BOOK OF AMERICAN BAKING

BOOK OF
AMERICAN BAKING

————
A PRACTICAL GUIDE COVERING VARIOUS
BRANCHES OF THE BAKING
INDUSTRY, INCLUDING CAKES,
BUNS, AND PASTRY, BREAD
MAKING, PIE BAKING, ETC.
————
PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN TRADE PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEW YORK CITY

Copyright 1910, by the
American Trade Publishing Co.
All Rights Reserved.

FOUR PARTS

¶ Any recipe or other information regarding the Baking Industry not found in the BOOK OF AMERICAN BAKING will be furnished free to all subscribers of BAKERS WEEKLY.
¶ Address all communications to the American Trade Publishing Company, New York City.

INDEX

Part I
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Cakes, Buns and
Pastry

CAKES, BUNS and PASTRY

Angel Cakes and Food.

• 2 qts. Whites.
• 3½ lbs. Sugar.
• 1¾ lbs. Flour.
• 1 oz. Cream of Tartar.

If preferred, a little more sugar and a little less flour may be used. Angel Food is practically the same as Angel Cake. Do not grease pans, but dip in water before filling. Turn upside down as soon as taking from the oven. Ice cake as desired.

Alberts.

Four lbs. flour, 2 lbs. sugar, 14 oz. butter and lard, 8 eggs, ½ oz. ammonia and a little lemon oil. Break and rub the butter and lard into the flour so as to incorporate it well. Make a tray, and place sugar in it, the eggs next, and the ammonia and oil of lemon. Beat the eggs a little with the hand so as to mix well the ammonia and oil of lemon. Work all together and shake up until thoroughly mixed; next break into small pieces and roll into balls, and when all are finished place them 1½ inches apart in pans without grease.

Then with a rounded point cone made for the purpose, press in the center of each, so that they will break open in three or four places around the sides, and bake in a tolerably warm oven.

Bolivars.
See recipe for [Molasses Cakes].

Cup Cakes.

• 3 lbs. Sugar.
• 1½ lbs. Butter.
• 18 Eggs.
• 1½ oz. Soda.
• 3 oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 1½ qts. Milk.
• 6 lbs. Flour.

Proceed same as ordinary fancy or drop cake. Bake in hot oven.

Cocoanut Cakes.

• 1½ lbs. Sugar.
• 3 oz. Butter.
• ¾ lb. Flour.
• ¼ oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 3 lbs. grated Cocoanut.
• Egg Yolks.
• Flavor (usually Lemon).

Use enough of the egg yolks to make a medium stiff dough and bake in a hot oven.

Currant Cake, No. 1.

Two pounds of sugar, 1 pound of lard, 12 eggs, 2 quarts of milk, 1 ounce of soda, 2 pounds of small currants, 3½ pounds of strong cake flour, 2 ounces cream of tartar, flavor with strawberry.

Take the sugar and lard, rub to a cream, add the eggs, next add the milk. Dissolve soda in the milk, put the currants in, mix all together, take your sieve, put over the bowl. Put the flour and cream of tartar in sieve and sieve through, mix light. Bake in small cup cake pans, grease light. These cakes you do not ice. Sell for one cent each, or six for five cents. Bake in heat of 550 degrees F.

Currant Cake, No. 2.
Small Mixture.

Three-quarters pound sugar, ¾ pound lard, 5 eggs, ½ pint milk, ½ pound currants, ½ ounce soda, 2½ pounds flour, 1 ounce cream tartar.

This cake is mixed and baked the same as Currant Cake No. 1.

Cheese Cake.

Two lbs. of cheese passed through a sieve. Put in a bowl and add half a pound of powdered sugar, 4 eggs, 3 oz. of butter and 2 oz. of cornstarch or 4 oz. of flour mixed well together; flavor with cinnamon, lemon, vanilla or mace. Vanilla and lemon may be used together. The mixture should be of a running order, adding sufficient milk to become so. Cheese cake, when baked, should have the appearance of custard, it should be nice and smooth when cut. Cheese cake can be altered or cheapened to suit prices and trade. Less butter and eggs may be used and a proportionately large amount of cornstarch or flour and milk added.

Care should be taken in selecting a good cheese for this cake. Hard, sandy and dry cheese is as good as useless, for you never get the “grit” out of it, and it will absorb the milk or moisture. All cheese cakes when baked are sprinkled over with powdered sugar.

Cup Cake, No. 1.

Two and one-half pounds of sugar, 1½ pounds lard or butter, 15 eggs, 1 quart milk, 1 ounce soda, 4½ pounds flour, 2 ounces cream of tartar, flavor with vanilla.

Take sugar and lard, rub to a cream. Next add the eggs, mix. Take the milk. Dissolve the soda in the milk, mix together. Take your sieve, put over the bowl. Put your flour in and cream of tartar. Sieve through, mix and bake in heat of 500 degrees F. These cakes are baked in large lunch cake pans. When baked and cooled, ice with vanilla and chocolate, and sell at two cents each, or three for five cents.

Cup Cake, No. 2.
Small Mixture.

One pound sugar, ½ pound lard or butter, 7 eggs, 1 quart milk, ½ ounce soda, 2 pounds flour, 1 ounce cream of tartar, flavor with vanilla.

This mixture is made and baked in the same way as Cup Cake No. 1, only difference is, no icing. Put, say, about ten or twelve currants in each pan and bake in same heat as Cup Cake No. 1.

Caramel Cake.

• 1 lb. Batter.
• 2¼ lbs. Sugar.
• 3 Lemon Rinds (grated).
• 1 teaspoonful powdered Mace.
• 15 Eggs.
• 1½ pts. Milk.
• 2 gills Rosewater.
• 1½ lbs. Flour.
• 9 oz. Corn Starch.
• 1¾ lb. Baking Powder.
• A small quantity of Powdered Cinnamon.

Cream sugar, butter, lemon and mace together, add eggs gradually, add rosewater and milk, kneading well. Mix baking powder, flour and starch and add to mixture, stirring well. Bake in round pans, moderate oven.

