Baking Cake and Bread
The child who has been assisted in preparing the various dishes given in
our previous cooking lessons, and who has learned to follow directions,
will now be eager to undertake different kinds of baking. The mother
should impress on the little student that the first essential to success
is correct measurements, and the second, careful mixing. For cake baking
a graduated tin cup, marked in quarters and thirds, is almost a
necessity, as different people's ideas vary so as to what constitutes a
quarter or a third. If the cup is at hand, however, and is used in
taking all the measurements, there can be no mistake. And a cupful means
a level cupful, not heaping; a teaspoonful a level spoonful, not a
rounded one, unless so specified.
BAKING PREPARATIONS
Before beginning the work, the child should read over her recipe and lay
out all ingredients needed. She should have the mixing bowl on the
table with the mixing spoon, the teaspoon and tablespoon for
measurements, and the measuring cup. The cake pan, wiped off, warmed and
greased lightly with lard, is next set aside, ready for use.
Then the fire must be in good condition. If a gas stove is used it will
take only a few moments to heat the oven properly, but if wood or coal
is the fuel, the mother must show the child how to prepare the fire, so
as to have the oven the right temperature and on time. The old way of
having it as hot as one can stand the hand while counting twenty, is a
fair test.
As small cakes bake more evenly and quickly for the inexperienced cook,
it is a good idea to let the child put her cake dough in muffin tins. A
mixture that might fall and seem a failure if put in a loaf and not
properly baked, will often come up very nicely in gem pans; and,
besides, the small cakes appeal more to the childish fancy. A nice
one-egg cake is made as follows:
[Illustration: ICING THE CAKE]
TEA CAKES
One-third of a cup of butter, one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of
milk, two cups of sifted flour, two level teaspoonfuls of baking powder,
half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and half a cup of currants.
DIRECTIONS FOR MIXING
First the child should measure her flour while her cup is dry, and
adding the baking-powder, sift it on to a paper or in an extra bowl, and
set it aside, ready for use. Next she can measure the even cupful of
sugar into the mixing bowl, add an even one-third cupful of butter, and
rub together to a creamy mass. If the butter has been standing a while
in the kitchen, it will be warm enough to work up nicely. Then she must
separate the egg, beating the white stiff and the yolk until it is
foaming. Adding the beaten yolk to the butter and sugar, she again stirs
thoroughly, and then begins adding--a little at a time--first the milk
and then the sifted flour, stirring evenly all the while. Put in the
vanilla, the stiffly beaten white of egg, with the currants, mixing as
little as possible, and pour out into the greased gem pans. If the oven
is right, the baking will take from fifteen to twenty minutes, but if
the oven seems too hot, leave the door slightly open for about five
minutes. An old-fashioned way of finding out when the cakes are well
baked is to try with a new wooden toothpick. If it comes out clean and
dry the cakes are done.
On removing from the oven, loosen around the bottom edge (the cakes
should have shrunk from the sides), and turn on to a bread board. When
cold, they can be iced with the following simple icing:
[Illustration: TEA CAKES BAKED IN HEART SHAPE]
WHITE ICING UNCOOKED
Two tablespoonfuls milk or cream, enough confectioner's sugar to make a
thick paste and half dozen drops of vanilla. In spreading, if the icing
does not go on as smoothly as desired the silver knife used for
spreading can occasionally be dipped in a glass of cold water.
COCOA ICING
When the child has followed this recipe several times successfully, she
can then try baking it in two cake tins. When done and cool, she can put
the layers together with the same icing, to which, by adding two
teaspoonfuls of cocoa, she will have a nice chocolate filling. When the
cocoa is used, she will need a trifle more milk or cream.
GINGER COOKIES
After the child has fully mastered this recipe, let her next try some
ginger cookies. To a half a cupful of molasses, one teaspoonful of soda,
half a cupful sour milk, half a cupful of sugar, and one-third cupful of
melted butter add one well-beaten egg, three cupfuls of flour, with one
tablespoonful of ginger. This will make a thick mass which is to be
turned out as soft as can be handled, half at a time, on a well-floured
bread board. The child must then flour her rolling-pin to keep it from
sticking, and roll as thin as desired. She should thoroughly grease the
dripping pan and then cut out her cookies and lift carefully into place,
one just touching another. The oven should be quite hot for these as
they ought to bake quickly; and on removing from the oven, they should
stand a moment in the pan before being lifted on to a plate.
SPICE CAKE
For an inexpensive spice cake, take one-half cup of butter, one cup of
sugar, one egg, (white beaten separately), one and one-half cups of
flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, half a cup of milk,
one-quarter teaspoonful ground cloves, one-quarter teaspoonful nutmeg,
one teaspoonful cinnamon, half a teaspoonful vanilla. Cream the butter
and sugar, add yolk of egg and beat very light. Sift flour and baking
powder, and stir in alternately with the milk. Add spice and flavoring
next, then the stiff white, and bake either in gem pans or in a loaf.
Half a cupful of seeded raisins or currants will be an improvement.
WARM GINGERBREAD
Stir together half a cup of molasses, half a cup of brown sugar, one
teaspoonful of soda, one beaten egg, two tablespoons melted butter, half
a cup of milk, two cups of flour, one tablespoonful of ginger,
teaspoonful of cinnamon, one-quarter teaspoonful cloves, and a little
nutmeg. Mix in the order given, pour in greased shallow pan, and bake
from fifteen to twenty minutes.
