The advantages of an insulated oven lie in the even brown and thorough baking which it gives; the development and retention of flavours, which is greater than with ordinary baking; the economy in fuel where food requires long cooking; the absence of heat in the kitchen; and the possibility of baking where only a camp-fire is obtainable.

The principle is the same whether a portable oven is insulated or a cooker-pail is utilized. There must be hot stone slabs, iron plates, fire-brick, or some such heat-radiators, which can be made very hot and which will retain their heat well. Stones or fire-brick are preferable to iron in this respect. There must be insulation for the oven or utensil, and cooking will then proceed, although somewhat differently from the familiar method of baking with a fire.

TO INSULATE AN OVEN

Choose as small a portable oven as will hold the food to be cooked, since the larger the oven the larger or more numerous the stones must be to heat it. Very large stones are heavy and awkward to manage, and with their number the cost of using the oven increases. A portable oven is on the market which is about thirteen inches in each dimension. This is a good size for a family of four or five. Cut six pieces of heavy sheet asbestos, fitting one to each surface of the oven, except the door, and two to the bottom. One of the two pieces for the bottom is to go inside the oven. Place the asbestos so that it entirely covers the oven. These pieces may be tied on temporarily to hold them in place during packing. Select a box which is at least two or three inches larger in every dimension than the corresponding dimension of the oven. It should be fitted with cover and hasp just as any cooker. Lay it, while packing, with the cover opening upward. Pack in the bottom a sufficient layer of insulating material, such as is used for other cookers, to raise the oven to within a couple of inches of the top. Place the oven, lying upon its back, on this layer with the door uppermost, and opening in the same direction as the cover of the box. Pack on all sides around it till level with the door.

If desired, a facing may be made to cover the packing material, from a piece of cloth cut a few inches larger, in each direction, than the top of the box. Draw on it a square the size of the oven. In the centre of this cut a small hole to insert the blade of scissors. From this hole cut diagonally to the corners of the square. When the cloth is put in place over the packing the triangular flaps thus made may be tucked between the asbestos and the packing, while the edges of the cloth may be tucked between the packing and the sides of the box. Fit a cushion that will fill the space left at the top and nail it to the cover of the box. Face this with a piece of the sheet asbestos nailed into place. It will be well to reinforce the nail-heads with little rounds of tin, in order to prevent them from pushing through the soft asbestos. The box is then ready for use and should be stood up on end so that the cover will open like a door, and the oven will be right side up. The extra piece of asbestos may be laid in the bottom, the stones heated, and the food put in to cook.

Method of using the oven. Heat the slabs very gradually the first time that they are used. It will be best to put an asbestos mat or piece of the sheet asbestos between a hot gas flame and the stones for a few minutes, not turning the gas on full force for the first five minutes. After the first using it will be safe to heat the stones directly over the flame, providing it is not burning with full force for the first few minutes. The degree of heat in the stones will regulate the heat of the oven. For most baking, the centre of the top side of the stones should be about as hot as a flatiron for ironing. This will mean that the side toward the flame is very much hotter, perhaps red hot. Another and better test is the browning of a piece of white tissue paper laid on the centre of the stones when they are put on to heat. When this grows a shade darker than manila paper, or a golden brown, the stones are right for loaf cakes, pastry, apples, potatoes, beans, scalloped dishes, most puddings, and bread. For a hot oven the paper should be a rich brown. This is suitable for biscuits, small cakes, roasting meat, etc.

Although gas is the fuel here mentioned any other fuel will serve to heat the stones, provided a hot enough flame can be procured. The stones may, when warmed, be set directly on a hot coal or wood fire to complete the heating, and, for out-of-doors use, a crude fireplace might be built up of rough stones to support the soapstones or they may be buried directly in the hot coals. In such a case it will probably be necessary to have some device, perhaps ice-tongs, for removing the stones, as the metal handles might in time become burned off, bent, or weakened so as to be unsafe.

Small soapstone griddles or foot-warmers make excellent slabs for the home-made insulated oven. Griddles are on the market that are as small as twelve inches in diameter, and foot-warmers come in many sizes. Those measuring eight by ten inches will be about as large as most women can easily handle, since they are thicker than the griddles, and are very heavy for their size. It will not be difficult to get an extra handle fitted to these, which will make them less awkward to manage. For baking many loaves of bread and cake, and for foods to cook over night, or for many hours, more than two stones may be necessary to maintain enough heat.