The filler is prepared as follows: 9 oz. Sugar, 3 Eggs, 1 gill Caramel, 5 yolks Eggs, 1½ tablespoonfuls Corn Starch, 1½ pts. Milk. Cream eggs, sugar and caramel, beat yolks and starch together and mix all until smooth. Add milk and cook to a custard. Spread between layers and dust top of cake with powdered sugar.

I. Drop Cakes.

• 3 lbs. Sugar.
• 1½ lbs. Butter and Lard.
• 20 Eggs.
• 1 qt. Milk.
• 2 oz. Ammonia.
• 2½ lbs. Flour.

Rub sugar and butter thoroughly, adding eggs gradually. Then add milk, flour and ammonia. Bake in hot oven.

II.

• 3 lbs. Sugar.
• 1½ lbs. Butter.
• 15 Eggs.
• 1 qt. Milk.
• 1¼ oz. Ammonia.
• 4½ lbs. Flour.

Cream and proceed as above.

Fancy Cakes.

• 6 lbs. Sugar.
• 4 lbs. Butter.
• 48 Eggs.
• 2 qts. Milk.
• 1⅓ oz. Soda.
• 1⅓ oz. Ammonia.
• 10 lbs. Flour.

Cream well and bake in hot oven.

Fruit Cake.

• 6 lbs. Sugar.
• 6 lbs. Butter.
• 48 Eggs.
• 5¼ lbs. Flour.
• 15 lbs. Raisins.
• 18 lbs. Currants.
• 1½ pts. Molasses.
• ¾ pt. Brandy.
• Spices, etc.

A smaller and different mixture with citron may be made as follows: 1½ lbs. Sugar, 1½ lbs. Butter, 15 Eggs, 1½ lbs. Flour, 1½ lbs. Citron, 6 lbs. Raisins and Currants, ½ or full pint of Brandy.

Florence Cake.

Sugar, 1¼ lbs.; butter, 12 oz.; whites, 1 pint; milk, 1 pint; soda, ⅓ oz.; cream of tartar, ⅔ oz.; flour, 1¾ lbs. Rub the butter and half the sugar light; beat the whites and the rest of the sugar to them. Then mix in with your rubbed butter and sugar; then milk, flavoring and flour.

Genoa Cake.

• 2 lbs. Sugar.
• 1½ lbs. Butter.
• 15 Eggs.
• 2¼ lbs. Flour.
• 3 lbs. Currants and Citron.

The above is a favorite English cake and is usually sold by the pound.

Ginger Nuts.

• 3 qts. Molasses.
• 1½ pts. Water.
• 6 oz. Soda.
• 3 lbs. Lard.
• 1½ lbs. Sugar.
• 8 lbs. Flour.

Less lard may be used if desired. Many add different spices.

Ginger Cakes.

Four lbs. flour, 1 qt. molasses, ½ lb. lard, ½ pint water, 1 oz. soda, 1 oz. ginger, little salt; place the flour on one side of the bowl; put molasses, lard, ginger and salt in the other. Mix one handful of the flour well into these ingredients; then add the soda dissolved in the water, and the remaining flour, and make a smooth dough. Roll out and cut with plain cutter; place on greased pans ½ inch apart, and bake in hot oven.

Honey Cakes.

Put 4 qts. molasses in a kettle and bring to boil. As soon as it starts to boil, add 1 pint water and take from fire. When almost cold mix in about 10 lbs. flour, 1 oz. cinnamon, ginger, and allspice, 2½ oz. powdered ammonia, 1 oz. soda, and make a baking sample. If there is too much leavening in, work in some more flour; if not enough, work in some more ammonia.

Jelly Roll.

• 1½ lbs. Sugar.
• 2¼ lbs. Flour.
• 7 or 8 Eggs.
• ¾ pt. Milk.
• 1½ oz. Baking Powder.

If preferred ½ oz. of Soda and 1 oz. Cream of Tartar may be used instead of Baking Powder. It is important to note that this requires mixing only. Don’t beat.

Jelly Roll.

• 3½ lbs. Sugar.
• 20 Eggs.
• 1 qt. Warm Water.
• 5 lbs. Flour.
• 1 oz. Baking Powder.

Add warm water after eggs and sugar are thoroughly beaten together, then add flour with which the baking powder has been mixed. Bake on wet paper and roll, just covering layer with jelly.

Lady Finger.

• 2 lbs. Sugar.
• 24 Eggs.
• 2¼ lbs. Flour.
• Soda and Cream of Tartar.

The eggs should be beaten while slightly warm.

Lady Cake.

• 2¼ lbs. Sugar.
• 1½ lbs. Butter
• 36 Whites of Eggs.
• 2¼ lbs. Flour.
• Almond or other flavor.

Proceed same as “mixture No. 2” in marble cake recipe elsewhere.

Lemon Cake.

One and three-quarter lbs. flour, ¼ lb. lard, 1 pint molasses, ½ pint water, 1 oz. soda, a few drops of oil of lemon, a pinch of salt; mix one-third of the flour, the molasses, lard, salt and oil of lemon well together, then add the soda dissolved in the water, and the remaining flour, and mix it perfectly smooth. Bake in straight flanged round pans, greased, in a quick oven.

Lunch Cake.

Two pounds of powdered sugar, 1 pound of lard or butter, 10 eggs, 2 quarts of milk, 1 ounce of soda, 4 pounds of cake flour, 2 ounces of cream of tartar, flavor with vanilla.

Take the sugar and lard, put in the bowl, rub to a good cream. Next add the eggs, rub this also to a cream. Take the milk. Dissolve the soda in the milk and mix together. Now take your sieve, put over the bowl, put your flour in the sieve, put the cream of tartar on the flour, sieve through, mix and bake in greased lunch cake pans. Bake in heat of about 550 degrees F. When baked, ice with vanilla icing. When mixing this mixture, be very careful not to mix more than needed, for this will make your cake short and heavy. Sell for one cent each, or six for five cents.

Milan Cake.

Two pounds sugar, a pound of almond paste, a pound and a half of butter, 20 eggs, 4½ lbs. cake flour, vanilla flavor. The almond paste, sugar and butter should be creamed up, the eggs added by turns, and then the flavor and the flour worked in. The mixture should then be medium stiff. Fill into bag with medium sized star tube and dress upon paper into small cakes of different shape, such as crescents, apples, fingers, etc.; then place a small piece of French fruit, a blanched and split almond or pistachio nut on top and bake in a moderate heat.

