Having prepared the pan, assembled the ingredients, and chosen the mixing utensils, the next step is to sit down and measure out the fat. If the fat is very hard, the mixing pan may be rinsed with boiling water, dried, and the fat broken in pieces and left there to soften, but it should never be melced unless specified in the recipe, and then it should be cooled before being added to the cake.

Measure the liquid required in the cup which was used for the fat. The flour should be sifted onto a good-sized piece of paper, then measured, and the excess put back into the flour receptacle. Put the measured flour on another piece of paper, together with the salt (for a little salt is indispensable in every cake, whether or not butter is used), and the baking powder, or the combination of soda and cream of tartar, or soda alone, according to the requirements. Spices should also be added to this mixture, and, if nuts or fruit are called for; they should be thoroughly blended with the flour. It is not necessary to add extra flour to them. By this time the gas oven should be lighted (allowing ten minutes for it to heat), unless it has a direct heat action, while a wood or coal oven should have been brought to the right temperature. Now the fat will be sufficiently softened by the heat in the room to be easily creamed. It should be stirred until as soft as cold cream, and then the sugar should be beaten in until all grainy texture is lost. It does not take any longer to do this than it does to put the sugar and the fat together in the first place and try to smooth out the lumps. The next step, if whole eggs are to be used, is to beat and add them to this mixture. Melted chocolate or cocoa should be added at this time. If the eggs are separated, the whites are usually folded in last, after being beaten stiff, since they act as part of the leavening. If a cake of very solid texture is desired, the eggs may be creamed in, one at a time, without being beaten.

Now add the flavoring, and be sure that enough is put in to give the cake a distinctive taste. Sometimes, a blend may be used to give variety, as a few drops of vanilla, half the amount of orange, and a drop or two of almond extract. Or the cake may have its own characteristic flavoring, as caramel, chocolate, or coffee, when the amount of extra flavoring must be very sparingly used, in order to augment, and not overbalance, the desired taste. Lemon or orange rind may be added, or, better still, a few drops of the new orange or lemon oil. After this the flour mixture and the liquid should be added alternately, beginning with the flour, to prevent the re-congealing of the fat, which takes place when the cold liquid is added first. The more the cake is beaten at this time the finer-grained it will be. As soon as the mixing process is completed the cake should be poured into the pan.

Putting The Cake Into The Pan

The batter should be so thick that it is necessary to spread it, and it should be made a little higher on the edges and at the corners than in the center, so that the cake, when baked, will be level. If this is not done, it bakes more quickly at the edges, since it takes the heat longer to penetrate to the middle, therefore causing a slower expansion of the gas formed in the cake, with the familiar "mountainous ridge" result. This ridge is sometimes caused by too much flour, but, as a general rule, it is due to the carelessness in putting the mixture into the pans for baking. Sogginess is usually caused by too little flour, too much sugar, too much fat, or undercooking.