Baking Cake

Instructions

1. In baking cake the size of the cake has much to do with the required temperature of the oven; the larger the cake, the longer is the cake, the longer is the time necessary to heat the mixture and expand the mass.
2. The cake must not crust over (by heat) until it has risen to the proper height.
3. A cake, in layers, will bake in from fifteen to twenty minutes; in a sheet, in about thirty minutes; in a loaf, from forty minutes to two hours, according to its thickness.
4. The oven should be at a temperature to raise the cake to its full height in one-fourth the time required for baking.
5. During this time, the cake should not brown.
6. During the second quarter of the time in the oven, the cake should brown in spots.
7. During the third quarter, the browning should be completed.
8. The heat should be gradually reduced, during the last half of the time in the oven.
9. When baked, butter cakes will separate from the sides of the pan.
10. This will be seen in the last quarter, and during this time the cake will also settle a little in the pan.
11. Let stand a few seconds after removal from the oven, then carefully turn from the pan to a wire cake cooler.
12. Often a cake may be lifted from the pan by the paper hanging from the ends of the tin.
13. Sponge cakes, baked in unbuttered tins, may be inverted and cooled, upside down, in a draft of air.
14. When a cake is thus suspended, the air cells are elongated until dry and firm; and if the cake was light when taken from the oven, lightness is assured thereafter.
15. The oven door may be opened at will during the baking, if it be closed at once and gently.