The oven should not be opened during the baking, but if the food is not found to be cooked when it is opened, it may be quickly closed again, and left till the food is done. A succession of articles may be baked in an already heated oven by quickly removing the finished article and one or two stones to be reheated and tested, and slipped again into place. In this case the door of the oven should be instantly closed after removing anything from it. This method of baking a number of things in quick succession is very economical as a few minutes will reheat the already warm stones.

Lay one hot stone on the asbestos at the bottom of the oven with the hotter side down; put a wire oven shelf on this, and the food on the wire shelf. If the food will not rise higher than the top of the pan, a hot stone may be laid directly across the pan, but if this is not possible place the second wire shelf as close over the food as the cleats at the side of the oven will permit, and the stone on this shelf, also with the hot side down. In case more than one pan is to go in at once, and two stones will not supply enough heat, hot flatirons or stove lids may be used to supplement them. It is often convenient, when the oven is heated for baking one article, to put other things in to cook at the same time, even though they may not require browning. For instance: A chicken or roast may be cooking between two stones, while on top of the upper stone the giblets may be stewing in water, or some vegetables be boiling. It will be best in such cases to heat these foods till boiling before putting them in the oven, or they will cool it too much. Such foods, as do not require browning, will not need another stone on top. It may not be wise to put so much watery food in the oven when baking anything so critical as bread or loaves of cake, as it cools the oven to some extent.

No matter how carefully the directions are given and followed some experimentation will probably be required before a novice, or even an experienced cook, will feel at ease with this new method of cookery, since the conditions may be so variable. But there is no reason why a careful observation of results and their causes should not soon lead one to become mistress of her own insulated oven, and it is likely that she will then become sufficiently attached to it to justify her perseverance.

In case a cooker-pail is to be utilized for baking it will be well to surround it, on top, bottom, and sides, with the heavy sheet asbestos described for insulating the oven. A wire rack will be needed for separating the food from too direct contact with the hot stones, and some device, such, perhaps, as an inverted wire frying-basket for supporting the upper stone.

LIST OF ARTICLES REQUIRED FOR MAKING AND USING AN INSULATED OVEN

• Box.
• Hinges.
• Hasp.
• Packing material, hay, excelsior, etc.
• Portable oven.
• Two or more stone slabs, or iron plates.
• Cooking utensils, baking pans, etc.
• Cloth for facing and cushion.
• Nails and screws.
• One dozen small rounds of tin about one inch in diameter.
• One and one-quarter yards sheet asbestos (price about 20 cents a yard).

Roast Beef

Weigh the meat, trim off all parts which will not be good to serve, and save them for soups or stews. Wipe the meat clean with a damp cloth. Dredge it well with salt, pepper, and flour, put it into a dripping pan, and cook it in an insulated oven heated as directed for roasts of meat on page 225. Heat the pan and meat a little before putting them into the oven. The time for roasting beef depends upon the size and shape of the roasts. Thick pieces weighing under ten pounds will roast rare in twelve minutes to a pound, medium rare in from fifteen to eighteen minutes, and well done in twenty-five or thirty minutes a pound. Thin pieces will take a few minutes less to each pound.

Roast Mutton or Lamb

Prepare the meat for roasting as directed for roast beef. Cook it in an insulated oven heated as directed for roasts on page 225, allowing twenty-five minutes to each pound for lamb, and from fifteen to eighteen minutes for mutton.

Roast Veal

Prepare the meat for roasting as directed for roast beef. Cook it in an insulated oven, heated as for roast beef, allowing from twenty-five to thirty minutes for each pound.

Spareribs

Wipe the meat clean with a damp cloth; sprinkle it with pepper and salt, put it in a pan, and roast it in an insulated oven, heated as directed for roasts on page 225, allowing twenty minutes or more to each pound. Heat the pan and meat a little before putting it in the oven.

Brown Gravy for Roasts

Drain away all fat from the pan, leaving the brown sediment. Add to this enough water to make the desired amount of gravy. Using this in the place of stock or water make Brown Sauce, using a measured quantity of the fat from the roast. Various seasonings may be added to this sauce to make a variety. Wine, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, currant jelly, etc., are used in this way.

