, a tablespoon — not a soup spoon nor a dessert spoon nor one of those huge metal spoons used for mixing batters and basting meats —should be part of the equipment of every cake baker. A pair of scales Is also useful, If they are reliable. It is difficult, however, in some places to buy good scales. Although flour varies in weight and quality it Is usually safe to allow four even cupfuls of sifted flour to the pound. Two cupfuls of granulated sugar weigh a pound. Butter has the same weight, so that two ounces measure a quarter of a cupful. With these equations It Is easy to translate weights Into measures. Never grease cake pans with butter, as this has a very low burning tempearture. Lard has a higherrburning temperature, and hence cake in a larded pan does not burn on the bottom so easily as cake in a buttered pan. Keep a small panful of water in the oven in which cake is baked. The steam thus generated keeps the temperature of the oven even and helps to make the baking slow and even. Don’t stand the pan of water directly under the cake, as this sometimes "causes part of the underside”of the cake to be less baked than the rest. Place a wire rack in the oven under the cake pans, and be sure to keep the oven cool enough at the top to prevent burning. These precautions are especially necessary In a gas oven, which is usually hot.