1. CAKE is a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and liquid that is
baked in the oven in a variety of forms and distinguished by a tender
texture and a sweet flavor. Closely allied to cake mixtures proper are
many others, including cookies, small cakes, puddings, etc. While these
differ from cakes in some respects, they are similar in use,
ingredients, or methods of preparation. Because of this similarity, a
number of these related mixtures are taken up in connection with cakes.
2. Foods of this class, which are usually served as dessert, are for the
most part considered as luxuries and, of course, are not used so
extensively in the diet as other classes of foods. However, sweet food
is required to a certain extent in each person's diet, and it may be
obtained in this agreeable form without overbalancing the food account
if a little economy is practiced elsewhere. Thus, a small quantity of
cake or pudding that is light, not too rich, and properly made may be
served without injury to most persons as a dessert or as an
accompaniment to a dessert. For children, the less rich and sweet
mixtures, such as cookies, are preferable to rich cake and very sweet
confections and may be fed to them occasionally.
3. Because of the almost unlimited variation in the proportion of
ingredients, considerable variety exists in desserts of this kind. Cakes
range from those made with only eggs for leavening to those containing
very few eggs and having the standard proportion of other leavening
agents. For instance, there is sponge cake; which contains no shortening
and no leavening except eggs, in contrast with butter cake, which has
much shortening or little, as the case may be, and requires
proportionate quantities of flour and leavening other than eggs. Then
there are soft, rich cookies containing shortening and sugar and the
harder, less rich ones containing a greater proportion of flour.
4. In addition to cakes and puddings proper, there are many mixtures
that can scarcely be classed as cakes at all. A few of them, such as
meringues, are so sweet and delicate that they could be considered as
confections, but they are discussed in connection with cakes because
they take the place of cake in the meal. The peculiar pastes used for
the making of cream puffs and éclairs are not in reality cakes, nor are
they real pastry, but because they are served as desserts and belong
somewhere in this class, they are included here. Doughnuts and crullers
are perhaps more often thought of as quick breads than as cakes.
However, the mixtures used for them are sweet. They differ from the
mixtures for cakes only in being less rich, but by the peculiar method
of their preparation in deep fat these foods become richer than the
majority of cakes. Then there are a few varieties of cakes made with
yeast which are related to cake in some respects and can well be taken
up in this connection.
5. The proportions of liquid to flour for the various kinds of cake
mixtures do not differ materially from those of the batters and doughs
given in _Hot Breads_. Still, the increased amount of sugar, eggs, and
shortening must always be considered, for these ingredients make
considerable variation in the general proportions. All that is said in
_Hot Breads_ concerning leavening agents and the proportions in which
they are used applies with equal force to the making of cakes.
6. To be able to make foods of this nature well is one of the triumphs
of the modern housewife. But this accomplishment is not beyond the
limitations of any woman who masters the principles of cookery and
diligently applies them to this part of the subject. In addition to
making desserts that are merely palatable, she can, with a little
practice, learn to decorate these foods, particularly cakes, both
attractively and artistically. When she is equipped with such knowledge,
she will be able to present her family with many varieties of this
pleasing dessert.
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