* * * * *
When the little cook has learned to follow the foregoing recipes so that
she understands all the details of mixing and is able to make nice light
cakes, let her some time try the following, which by using the whites
for a delicate cake and the yolks for a gold cake, will give her two
choice cakes without extra expense. After bringing to the table, when
ready to begin, the sugar can, the butter jar, the egg dish, the milk,
the vanilla and the baking powder, so that everything will be
convenient, and having well greased a pan for the gold cake (which will
be baked in a loaf) and the two jelly tins for the white cake, she can
then separate three eggs, and to the three yolks add one whole egg. On
account of the baking it is best to make the white cake first, and then
it can be iced and the dishes cleaned away while the loaf cake bakes.
WHITE CAKE
One even half cupful of butter and an even cupful of sugar, creamed
until it is light and foamy. To one and one-half cupfuls of flour add
two level teaspoonfuls baking-powder, and sift several times. Then into
the creamed butter and sugar pour one-half cupful milk, alternately, a
little at a time, with the flour. Before putting in the last of the
flour, stir extra well, then put in one teaspoonful vanilla and the
stiffly beaten whites of the eggs, mix as little as possible, to stir
through, and then add the last of the flour. Bake either in a loaf or in
two layer tins. The layers can be put together when cold with either the
icing already given or this chocolate frosting:
CHOCOLATE ICING
To one cup of granulated sugar add one-third cup of boiling water, and
stir to dissolve until it begins to boil, but no longer. Cook until it
hairs from a spoon, then pour slowly on the stiff white of an egg,
beating steadily. When the candy is well mixed through the egg, add two
squares of chocolate, grated, and continue beating until cool and thick
enough to spread. If the candy happens to be taken off too soon, the
icing will not get thick, and in that event it can be made the right
consistency by the addition of a little confectioner's sugar.
BOILED ICING
For the plain white boiled icing, simply omit the chocolate from the
foregoing recipe, and flavor as desired.
After the two white layers have been put into the oven, if she will be
very careful not to forget them, our little maid can go at her loaf
cake.
GOLD CAKE
To one cupful of sugar, and a rounded tablespoonful of butter rubbed
creamy, she can stir in the four yolks and one whole egg beaten together
as light as the proverbial feather. Then after sifting one and one-half
cupfuls of flour with two level teaspoonfuls baking-powder in a separate
bowl, she can add, a little at a time, one-half cupful of milk and the
flour in the same way that she did in mixing her white cake. Flavor with
a teaspoonful of vanilla, or lemon, if preferred.
CITRON CAKE
If citron is liked, a quarter-cupful, cut very thin, and lightly
floured, can be stirred through the batter made for the gold cake, the
last thing. This cake will bake better if put in a pan having a funnel
opening in the center. The oven should be a little cooler for a loaf
cake, and it should bake from forty to forty-five minutes. When done, it
will shrink slightly from the sides of the pan and should be a delicate
brown. The best way to avoid the possibility of sticking, is to first
cut a piece of paper to fit the bottom of the pan and grease it
thoroughly. On removing from the oven, the loaf cake should stand a few
moments and then be turned out on the bread board.
NUT CAKE
If desired, when the loaf is cool, it can be iced also, with a white
icing, and it will look attractive if a few nut meats are scattered over
the top before the icing hardens. If nuts are liked, a few can be
stirred through the cake instead of the citron and thus by using either
(or neither) our small cook can make three different cakes with the same
recipe.
DEVIL'S FOOD CAKE
A delicious chocolate cake, sometimes called Devil's Food, is made as
follows: cream three-quarters of a cup of butter with one cup of sugar,
and add the beaten yolks of two eggs. Sift several times one and
one-half cups of flour with two scant teaspoonfuls of baking powder, and
stir in, alternating with half a cup of milk. Flavor with three
tablespoonfuls of cocoa (or two squares of unsweetened chocolate,
grated), and half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and lastly add the two
whites, beaten stiff. Bake in two layers, and put together with white
icing.
[Illustration: AFTERNOON TEA FOR TWO]
Any child with care and a little practice should be able to bake
successfully any of the recipes given. They are not expensive, and yet
if properly put together will make cake light and nice enough to offer
any guest. The first, of course, is a trifle cheaper, but the others
will give a good variety for any company, and when she has learned to
make them so they turn out well every time, she will have made a great
advance in her cooking lessons. Then by simply changing her icing she
can have as many different kinds as the family desire.
BREAD
Home-made bread is one thing that everybody likes, and while it takes
time and patience, it is not really hard to make. One little girl I knew
took pride in making all the bread for a family of four, and it was
fine, too. The recipe here given will make three large loaves, so if you
prefer, you can use only half at first, until sure that you have learned
to do it properly. Take three quarts of sifted flour, one even iron
kitchen spoonful of salt, a rounded one of sugar, and one, also rounded,
of lard melted in one cup of warm water--not hot. Dissolve one fresh
compressed yeast cake in one cup of warm water, and add that, with two
more cups of warm water. Mix this all well together, using your big
spoon. When as smooth as you can get it that way, turn out on a floured
board, and knead for fifteen or twenty minutes. Then set it away where
it will not get chilled, and leave it to rise for from four to six
hours, when it will be about double its original size. Then turn out on
your bread board again, cut it in three parts, roll into nice smooth
loaves, without more kneading, put in buttered bread tins, leave again
in a warm place for about two hours, then bake in a moderate oven until
a pretty brown. When done, go lightly over the hard crust with a small
white cloth dipped in cold water, roll in a fresh tea towel and allow to
cool before cutting. If you wish, you can start your bread and give the
first kneading at night, then cover and leave until morning.
LIGHT BISCUIT
For light biscuit, take one of the three parts cut for the bread, twist
off little pieces the size of an egg, roll smooth without working, wet
over the top with melted butter or milk, let rise to double their size,
and bake in a hot oven from fifteen to twenty minutes.