Page:Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats.djvu/55

 CAKES.

GENERAL DIRECTIONS. making cakes, it is particularly necessary that the eggs should be well beaten. They are not sufficiently light till the surface looks smooth and level, and till they get so thick as to be of the consistence of boiled custard.

White of egg should always be beaten till it become a heap of stiff froth, without any liquid at the bottom; and till it hangs from the rods or fork without dropping. Eggs become light soonest when new-laid, and when beaten near the fire, or in warm dry weather.

Butter and sugar should be stirred till it looks like thick cream and till it stands up in the pan.

It should be kept cool. If too warm, it will make the cakes heavy.

Large cakes should be baked in tin or earthen pans, with straight sides, that are as nearly perpendicular as possible. They cut into handsomer slices, and if they are to be iced, it will be found very inconvenient to put on the icing, if the cake slopes in much towards the bottom.

Before you ice a cake, dredge it all over with flour, and then wipe the flour off. This will enable you to spread on the icing more evenly.