Marble Cake.

• 5⅔ lbs. Sugar.
• 4½ lbs. Butter.
• 2¼ qts. Whites of Eggs.
• 6 lbs. Flour.

Color one-quarter of the mixture with chocolate and another quarter with cochineal keeping one-half natural color. Start with a thin layer of the latter at the bottom, then drop in the other mixtures alternately with spoons, making such effects as the fancy of the operator may dictate.

Mixture No. 2.

Another good recipe for the above is as follows: 4½ lbs. Sugar, 1½ lbs. Butter, 3 oz. Baking Powder, 36 Whites of Eggs, 3 pints Water, 4½ lbs. Flour, Lemon flavor. Proceed same as for pound cake. When cool ice over and cut into squares. This mixture can also be used for a standard white cake.

Molasses Cakes.

• 3 pts. Molasses.
• 3 pts. Water.
• 1 lb. Lard.
• 5¾ lbs. Flour.
• 3 oz. Soda.
• 2 Eggs.

The above can be made with 1 egg. Some use 3 and 4 eggs. Many also use about 3 oz. sugar. For Bolivars add spices. Sugar Bolivars are made as follows: 6 lbs. Sugar, 3 lbs. Lard, 4½ oz. Ammonia, 3 qts. Milk, 12 lbs. Flour and Flavoring.

Metropolitan Cake.

One and one-half pounds sugar, 1 pound lard, 7 eggs, 1 pint milk, ⅓ ounce soda, 2 pounds cake flour, ⅔ ounce cream of tartar, flavor with lemon.

Take sugar and lard, rub to a cream. Add the eggs. Next take the milk. Dissolve the soda in the milk, mix together. Take your sieve, put over bowl, put flour and cream of tartar in it. Sieve through, mix and bake in large lunch cake pans in heat about 575 degrees F. When baked and cooled, jelly the side with fine currant jelly or any other good jelly. Dip them in cocoanut chopped fine. Keep them on a pan. Take a paper cornet, fill with vanilla and chocolate icing, more vanilla than chocolate. Put two round rings on top. These cakes are very good. Sold for two cents apiece, or three for five cents.

New Year’s Cake.

• 1 lb. Butter.
• 2 lbs. Sugar.
• 9 oz. Lard.
• 1½ pts. Water.
• ¾ oz. Ammonia.
• ¾ oz. Caraway Seed.
• 6 lbs. Flour.

The dough for the above should be worked well. Break the butter up well with the sugar and water.

Orange Cake.

• 21 Eggs.
• 1½ lbs. powdered Sugar.
• ¾ lb. Flour.
• ¾ lb. Corn Starch.
• ¾ lb. Butter.

First beat the yolks and whites separately. Mix together the flour and corn starch. Add to the whites, beaten very stiff, the yolks and sugar, separately, gradually. Next add flour, and while stirring pour in butter hot. Make a smooth batter and bake in hot oven.

For the filling use 12 yolks of Eggs, 9 oz. Sugar, 3 oz. Corn Starch, 3 Oranges, 1 Lemon, pint of Water. Use both the juice and rind (grated) of the oranges and the juice only of the lemon. Make a smooth cream of the sugar and starch and then add the orange and lemon mixture. Boil and then spread between each layer, icing on top with soft orange icing.

Plain Apples.

Two lbs. flour, 1½ lbs. sugar, 1 lb. butter or lard, or half of each, pinch of mace. Rub the sugar, eggs and shortening lift, add the mace, ammonia dissolved in the milk, and then the flour. Roll out and cut with a square fluted cutter. Place on lightly greased pans, and bake in a moderate oven.

Raisin Cake.

• 6 lbs. Sugar.
• 3¾ lbs. Butter.
• 37 Eggs.
• 2½ qts. Milk.
• ½ oz. Soda.
• 1 oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 9 lbs. Flour.
• 9 lbs. Raisins.

This makes an exceptionally fine cake. If desired citron, currants or peel can be used instead of raisins.

Roosevelts.

In a bowl beat 1 pound 5 ounces of sugar, four whole eggs and 20 yolks light. In the meantime whip 16 whites of egg very stiff, gradually adding 8 ounces of powdered sugar, and carefully mix it in. Add 6 ounces Sultana raisins, 4 ounces of very clean currants, 2 ounces finely minced citron, 1 pound 9 ounces of flour, and finally 6 ounces melted butter. Fill into melon-shaped pans, which have been greased and dusted with flour, and bake in a cool oven. As soon as baked turn cakes out on a sieve and dust while hot liberally with vanilla sugar.

Scotch Short Cake.

• 3 lbs. Flour.
• 1½ lb. Butter.
• ¼ lb. Lard.
• ⅛ lb. Butter.
• ¾ lb. Sugar.

The above should be worked into a good stiff dough and baked in a cool oven. Too much heat will spoil it.

Sponge Cake.

• 1½ lbs. Sugar.
• 16 Eggs.
• 2 lbs. Flour.
• 1½ oz. Baking Powder.

Cream well and use a good cream of tartar baking powder.

Soda Cakes.

• 3¾ lbs. Sugar.
• 3¾ lbs. Butter.
• 13½ lbs. Self-raising Flour.
• 3 qts. Milk.
• 6¾ lbs. Currants.
• 1½ lbs. Citron.
• 15 Eggs.

The above are usually baked in square molds. Recipe for self-raising flour is published elsewhere.

Sugar Cakes.

• 6 lbs. Butter (or half Lard).
• 9 lbs. Sugar.
• 4½ oz. Ammonia.
• 2½ qts. Milk.
• 30 Eggs.
• 18 lbs. Flour.

Add flour last and do not work dough too much. Use exact proportions given.

Sugar Cakes Without Eggs.

• 6 lbs. Sugar.
• 2 lbs. Lard.
• 2 qts. Water.
• 2½ oz. Ammonia.
• 12 lbs. Flour.

Butter is usually used instead of lard. It is frequently used half and half. Milk is generally used also in place of water.

Sugar Cakes.

