The 1918 Fanny Farmer Cookbook

In filling pans, have the mixture come well to the corners and sides of pans, leaving a

slight

depression in the centre, and when baked the cake will be perfectly flat on top. Cake pans

should be filled nearly two−thirds full if cake is expected to rise to top of pan.

To Bake Cake. The baking of cake is more critical than the mixing. Many a well−mixed

cake

has been spoiled in the baking. No oven thermometer has yet proved practical, and although

many teachers of cookery have given oven tests, experience alone has proved the most

reliable

teacher. In baking cake, divide the time required into quarters. During the first quarter the

mixture should begin to rise; second quarter, continue rising and begin to brown; third

quarter,

continue browning; fourth quarter, finish baking and shrink from pan. If oven is too hot, open

check and raise back covers, or leave oven door ajar. It is sometimes necessary to cover cake

with brown paper; there is, however, danger of cake adhering to paper. Cake should be often

looked at during baking, and providing oven door is opened and closed carefully, there is no

danger of this causing cake to fall. Cake should not be moved in oven until it has risen its full

height; after this it is usually desirable to move it that it may be evenly browned. Cake when

done shrinks from the pan, and in most cases this is a sufficient test; however, in pound cakes

this rule does not apply. Pound and rich fruit cakes are tested by pressing surface with tip of

finger. If cake feels firm to touch and follows finger back into place, it is safe to remove it

from

rises

the oven. When baking cake arrange to have nothing else in the oven, and place loaf or loaves

as near the centre of oven as possible. If placed close to fire box, one side of loaf is apt to

become burned before sufficiently risen to turn. If cake is put in too slow an oven, it often

over sides of pan and is of very coarse texture; if put in too hot an oven, it browns on top

before sufficiently risen, and in its attempt to rise breaks through the crust, thus making an

unsightly loaf. Cake will also crack on top if too much flour has been used. The oven should

kept at as nearly uniform temperature as possible. Small and layer cakes require a hotter oven

than loaf cakes.

To Remove Cake From Pans. Remove cake from pans as soon as it comes from the oven,

by inverting pan on a wire cake cooler, or on a board covered with a piece of old linen. If cake

is inclined to stick, do not hurry it from pan, but loosen with knife around edges, and rest pan

on its four sides successively; thus by its own weight cake may be helped out.

To Frost Cake. Where cooked frostings are used, it makes but little difference whether they

are spread on hot or cold cake. Where uncooked frostings are used, it is best to have the cake

slightly warm, with the exception of Confectioners’ Frosting, where boiling water is

employed.

Hot Water Sponge Cake

Chapter XXXI − CAKE

580