Roast Chicken

Draw, stuff, and truss a chicken as directed on page 130. Put it on its back in a baking-pan, lay strips of fat salt pork on the breast, or rub breast, legs, and wings with butter or clarified veal fat. Dredge it well with salt and pepper. Heat the pan and chicken over the fire for a few minutes, and put it into an insulated oven heated as directed for roasts on page 225. Allow twenty-five minutes a pound for roasting chicken. Remove the string and skewers and serve it with Brown Gravy for Roasts to which the chopped giblets have been added. The giblets may be cooked, with salted water to cover them, in the insulated oven at the same time that the chicken is roasting; but in this case the stones should be hotter than otherwise.

Roast Goose

Singe and remove the pin-feathers from a goose. Wash it in hot, soapy water. Draw it and rinse it in cold water. Fill it two-thirds full with Stuffing for Poultry, or Potato Stuffing. Truss it, and rub the surface with butter, or lay fat salt pork on the breast. Dredge it with salt and pepper, heat it to warm the pan, and roast it in an insulated oven heated as directed for roasts on page 225, allowing fifteen or twenty minutes a pound.

Roast Leg of Venison

Prepare and cook it as roast mutton, allowing from twelve to fifteen minutes a pound for it to roast. Venison should be served rare, with Brown Gravy for Roasts, to one pint of which one-half tumbler of currant jelly and two tablespoonfuls of sherry wine have been added.

Potato Stuffing

• 2 cups hot potato, mashed
• 1 cup soft, stale breadcrumbs
• ¹/₄ cup chopped salt pork
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• ¹/₄ cup melted butter
• ¹/₃ cup milk
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon powdered sage
• 1 egg

Mix the ingredients in the order given.

Roast Wild Duck

Draw, clean, and truss a wild duck in the same manner as a goose. If it is to be stuffed, use Stuffing for Poultry, omitting the herbs; or merely fill the cavity with pared and quartered apples, or pared, whole onions. These should be removed before serving, but Stuffing for Poultry should be served with the duck. Roast it for from twenty to thirty minutes in an insulated oven, the stones heated a little hotter than for other roast meats. Serve it with mashed potato and currant jelly.

Grouse

Draw and clean a grouse, remove the feathers and the tough skin of the breast. Lard the breast and legs. Truss it, and lay fat salt pork on the breast. Dredge it with salt and flour, put it into the roasting-pan with scraps of fat salt pork. Roast it for twenty or twenty-five minutes in an insulated oven heated as for wild duck. Remove the strings or skewers, sprinkle it with browned breadcrumbs, and garnish it with parsley.

Roast Quail

Prepare the quail in the same way as grouse. Roast it for fifteen or twenty minutes in an insulated oven heated as for duck.

Roast Plover

Prepare and cook it the same as quail.

Potted Fish

• 3 shad or 6 small mackerel
• ¹/₃ cup salt
• ¹/₈ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• ¹/₆ cup whole cloves
• ¹/₆ cup peppercorns
• ¹/₆ cup whole allspice
• 1 onion, sliced
• Vinegar to cover

Clean the fish, remove the head, tail, fins, skin, and large bones. The small bones will be dissolved in the vinegar. Cut the fish into pieces for serving. Mix the salt, pepper, and spices. Pack the fish in layers in a small stone crock or deep agate-ware utensil, sprinkling the salt and adding pieces of onion between the layers. Pour over it vinegar to completely cover it. In the absence of a tight-fitting cover, use heavy, buttered paper tied on. Bake it for five or six hours in an insulated oven, the stones heated until the paper test shows a delicate brown. Potted fish will keep well if put into a cold place and kept covered with vinegar. It makes a good relish for lunch or tea.

Pork and Beans

• 1 cup beans
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1 tablespoon butter, or
• ¹/₈ lb. salt pork
• Water to cover

Cook the beans for four or more hours, as directed in the recipe for dried navy beans. Put them into a baking-dish, add the other ingredients, gashing the pork frequently and laying it on top. Put it into an insulated oven with stones that will turn white tissue paper a golden brown. Bake them for eight hours or more.