Four lbs. flour, 2 lbs. sugar, 1 lb. lard or butter, or half of each, 5 eggs, 5 gills of milk or water, ½ oz. ammonia, ¼ oz. soda, few drops of oil of lemon, and if lard is used, a pinch of salt; rub the butter or lard with the sugar until light, then rub in the eggs and soda; next add the ammonia dissolved in the milk or water, and the oil of lemon. When all these are slightly mixed work in the flour smoothly, roll out with rolling pin, and cut with fluted cutter; place on greased pans ¼ inch apart, and bake in hot oven.

Spice Cakes.

• 2 lbs. Crumbs.
• ¾ lb. Lard.
• ¾ lb. Sugar.
• 10 or 11 Eggs.
• 1½ pts. Molasses.
• ½ oz. Soda.
• 1 oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 1½ pts. Water.
• 2¼ lbs. Flour.
• Spices.

The pans should be well greased. The tops are usually iced.

Spice Cake.

One-half pound sugar, ½ pound lard, 2 eggs, 1 pound stale cake, ⅓ ounce soda, 1 quart molasses, 1 quart water, a few drops of cochineal, 2½ pounds flour, ⅓ ounce cream of tartar.

Take sugar and lard and mix to a cream, add eggs, next take the crumbs. Mix together and add the molasses and milk. Take the water, add the soda and mix together. Put the flour in the sieve and cream of tartar, sieve through. Mix and bake in lunch cake pans. Grease heavy. Bake in good heat, 600 degrees F. When baked and cool, ice with chocolate icing. Sold for one cent each, or six for five cents.

Tutti Frutti Cake.

Tutti Frutti Cake is made with ordinary cake mixture, any price you may wish, usually baked in pound moulds, covered on top with assorted fruit glace, including Almonds, Figs, Cherries, Apricots, etc., chopped fine and mixed with water icing. Some use whipped cream and as layer cake.

Velvet Cake.

• 1½ lbs. Sugar.
• ¾ lb. Butter.
• 9 Eggs.
• 1½ gills thick Cream.
• 1 big spoonful Rosewater.
• 1½ lbs. Flour.
• 1 oz. Bitter Almonds (blanched and powdered).
• 2¼ teaspoonfuls Baking Powder.

Separate yolks and white of eggs. When butter and sugar are thoroughly creamed, add yolks whipped thick. Next pour in the cream, almond paste and flour. Beat until smooth. Then add the flour and whites, which have been previously beaten stiff. Bake in shallow pans lined with buttered paper. Do not have the oven too hot.

Wine Cake Mixture.

2½ lbs. sugar; 1½ lbs. lard; 4½ lbs. flour; 3 oz. baking powder; 2½ pts. milk; 1½ pts. eggs; flavor.

Wine Cake.

• 3¾ lbs. Sugar.
• 2 lbs. Butter.
• 21 Eggs.
• 3 pts. Milk.
• 1 oz. Ammonia.
• 2 oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 6¾ lbs. flour.

Bake in hot oven. Cream, butter and sugar well and use exact proportions given.

White Mountain Cake.

• 4½ lbs. Sugar.
• 2¼ lbs. Butter.
• 18 Eggs (Whites only).
• 1½ pts. Milk.
• 1½ oz. Soda.
• 3 oz. Cream of Tartar.
• 31-5 lbs. Flour.
• Lemon or Orange flavor.

These cakes are made to sell at 25 cents each. By cheapening the ingredients, however, many sell them at 15 cents, which seems to be the popular price.

LARGE CAKES
BY LOUIS STERN

Lo Soni Cake.

Twenty-one pounds of powdered sugar, 13½ pounds of lard or butter; this must be rubbed well for fifteen minutes, and if made with cake machine will take eight or ten minutes; add 6 pints of eggs (rub them a few at a time), 3 quarts water or milk. Dissolve 2 ounces of ammonia in wet part of mixture, 1½ ounces of ground mace, 1 ounce of gelatine. Mix this all together. Next put 1 pound of egg nutrine or 2 teaspoonfuls of egg color; add 24 pounds of strong cake flour, with 1½ ounces cream of tartar. Mix this all together. Mix very light. This is baked in thin pound cake pans; each pan will hold from 7 to 9 pounds; fill three-quarters full, close lid down tight and set in cool oven in heat of about 330 degrees F. Baked, but still hot, take a good egg icing and cool it with some walnuts and sprinkle on top. This cake can be sold for 12 or 14 cents per pound, according to trade.

Genoa Cake.
Sold by the pound.
No. 1.

Five pounds of granulated sugar, 3½ pounds of lard or butter, 40 eggs, 1 ounce ammonia, 4 pounds raisins, 2½ pounds citron, 8 pounds of cake flour; rub sugar to a cream; add slowly few eggs at a time; dissolve ammonia in ¼ gill of cold milk; mix raisins and citron together and add to mixture. Now put in your flour; mix light, and bake in one large pan, greased good and thick; put heavy paper around and put in oven in slow heat of about 330 degrees F. When baked and still hot, put over it a good boiled fondant icing and sprinkle a few chopped nuts over the top. This is a very good cake and will lay for months without getting mouldy or hard. Sold for 12 or 14 cents a pound.

Fruit Cake No. 1.

Thirteen pounds of powdered sugar, 12 pounds of lard, 100 eggs, 2 quarts of molasses, 1 pint of good sherry wine, ¼ pound of gelatine, 30 pounds of currants, 25 pounds of raisins, 10 pounds of citron and 10 pounds of strong cake flour. Put sugar and lard in cake machine, let work good. Next add the eggs and dissolve gelatine in ½ gill of water; add gelatine, molasses, currants, citron and raisins; let mix, and last add the flour. This is baked in large pound cake tins without a cover; put in oven in slow heat of about 330 degrees F. Very good cake, sold for 10 cents a pound.

Fruit Cake No. 2.

Bake in small duchess cake pans and sold by the pound at 10 cents per pound. Take 7 pounds of sugar, 5½ pounds of lard of cottonseed oil, 50 eggs, 1 quart of molasses, 1 pint of good sherry wine, 2 ounces gelatine, 15 pounds of currants, 4 pounds of citron, 5 pounds of raisins, and 5 pounds of strong flour, with 4 ounces cream of tartar. This is mixed the same as Fruit Cake No. 1. Baked in a heat of 400 degrees F.

