1/2 cupful butter, or substitute

1 cupful sugar 2/3 cupful milk

2 Cupfuls Swans Down Cake Flour

3 teaspoonfuls baking powder 1/4 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful vanilla 3 egg whites

Cream butter, gradually add sugar, creaming mixture well. Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt and sift three times. Add the flour and milk alternately to the creamed butter and sugar, beating batter hard between each addition of flour and milk. Add vanilla extract. Fold in the stiffly-beaten egg-whites and bake in a loaf or two layers in a moderate oven. Ice as desired.

Before attempting to make any cakes in this book, read this article. It may prevent a cake failure, thereby saving the waste of ingredients. These are the four most important steps in cake-making, and if followed carefully will help you to make really, good cake.

Selecting Ingredients

A good cake cannot be made with poor ingredients. For the best results choose only the purest materials obtainable. Cake is a food that contains the most nutritive elements, such as eggs, butter, milk, sugar, flour, etc. Cake is more delicate than bread and needs a more delicate flour. This flour is Swans Down Cake Flour, soft, white, and velvety, made especially for cake and pastry making. Swans Down costs but a few cents more per cake and yet it insures against disappointment and costly cake failures. Lighter whiter, finer, better cakes if you use Swans Down.

Measuring

Ail ingredients called for in any good recipe must be accurately mixed and all measurements should be level. This is necessary in order to obtain the same results in each baking. The standard one-half pint measuring cup should be used and the recipe followed exactly.

Careful Mixing

It is necessary in successful cake-making that all ingredients be perfectly measured and utensils and cake tin; be ready before beginning to mix the cake. Always beat the shortening to a cream before adding any sugar. Add sugar gradually, creaming the mixture meanwhile. Adla little sifted Swans Dawn Cake Flour, with baking powder added, then a little milk and soon alternately until all the flour and milk are used. Beat the batter, never stirring, after each addition of flour and milk. Add flavoring. The stiffly-beaten egg-whites should be next folded in very carefully if recipe calls for same. Work quickly, but carefully, in mixing your cake.

correct oven heat

The heat of oven for cake-making is of very great importance. There are some general guides for temperature which may be profitably observed. All thin layer, small cakes and cookies require a hot oven (350-4000 F). Thick layer and cakes baked in a loaf require a mo-derate oven (325-375° F) while sponge cakes and angel cakes require a slow oven (250-300° F). Fruit cakes require even a slower oven (200-250° F).

The helpful hints above are taken from "Cake Secrets," an authoritative booklet on cake-making by Janet McKenzie Hill, editor of American Cookery Magazine. You are welcome to a copy full of original recipes, directions, illustrations - for 10c sent to Igleheart Brothers, Evansville, Indiana, Department C. I. Best grocers everywhere have Swans Down Cake Flour. If you cannot get it, write us. Use it in your cake and pastry making.

Always use Swans Down Cake Flour in all cake recipes given in this book and elsewhere. It insures lighter, whiter finer cakes.