Are Your Cakes Successful?

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 34, 7 March 1930, Page 26

Are Your Cakes Successful?

I’ I were asked the fest principle in cake-muaking required to eliminate the element of luck as to how the» cakes will turn out, I think I should say that it lies in having all the ingredients on the table, tins prepared, oven at right temperature, etc., before the actual cake-mixing begins. To Prepare the Tins.

(CAKE mixtures will stick unless the tins are clean, dry and greased. Those with a loose bottom are usefui, as they facilitate the turning out of the cake when baked. If butter is to be used for greasing the tins, it should tirst be clarified, to remove any salt it may contain, or it will cause the mixtures to stick. Good dripping answers the purpose admirably. For light mixtures and for rich fruit cakes, the tins should be lined with a double thickness of kitchen paper, or if you have paper bags, unprinted. they can be used instead. Cut two rounds the size of the bottom .of the tin and grease them; also a double band two or three inches deeper than the tin and an inch or two longer. Fold one of the edges to the depth of the tin. make a sharp crease, unfold and grease Snip the narrow part you folded over from the outer edge to the crease, the euts being about one inch apart. Line the tin with the notched part lying flat on the bottom, and put the greased rounds in on top. lor a rich cake that is going to take some hours to bake, it is a good plan to first line the tin with a good piece of strong brown paper, as it prevents the outside of the cake from scorching For light sponge mixtures, simply grease the tin itself and coat it lightly with castor sugar, or with equal quan tities of castor sugar and flour (one titblesponful of each).

Ingredients Must be Good. Al ingredients should be the best of their kind. For instance. if butter is to be used, it should be really good butter and the same applies to eges. Good beef dripping or lard is excellent for ordinary cakes. but mutton fat is too hard. For cakes which ure required to turn out very light, it is worth while using Vienna flour, but for other mixtures. good househoid flour fulfils all requirements. Mer ingues, ete. call for new-laid eggs, but for most mixtures good preserved egg are quite suitable. The amount of milk necessary can ouly be determined by the moisture supplied by the number of eggs and

the amount of butter that is being used. Too much milk will render a mixture heavy. Good fruit only should be used. Poor fruit is flavourless, but if you have some on band that is old and has become dry, it can be rendered fit for use, by soaking overnight in water, and then thoroughly dried. Raisins are nicer chopped, and if mixed with some of the sugar for the purpose, they chop more easily.

Raising Agents. HE principle upon which the lightness of a cake depends is the expansion of the gases when heated. The lightness is due to the presence of air, introduced by beating the mixture, the eggs, whisking the whites, or by the introduction of carbonic acid gus, evolved from the different raising agents, such as baking-powder, et¢¥ Baking-powder consists of an arid. (cream of tartar or tartaric acid) and an ulkali (bi-carbonate of soda) with the addition of some starchy matter, such as rice flour, to keep the powder dry and free from lumps. When the baking-powder is: added to the cake mixture and moistened, the gas is given off, and for this reason, the baking-powder should be added with the last spoonful of flour, and the cakes put into the oven to bake as quickly as possible, before the gas has. time to escape. Accuracy of measurement. is of the utmost importance, for too much baking powder makes small cakes dry and chaffy, and large cakes insipid and flat to taste. Cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda (two parts of the former to one of the latter) are often used separately instead: of baking powder, . particularl’ for scones, because their raising power is greater than when combined with rice flour. Butter milk and sour milk can be used combined with bicarbonate of soda alone, as the lactic acid in the milk acts on the soda, producing the necessary gas. Where economy is an object: eggs can be omitted and a mixture of one tablespoonful of vinegar and half a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda used to each half-pound of flour. Consistency. ONSISTENCY should vary with the type of cake to be made. Scone mixtures should be slack, and only just stiff enough to handle. Large cakes should be of the dropping consistenty, and rich eakes slack enough to resemble .. thick batter, but rock cakes or any not baked in tins must be sttff or they will sink and spread, ‘as they (Continued on page 27.)

Readers of the "Radio Record and Electric : Home Journal" who have cooking difficulties or require help with recipes for electric cooking, or desire special hints in connection with thew elec tric ranges, may write to "Electra,’ P.O. Bos 1032, IWellington. Replies will be published either in these columns or in urgent cases sen! direct, provided a stamped addressed envelope ts enclosed.

(Continued from page 26.) will if too much butter is used, or the Oven is not sufficiently hot. Temperatures. O not have anything else in. the oven at the time cakes are being baked, do not open the oven door unless absolutely obliged, and, above all, avoid slamming the oven door, as it causes an inrush of cold air from outside. For a hot oven, heat to 450 degrees Fahr.; a moderate oven, 350; and a slow oven, 275 degrees. Scones and small cakes take from 15 to 30 minutes, plain cakes in tins about 13 to 14 hours, and rich fruit cakes a considerably longer time, depending on the richness of the mixture and the size of the cake. Practically all should be cooked on store heat.

Testing. HEN done, small cakes should be firm to the touch, when lightly. pressed with the finger. Large cakes should also be firm .in. the centre. When ready, they begin to shrink from the sides. Do not pierce with a cold knife, or it will make the cake heavy, but use a clean, bright, hot skewer, insert it well into the middle of the eiake, and if bright and clean when withdratyn the cake is done. Leave a large cake in the tin for a few minutes, then turn it on to a wire sieve or cake rack until cold, but do not allow it to cool ina draught. Mauy perfectly baked cakes are afterwards spoilt by the neglect of these simple precautions.