Molasses Fruit Cake.
Sold by the pound; 12 cents per pound.

Take 11 pounds of granulated sugar, 6½ pounds of hard lard, 70 eggs, 3 quarts milk, 1½ quarts of water, 1½ ounces soda, 3 ounces cream of tartar, 2 ounces of gelatine, 12 pounds of currants and 21 pounds of strong cake flour. Rub sugar and lard to a cream; next add the eggs, few at a time; dissolve soda and gelatine in the water; add milk and water. Mix together, then add the flour and cream of tartar, and last add the currants. Of course you can use any other fruit instead of currants, such as raisins, citron, lemon peel, and so on. Mix light and make in two large pound cake forms, propped down with large bricks. When this is half baked, take large piece of thick paper, put over the cake so it will not get too black, and put in heat of about 300 degrees F. When baked, turn over so to get to the bottom. Take some soft chocolate icing with some candy fruit, and pour over the cake. This cake must be kept in a showcase or a closed box so as to keep it away from the air. If kept away from air it will keep soft and fresh for weeks.

Raisin Cake No. 1.

Take 3 pounds of sugar, 2 pounds lard, 35 eggs, ½ ounce soda, 1 ounce cream of tartar, 2 pounds raisins, 1½ pounds of currants, flavor, and 4½ pounds strong cake flour. Take sugar and lard, rub to a cream; rub for about 10 minutes; add slowly the eggs, few at a time; take soda and dissolve in ⅛ of a gill of water. Now add your cream of tartar, flour, raisins and currants, and mix light. This cake is baked in diamond-shaped forms, about 20 pounds to the form; lay on flat baking pans, prop down with heavy bricks so it will not run from under. This cake is baked in a heat of 250 degrees F.

Cheap Raisin Cake No. 2.

Fourteen pounds of sugar, 9 pounds of lard, 2½ quarts of eggs, 1 ounce gelatine, ¾ egg nutrine, 2 quarts of water, 1 ounce of mace, 2 ounces cream of tartar, 6 pounds raisins and 15 pounds of strong cake flour. Rub sugar and lard to a cream, add slowly the eggs, few at a time. Dissolve gelatine and add egg nutrine in the water and mix. Now add the mace; mix all together, then take 15 pounds of flour; sift flour and cream of tartar, mix light. This is baked in duchess cake pans lined out with thick paper. Two pounds to the pan. Sprinkle fine raisins on top of cake and bake in heat of 300 degrees F. Takes one-half hour to bake.

Ledner Pound Cake.

Fourteen pounds of sugar, 9 pounds of lard, 5 quarts of eggs, 2½ quarts milk, 2 ounces of gelatine, 1 ounce of mace, a little vanilla, 1 ounce of soda, 2 ounces of cream of tartar, and 14 pounds of flour. Take sugar and lard and rub to a cream. Now add the eggs, 1 quart to every 2 minutes till all gone; take the gelatine, mace and vanilla, soda and mix in the milk. Dissolve, mix good. Next add the flour and cream of tartar. Mix very light. Baked in large pound cake pans with closed tops, say 9 pounds to a pan; close down tight. Put in oven in heat of about 250 degrees F. When baked, take a good fondant icing with some chopped nuts or almonds, and sprinkle on top of cake while still hot.

Pound Cake No. 1.

Ten pounds of sugar, 7 pounds of cotton-seed oil, 90 eggs, 1 quart milk, 1½ ounces gelatine, 1 ounce soda, ½ ounce mace, vanilla, 12 pounds of cake flour. Rub sugar and lard to a cream; next add the eggs (few at a time), and dissolve gelatine and soda in the milk with mace and flavor. Mix light and add flour and cream of tartar. Mix and bake in 10-pound cake pans lined with thick waxed paper. Bake in heat of 300 degrees F. Sold at 18 cents per pound.

POUND CAKE FOR WHOLESALE.

The development of the pound cake business in America during the last five years has been rapid. Especially is this true of the East. New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore have all consumed large quantities, while the western cities have not been as large consumers. The reason for the latter, I believe, is because in most cases those who have been pushing the business have tried to sell their goods too cheap or have gone to the other extreme and charged prices out of reach of the general purchasing public as an everyday commodity. Those who have charged the higher price have made more of a success than those who tried to sell too cheap. Hence I shall treat this matter from a standpoint of high class goods.

In the first place I will consider the method of manufacture, and the first thing to be considered is the method of creaming.

Method of Creaming.

The creaming of butter is the most essential feature of the cake business. A large number of bakers fail in this important point. Hard, lumpy butter and soft, oily compound, or lard, are thrown together into the machine; then the sugar is thrown in regardless of the lumps it may contain, and then the maker expects a fine smooth eating cake. This is a great mistake, as from such mixing satisfactory results cannot be obtained. Where two or more substances are being mixed together they should be of the same degree of toughness, as near as possible.

Where it is desired to cream up a hard butter and a soft greasy butter or oily compound, the hard one should be worked either by the hand or the machine and made pliable, and the soft one should be put in the ice box to harden. When butter, or butter and lard or compound is being used, they should be of the same consistence as near as possible.

The speed of the machine is also an important factor. About 150 revolutions a minute is a safe speed. Under no circumstance should a hard wiry or brittle butter be used. If used at all, it should be well worked with the machine before adding the sugar. In fact, it is a good plan to let the machine revolve a number of times with the butter alone, then add half of the sugar, which should be previously sifted through a fine sieve. When this has been well worked, add the balance of the sugar, extracts, or spice, and if you are using a coloring, this should now be put in.

Let the machine run from five to ten minutes, according to the weather. In hot weather your materials all being hot the butter would gather heat and possibly cause your mixture to curdle. See that the mixture is scraped down in the machine thoroughly; then start machine again, adding the eggs a few at a time. When the eggs are all added, flour should be lightly mixed in, but never before it has been thoroughly sifted, as this is one of the greatest mistakes possible to make—to use flour that has not been incorporated with the air before mixing. When you are using glycerine, this should have been well worked up and added when a portion of the flour has been worked in, although if your butter is strong enough it is better to work the glycerine in when sugar is being mixed, but if your butter is any way soft this should not be done. In using glycerine too large quantities should not be used. The same is true of glucose, which if used in small quantities is an advantage, but when too large quantities are used most disastrous results are obtained. The judicious use of some of these articles are the roads between success and failure. It must not be supposed that these articles are used in all kinds of cakes, but in certain kinds of cakes they are the needed help, and are not used merely for the purpose of cheapening the cost, but to improve the quality.

