"With weights and measures just and true, Oven of even heat, Well-buttered tins and quiet nerves, Success will be complete."

Anon.

Cake and pastry are not included among the necessaries of life, and therefore, if good materials cannot be afforded for their making, it is much wiser not to provide them for the family at all. In no department of cooking does the average housewife need less instruction than in cake-making, for it is the one branch of cookery that nearly every American girl learns. There are, however, a few principles which, if acted upon, will make the work easier and the results more certain.

Accuracy in proportioning the materials is indispensable. The baking is usually the most difficult part. See that there is enough coal on the fire to last through the baking; and be sure to have the oven ready to receive the cake as soon as it is mixed, for the oven can wait for the cake, but the cake can never wait for the oven.

For most kinds of cake the oven should be rather slow, but there should always be a steady heat. If it is too hot for sponge cake, it will cause the cake to rise and fall again. A good test for sponge cake is to put a piece of white paper in the oven and close the door for five minutes. If the paper is then of a rich yellow hue, the oven is right; but if of a light yellow, it is too cool, or if of a dark brown, it is too hot. Should the oven by any accident be found too hot after the cake is in, so that the cake browns almost at once, lift a lid off the stove, and cover the cake with a well buttered paper. The cake will not be so fine, but this is the only course to be pursued.

Measure everything carefully before beginning. The sugar used should be the fine granulated. Powdered sugar makes a dry cake, while coarse granulated sugar does not melt, so that cake made with it is coarse and heavy. Cookies, layer-cakes and small cakes require a rather quick oven. The paper used in testing should turn a dark brown in five minutes. Never move a cake in the oven, unless it is a layer-cake; and do not put anything in the oven while a cake is baking, or the cake will surely fall.

If necessary to look at a cake while baking, do so as quickly as possible ; and never throw the door of the oven wide open for the purpose. Also be careful not to jar a cake while it is baking; shut the door of the oven very gently. Let loaf cake partially cool in the pan before taking it out. A delicate cake is often made heavy by disturbing it while too hot. Never run straws or splints into a cake to test it; a very little experience in cake-making will teach the beginner when the cake is done. A reliable guide is to watch for the separation of the cake from the sides of the tin ; when this takes place, the straw may be entered, if desired. But the main objection to using a splint or fine knitting-needle, as some recommend, is that if the cake is not quite baked, the air flows through the hole thus made, and the cake falls in consequence.

Always sift the flour before measuring, unless the recipe orders the reverse. As flour differs in thickening qualities, a little inspection should be made of the first baking of cake from a package of flour to determine just how much is needed. When the cake rises in the center and cracks open, too much flour has been used.

In a recipe that calls for two tea-spoonfuls of baking-powder, two tea-spoonfuls of cream of tartar and one of soda may be used instead. Sift the cream of tartar with the flour, dissolve the soda in a table-spoonful of cold water, and add it to the cake before the whites of the eggs.

Of the makes of baking powders there is no end, and each kind seems to furnish unimpeachable testimonials from chemists as to strength, purity, etc. The writer, having tried several kinds, has found that while the "Royal" makes fine biscuit and other edibles of the same nature, it does not make as good cake as the " Cleveland," which is, perhaps, the best on the market for that purpose. This powder makes a fine-grained, spongy cake, much lighter, with the same materials, than that in which " Royal ' has been used. The writer has tested this point with a considerable interest, and always feels sure of her cake when the " Cleveland " powder is at hand. The "Royal" powder produces a coarser grained cake, as if the sugar was too coarse.

Fruit, such as raisins, currants, etc., should not be washed just before using, as, even when the cake is well done, the water softening the fruit would make it heavy and cause it to sink to the bottom. When the fruit is received from the grocer, pick over the raisins and currants, wash them, rub the currants in a coarse towel to dislodge the minute stems, and dry both thoroughly on tins. Leave the fruit in a warm place all day, to make sure it is perfectly dry, and put it away in closely covered tin cans. When needed for subsequent baking, the currants require only to be well floured, and the raisins to be seeded and floured. This will be found a most convenient plan.

Never melt or warm the butter, unless so directed in the recipe. Beat it to a cream with the sugar.

Use cups of uniform size to measure all materials.

In baking fruit cake, always line the tins with well-buttered paper, fitting it neatly. Grease the cake pans with butter. Lard, which many recommend, is of questionable advantage for this purpose. If the butter is very salt, wash the salt from it before using.

Never mix cake in a tin basin, but alway use an earthenware dish ; for, when the butter and sugar are rubbed together, they will be found much darkened by the tin. Mix the spices with the flour or the sugar.

The whites of the eggs will beat up quickly if the eggs are kept in a cool place. Add a pinch of salt to the whites before beating, as salt is cooling. Use a fork in beating the whites, instead of the egg-beater, unless the work must be hurried, as more froth may be produced with the fork than with the beater.

In rubbing the butter and sugar together, use a spoon instead of the hand.

To keep cake fresh, place it in a tightly covered tin box.