Baked Potatoes

Select potatoes of equal size, so that they will all bake in the same length of time; wash them and bake them in an insulated oven with the stones heated till the paper is a golden brown as explained in the test on page 225. Good-sized potatoes (eight ounces) should bake about forty-five minutes. Lay them on a rack to prevent them from touching the hot stone. They will bake better than in an ordinary oven.

Macaroni and Ham

• 1 cup macaroni, in one-inch pieces
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1¹/₂ cups milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• ¹/₆ teaspoon pepper
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• 1¹/₂ cups minced, cooked ham
• 2 cups buttered crumbs

Cook the macaroni as directed in the recipe for macaroni. Make white sauce of the milk, butter, flour, and seasoning, add the onion, ham, and macaroni. Put it into a buttered baking-dish, cover the top with the crumbs, and bake it until the crumbs are brown, heating the stones until the paper test shows a golden brown.

Serves six or eight persons.

Scalloped Oysters

• 1 pt. or 30 oysters
• 3 cups buttered crumbs
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₄ cup oyster juice
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped celery leaves
• Few grains pepper

Wash the oysters, strain the juice through cheese-cloth. Put one-fourth of the crumbs in the bottom of a baking dish, add half the oysters, half the salt and pepper and celery leaves; repeat these layers, pour over it the oyster juice, and put the remaining crumbs on top. Bake it in an insulated oven till brown, as directed for scalloped dishes, page 225. If double this recipe is used allow three-quarters of an hour for the baking, and do not heat the stones quite so hot.

Macaroni and Cheese

• 1 cup macaroni in one-inch pieces
• 1 cup grated or shaved cheese
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₈ teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups buttered crumbs

Cook the macaroni in salted water as directed in the recipe for macaroni. When tender, drain it and add the salt, pepper, and cheese. Turn it into a buttered baking-dish and cover the top with the crumbs. Bake it until the crumbs are brown, heating the stones until the paper test shows a golden brown.

Serves six or seven persons.

Scalloped Chicken and Mushrooms

• 2 cups buttered crumbs
• 1¹/₂ cups cold, cooked chicken or fowl
• 1 cup White Sauce
• ¹/₆ teaspoon celery salt
• ¹/₂ cup mushrooms

Cut the chicken in small pieces, slice or cut the mushrooms small. Put one-fourth of the crumbs into a buttered baking-dish. Mix the other ingredients and pour them into the dish. Spread the remaining crumbs on top and bake it in an insulated oven till brown, as directed for scalloped dishes, page 225.

Scalloped Tomatoes

• 1 can of whole tomatoes, or
• 8 good-sized raw tomatoes
• 3 cups soft breadcrumbs
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon salt
• ¹/₄ teaspoon pepper
• 1 small onion

If canned tomatoes are used, drain away the liquid from them, using only the solid tomatoes. If raw tomatoes are used, scald them in boiling water and remove the skins and hard core. Melt the butter, add the crumbs, and stir them lightly until they are evenly buttered. Put one cupful in the bottom of a baking dish, lay the tomatoes over them, sprinkle the salt, pepper and grated onion over these and cover the top with the remaining crumbs. Bake them for one hour in an insulated oven, heating the stones until the paper test, given on page 225, shows a light brown colour.

Serves six or eight persons.

Scalloped Apples (Brown Betty)

• 3 cups chopped sour apples
• 2 cups soft breadcrumbs
• 4 tablespoons butter
• ¹/₂ cup brown sugar
• ¹/₄ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¹/₄ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¹/₂ lemon, juice and rind
• ¹/₄ cup water

Melt the butter, add the crumbs, and stir them till they are evenly buttered. Mix the spice and grated rind with the sugar. Divide the buttered crumbs in quarters. Into a buttered baking dish put one-fourth of the crumbs. On this layer spread one-half the apples, then one-half the sugar. Sprinkle half of the lemon juice and water over this. Repeat these layers with one-fourth the crumbs and the remaining apple, sugar, etc. Cover the top with the crumbs that are left. Bake it for one hour and a half in an insulated oven. The stones should be heated till the test given on page 225 will show the papers a delicate brown colour. Look at the apples at the end of one hour, closing the oven after a quick glance, and alter the heat of the oven, if necessary. Serve it with Hard Sauce.