A cake to sell well must have flavor, texture and grain, and neither of these can be obtained from an imperfect mixture, or one that is imperfectly made. In using eggs, great care should be used in their selection, as when the prices are high and eggs scarce, these are the times when large quantities of cake are usually sold. Therefore, in figuring the cost of your cake, don’t do it in June, when everything is naturally cheap. June and December do not work in harmony together, as a rule, and if you are basing your profits on June prices to sell in the spring months, when everything is high, you will have to readjust matters. With proper management, however, and carefully considering these matters, it will be possible to make a good cake at a popular price.

In baking your cakes the pans should be covered similar to a sandwich pan. If you have no pans suitably covered, the pans can be covered with thick brown paper or thin wood—anything to keep the top heat of the oven from browning the cake too much, as the sale of your cake will depend to a great extent upon the delicate appearance of it. When we state that these cakes are better if kept a few weeks before being sold, this possibly would seem strange to many of our readers; nevertheless, it is a fact that if this class of cake is properly made and properly baked, age up to a limited time will be the determining factor in its quality.

But it must be borne in mind that the storage of the cakes after being baked, or as soon as being removed from the oven, will have much to do with the future keeping qualities of the cake. It is a mistake to turn the cake out on the iron pans or on wooden shelves and allow them to remain there with the steam from the baking being kept in them, as you must recollect that the paper around the pans which in the baking has adhered to the cake has become thoroughly saturated with grease and has consequently practically formed an air-proof surface. Therefore the steam has very little chance of escaping readily, and in order to get the best from this class of cakes they should cool off readily, and as soon as they are thoroughly cooled should at once be wrapped in an air-proof paper and stored on shelves, with sufficient space between all sides for a circulation of air between each cake. Your shelves also should be formed from slats, or if made from solid wood should have two such slats running longways, in order that the air can get under as well as all around them. If placed flat on the shelves, the possibilities of moulding in hot weather is greater. I think now, that I have given pretty thorough instructions, on a general principle. Of course, there will have to be instructions given occasionally in the various cakes that I will describe, but if the instructions which I have given here are carried out, the others will be mere matters of small importance.

There is one thing here that I will speak of, and that is in the formula in which I give milk in: I meant you to be careful to see that in hot weather there is no chance of the milk being sour—or in fact at any time, although in hot weather the danger is much greater, both from the milk souring quicker and also from the fact that the cake is more readily to form a bacterial growth of a vicious ferment.

In some of the cakes that I describe I shall mention baking powder. This will always mean cream of tartar, soda, or corn starch mixed in the proportions that I shall give later on. Under no conditions should the common phosphate baking powder be used, although in some cheap small cakes these are to be preferred, but where it is necessary to use the cheap ones I will mention it. I contemplate giving quite a number of cakes of different forms and flavors, and whilst this may seem unnecessary yet it may be helpful to some of our friends in various parts of the world. I will now proceed to give two formulas and will continue next month on same subject.

• 56 pounds good white soft winter wheat flour,
• 36 pounds good tough waxy butter,
• 1½ pounds pure glycerine,
• 46 pounds standard powdered sugar (46 pound),
• 14 quarts good fresh eggs,
• 2 quarts fresh sweet milk (not skim),
• 1 ounce ground mace,
• 3 ounces good vanilla extract,
• 4 ounces baking powder.

Place the sugar and butter into the mixer, letting it revolve slowly. As it gradually creams up, add the glycerine. Add the eggs, gradually, about a quart at a time. If the butter shows a tendency to curdle, add a few handfuls of flour. When the eggs are all in, add the milk; sift the baking powder and spices into the flour, and add to the mixture. Then mix lightly but thoroughly.

Here is a cheaper cake, but one which is really a nice cake, and one that will sell well almost anywhere:

• 15 pounds good butter,
• 8 pounds cottolene and compound,
• 33 pounds standard powdered sugar,
• 54 pounds soft white winter wheat flour,
• 12 ounces baking powder,
• 8 quarts eggs,
• 1½ pounds glycerine,
• Extract vanilla or lemon,
• 2 ounces ground mace,
• 5½ quarts milk,

A little egg coloring used in your milk to make it the desired color would help the appearance of the cake.

Cream up this, as in the preceding mixture, but as soon as the mixture is thoroughly mixed, place into the pans. The least handling after the cake is mixed the better, as there is quite a little powder used here, and you do not want it to work before going into the oven.

I will now give the baking powder formula. Remember that the baking powder described here should be made at least three or four days before using, keeping it covered in an air-tight can. The reason it should be blended together is to avoid its hasty working when freshly mixed in the cakes:

• 4 Pounds soda,
• 7 pounds cream tartar,
• 3 pounds corn starch.

Mix all together and pass through a sieve several times, and then put into a can for storage. In using it, always sift it through a fine sieve with the flour.

A FEW HINTS ON CAKE MAKING

Flour for Cake Making.

In order to secure the best results in cake baking the subject of Flour must be studied very carefully.

For cake baking Winter Wheat flour, of course, is used. Unfortunately, there is no regular standard for Winter Wheat flour, hence the baker is constantly confronted with the necessity of solving many problems as to how to secure the best results with different brands, some being soft and others strong, tough, etc., all requiring a little different treatment. No “Fancy Straight” or “Patent Winter” flour, according to present standards, are the same, hence it is impossible to give “standard” recipes in cake making. The best recipe ever devised will not be successful in every case. Bakers frequently condemn good recipes because they cannot get good results, not considering that there may be a great difference in the materials that they are using.

The nearest approach to a standard formula are recipes such as sponge cakes, composed of 1 lb. of Sugar, 1 lb. of Eggs, 1 lb. of flour; or pound cake, made of 1 lb. of Sugar, 1 lb. of Butter, a pound of Eggs and a pound of Flour; doughnuts, where 4 lbs. of Flour are used to the quart of Milk, etc.

