CAKE-MAKING HINTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 35, 4 May 1927, Page 5

CAKE-MAKING HINTS

See that your oven is very clean. If it is thick with grease, or other dishes have spilled or boiled over, the oven will smell, and steam will rise and make it unfit for cake making. See that the oven is well on the way to the required temperature before starting to mix the cake. If the cake is put into a cool oven or has to wait while the oven is brought to the required temperature, it is bound to be a failure. An oven thermometer is a worthwhile investment. In place of it a piece of white paper will give an approximate temperature. Examine it at the end of five minutes. If it has turned pale brown, the oven is of a suitable moderate heat. A cake which takes a long time should be placed in a tin prepared with two thicknesses of paper, and each paper should be well greased. When filling the cake tin, arrange the mixture so that it is higher at the sides and leave a slight depression in the centre. The result will be a level cake instead of the uneven rocky surface that so often marks amateur cakes. When the cake is in the oven take care to keep the temperature even. Do not open the oven door for at least 15 minutes, and even after that open it slowly and as narrowly as possible. Gelatine dissolved in water, and strained into milk, will stop the latter from curdling. * + * The water in "which rice has been boiled is splendid for mixing cakes; it helps to keep them moist.