However, for the reason that every time we get flour the flour is different, the baker must change the recipe to conform with this difference in the flour.

The most benefit, however, would be derived in knowing the necessary amount of milk to use, thereby obtaining that which is most important and necessary in successful cake making.

There would be a help, also, in regard to the proper amount of mixing. For instance, if too strong a flour is used more milk or water must be added. The result is the mix is toughened, not only by the strong flour, but by destroying air cells, which are formed by beating the eggs, creaming the butter and sugar, and by the baking powder used.

Sugar.

Sugar is, next to flour, used most extensively in cake making. Standard powdered sugar is familiar to every baker. For a fine powder order XXXX, and a coarser one, fruit or a coarse powdered—also called non-caking powder. This sugar is the best to use for most purposes, as it will cream up easily with butter or with butter and lard. It is much better than standard powder to use for meringue, as it will mix more readily and therefore avoid a tendency of the meringues to get smeary, as is often the case when fine powder is used, which often contains starch. By the necessary sifting it needs, flour and other injurious matters are often mixed in. Although this is the best sugar for cake bakers to use, it is known to but very few bakers. It will not cake like standard powdered, and therefore does away with the annoyance of sifting lumpy standard powdered and saves time and waste of sugar. Light “C” and “A” sugar is sometimes good and profitable to use in cakes, as it imparts a nice color and bloom to the cakes and has a tendency to keep them moister and fresher.

Butter.

Butter is perhaps the most expensive material used in cake making. Many bakers use cheap butter, it sometimes being even rancid—fishy. It is unwise to use this class of butter, for the cakes will surely tell it in the taste. If the price of butter is high, it is better (in order to reduce the cost of the making of the cake) to use good butter and lard, cottolene, or some other similar compound with it. A very good way is to mix a two weeks’ supply of butter and lard together, first leaving the butter in a warm room for a day or so, so that it will have the stiffness of the lard and will then mix easier and evenly with it. This seems to help keep the butter sweet and saves lots of time and weighing of butter and lard separately, and it is just the right firmness for creaming, and avoids the lumps which are often hard to rub smooth with the sugar while creaming in winter. It also helps to keep the butter firm and from getting too soft in summer when a stiff compound is mixed with it. It also saves money, as the proportion of butter and lard can be changed as butter gets cheaper or dearer. Sixty pounds of butter to 100 pounds of lard is frequently used. When butter is cheaper, use 75 to 100 pounds, and this can be changed to meet the class of goods turned out in the different bakeries.

Eggs.

Eggs have tried to be replaced by more substitutes than any other ingredient used in cake making. The first thing to consider in an egg substitute is, does it beat up well, as for sponge cakes? You cannot beat up or use many substitutes for sponge cake; but you can use them for anything else. However, half the quantity of eggs regularly used will often make a better cake than you can buy, using egg substitutes.

Eggs are often wasted, more being used than necessary, and where they are of no benefit. It is poor policy to buy cheap eggs, as they are dear compared to good ones, considering the little difference in price, sometimes being only two or three cents a dozen, which makes them dearer in the end than good eggs.

Eggs known as “Spots” among bakers are not only entirely worthless but often spoil a cake.

ONE DOUGH FOR MANY CAKES

The following relative to making as large a variety of cakes from one dough as is possible, without, however, having the cakes appear too much alike, and also have them taste different, by F. Bauer, of Chicago, should prove of great value to the general cake baker.

A good many bakers make the mistake of flavoring almost every cake alike, using lemon and mace or some other similar favorite spice or extract, giving them that monotonous bakers’ taste. When more than one kind of cake is made from one mix, it saves the time for weighing and mixing, eliminates to some extent the chances of making mistakes, as it is hard to weigh small amounts of soda, baking powder and ammonia on the bake shop scale; and a little too much of either in a small mix is apt to spoil it, while it would hardly affect a large one. For this very reason many bakers who are not careful and who do not think it necessary to be accurate find it hard to work in small shops or in a bakery where small mixes are made.

Cakes called Butter Rings and “SS” form a good example of the varieties of cakes that can be made from one mix, although a larger, smaller or better variety can be made from others. The Rings and “SS” can be made plain, some strewn with almonds, some with shredded cocoanut, some left plain and iced after baking, by melting the required amount of chocolate and adding to it a part of the dough, Chocolate Rings and “SS” can be made.

Small cookies like Butter Wafers, Almond Wafers strewn with almonds, can be made, also small fancy shaped cookies like “SS,” Hearts, Crescents, Rings and Ovals, decorated with cherries and angelica, can be made at Christmas time, and on other occasions, or regularly in better or fancy bakeries.

One mix or dough from which can be derived a large benefit and satisfaction is the ordinary wine cake or layer cake mix, from which you can make layers for layer cakes, ten and five cent wine cakes, loaf cakes; adding chopped nuts and nut flavor to part of the mix, you can make nut cakes. By adding melted chocolate to a certain part of the mix, you can make devil’s food cakes, lemon cakes, Boston squares, chocolate and maple squares, raspberry and chocolate drops, cup and currant cakes, and other cakes like nut and cocoanut slices, penny golden-rod squares, etc., can also be made. All these can be flavored and iced so that hardly any customer would even imagine that they were made from one and the same dough. This way of making cakes enables one to make larger mixes, make smaller amounts of each cake so they can be made fresh oftener, and keep a larger variety of cakes in store. On Mondays or other busy days, or when you want to get off a day or so, or being short of help, one can make a large assortment of cakes in a short time.

GENERAL RULES.
BY J. E. WIHLFAHRT.

In making cakes, after the proper selection of ingredients, the respective quantity to be used is of great importance; and the binding material, or the ingredient which binds the different materials into the solid mass, when they come into contact with the heat during the process of baking cakes, deserves first attention. Flour, of course, ranks as the principal binding material and practically is the cheapest material, used in bulk, with which the cake-baker has to deal, and is the one that, by its judicious use, will cheapen or otherwise increase the cost of manufacture.

This is due to the fact that a cake mixture, generally speaking, should be held as soft as possible, as a stiffer mixture would require additional ingredients in order to make the product of the same standard quality, and as flour usually is the cheaper ingredient, then it follows that a stiffer mixture would either decrease the quality of the product or increase the cost of manufacture. Thus the various ingredients principally used in the manufacture of cakes are proportioned in the following way as to their binding qualities in a cake mixture:

Taking as a basis a “pound cake mixture” consisting of one pound each of sugar, shortening, eggs and flour, and it would be desirable to cheapen this mixture by adding, say, milk and flour, it would be necessary to add the milk and flour in even proportions, and for each two ounces of milk and flour so added one-sixteenth of an ounce of baking powder would be required additionally, or in its place a proportioned amount of soda bicarbonate and cream of tartar, which, in this case, would be one sixty-fourth of an ounce of the former and one thirty-second of an ounce of the latter.

Should we continue to add flour and milk and repeat the aforesaid amount eight times, we arrive at a cake mixture calling for one pound each of sugar, shortening and eggs, but one pint of milk, two pounds flour and one-half ounce of baking powder, or an equivalent amount of soda bicarbonate with cream of tartar.

Should we further desire to reduce the cost of manufacture, in purpose not only to reduce the selling price, but also to increase the volume of expansion to a given weight of such cake, we reduce one egg and, correspondingly, two ounces of shortening, and this necessitates to again increase the amount of baking powder one-sixteenth of an ounce for each egg and two ounces of shortening so reduced from the original recipe, which in this case again would be the pound cake mixture.

If we follow by reducing this amount four times, we have a recipe calling for one pound sugar, one-half pound shortening, four eggs, one pint milk, two pounds flour and one ounce baking powder, or a recipe which is the general basis for loaf cake mixture.

This intimates that one ounce of flour has the binding quality for one ounce of milk, if added to a mixture. Again, one egg will correspond in binding quality to two ounces of shortening; that is, one egg, (figuring the average weight of eggs as two ounces each) would correspond to two ounces of milk in binding power, and flour would find its own weight in shortening, and as one egg has the binding quality of two ounces of flour, we may add one egg, and reduce the corresponding amount of flour, which, by producing a softer mixture, increases the quality of the product at the minimum cost of manufacture.

Shortening, in general, (by which I refer to butter, lard, oils or vegetable fats) and eggs have the tendency, when properly incorporated in a mixture, to lighten the cakes, that is why they are creamed together with the sugar, but the same as sugar itself, they have a shortening effect to enrich the cake.

In yeast-raised cakes the binding quality of the different ingredients vary, and one egg, for instance, only possesses the binding quality for one and one-half ounces of corresponding material; but, on the other side, the flour will absorb and retain a good deal more moisture for the reason that for yeast-raised cakes stronger flour is used than for cakes made by the use of baking powders, and again during the process of fermentation the gluten is developed, whereas in baking powder goods the gluten in flour is of no value.

It is needless to repeat here that baking powder and allied products are of entirely different nature and quality, and the comparison is not made with intention to substitute one leavening agent for the other.

Baking powders, ammonia carbonate, soda bicarbonate, cream of tartar, etc., do not add to the nutritious quality of a cake, but their use is tolerated by reason of their great convenience, and, furthermore, they are an absolute necessity for a certain class of cakes, but in all cases good judgment should be exercised to use the least possible quantities that will produce the necessary lightness or neutralize the presence of acidity.

The amount of soda bicarbonate to be used, especially for molasses goods, often depends upon the water, and while the latter is little used in the manufacture of cakes, it is well to state that soft water requires less soda than if hard water is to be used. Hard water may be softened by the addition of a solution of soda bicarbonate.

Sodium chloride, generally called common salt, is very rarely used in the manufacture of cakes, unless for molasses goods, etc., where the addition of a minute amount exerts a beneficial influence on the binding material employed; it also acts, in part, to neutralize the acidity of molasses, which usually is contained in the latter in overabundant quantities, and, therefore, does not interfere with the action of the soda bicarbonate. The principal reason for using a small amount of salt is that it will stimulate the capacity of the palate to recognize the flavor of the finished product to better advantage.

Sodium bicarbonate, commonly called baking soda, is used to spread and lighten the cakes, as well as for its neutralizing power, as in contact with acids it develops carbonic acid gas, thus leavening the cakes.

Ammonia carbonate is the strongest of this class of leavenings known in the manufacture of cakes, but leaves a displeasing flavor and coarse grain if used in too large quantities; employed in part with soda bicarbonate it usually gives very satisfactory results.

If by error too much soda bicarbonate is used, the product will have a greenish tint and bitter taste. If such error occurs, it is well to add a proportion of cream of tartar or tartaric acid to neutralize the over-amount of soda and allow the mixture to rest sufficient time so one may neutralize the other.

It is hardly necessary to refer to the flour, as every one connected with the baking business knows that soft flour is used for cakes—one containing the least gluten, and consists usually of the soft white winter wheat class. While winter wheat flour often can be bought at a lower price than spring wheat flour, it is not the reason for its use in cakes, but because it is better adapted.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Cleanliness IS godliness.

Always knead butter and lard before using.

Avoid flash heat in baking unless conditions require it.

Ten whole eggs or 18 whites or 25 yolks equal one pint.

Remember butter and sugar require a great deal of rubbing.

When using some lard in place of butter entirely, use half lard and half butter.

Fresh eggs placed in cold water will immediately sink, while bad ones will float on top.

A few drops of lemon juice is a great help when beating egg whites, making them come up quickly.

Cotton-seed oil may be substituted for lard in all cases. It is richer than lard, hence a less quantity must be used.

In beating mixtures do not start too fast. A slow circular motion at first gradually increasing speed gives the best results.

When heating an oven half an hour or more should be allowed to elapse after proper temperature is reached before baking is started.

No baker can hope to make perfect goods who does not accurately weigh and measure all materials. Guess work keeps many bakers poor.

A simple test for molasses is to mix a small quantity of soda with it. If it foams and has a sweet odor it is good, otherwise it is not fit for baking purposes.

Copper utensils should be used with extreme care. When liquids, etc., are allowed to stand in them after cooking poisonous chemical action takes place that is dangerous.