Serves five or six persons.

Rice Pudding

• 1 qt. milk
• ¹/₄ cup rice
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• ¹/₈ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₈ teaspoon nutmeg

Put all the ingredients together in a baking-dish. Bake it for three hours in an insulated oven. The stones should be heated until the paper test, given on page 225, will show a light brown shade. The pudding, if correctly baked, will be creamy, with a golden brown, soft crust on top.

Serves five or six persons.

Pastry for Two Crusts

• 1¹/₄ cups pastry flour
• ¹/₂ teaspoon baking-powder
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₃ or ¹/₂ cup butter or lard
• Water

Mix and sift the dry ingredients together; cut the butter or lard in with a fork. Add enough water to make a paste barely moist enough to hold together, using a knife and cutting through the dough to mix it. Roll half of it with as little pressure of the rolling-pin as possible, until it is about one-eighth of an inch thick. If a two-crust pie is to be made, lay this crust on the inside of an unbuttered pie plate, trim the edge, and put the trimmings with the remaining paste and roll it out for the upper crust. If a single under crust is to be used, as for lemon pie, lay the paste on the outside of a pie plate, trim the edge and prick through the crust in several places. Bake it for about fifteen minutes in a moderate insulated oven, with the pie plate upside down in the oven. Remove the baked crust and fill it.

Apple Pie

• Sour apples
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• 1 lemon, juice and rind
• ¹/₂ tablespoon butter
• ¹/₈ teaspoon cinnamon

Make pie crust by the preceding recipe, put half of it in the bottom of the plate. Pare enough apples to fill the pie heaping full, when cored and cut into eighths. Fill the pie with the apples, spread the sugar and cinnamon and grated rind over them. Roll out the upper crust, cut several gashes in it to allow steam to escape; lay it over the pie, trim the edges and press them together with a fork. Bind the edge of the pie by laying around it a wet strip of cloth about one inch wide. Bake it for one-half hour in an insulated oven with the stones heated until the paper test shows a golden brown colour.

Apple and berry pies are better made without an under crust in an extra deep pie plate.

Berry Pie

Pick over the berries. Line a deep plate with crust, or omit the lower crust; fill the pie heaping full of berries, cover them with one-half cupful or more of sugar mixed with one-fourth cupful of flour. Add the upper crust, bind it, and bake it as apple pie. The amount of sugar will depend upon the acidity of the fruit.

Cherry or Plum Pie

Wash the fruit, remove the stones, and make the pie in the same manner as berry pie.

Pumpkin Pie

• 1¹/₂ cups cooked pumpkin
• 1 cup boiling milk
• 1 egg
• ¹/₂ cup sugar
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt
• ¹/₃ teaspoon cinnamon

Cook the pumpkin as directed on page 152. Put it into a cloth and press it with the back of a strong spoon to squeeze out the water. Mix all the ingredients, put it into a pan set over a cooker-pail of boiling water; stir it until it is 165 degrees Fahrenheit, then put the whole into a cooker for one hour. Fill the baked crust with the mixture. Cover the top thickly with whipped cream.

Lemon Pie

• ¹/₂ cup flour
• 1 cup sugar, granulated
• 1 cup boiling water
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• Rind of one lemon
• 4 teaspoons butter
• ¹/₄ cup powdered sugar
• 2 eggs

Mix the sugar and flour together, add the boiling water slowly, stirring it all the time. Boil it gently for twenty minutes, stirring it frequently. Mix the lemon with the yolks, pour the hot mixture slowly on the yolks, return it to the fire and cook it below boiling point until the eggs have thickened; then add the butter. Cool the filling a little before putting it into a baked crust. Beat the whites of eggs until very stiff, add the sugar, and when barely mixed with the whites, spread it over the pie for a meringue; bake it till a delicate brown in a very hot oven, or put it for a few minutes into an insulated oven with one very hot stone close over the pie. Serve it warm, but not hot.

Serves five or six persons.

Baked Apples

Wash and core sour apples of uniform size. Put them into a pudding dish, fill the cores with sugar, and if more is desired put it into the bottom of the dish, not over the apples. Pour in enough boiling water to fill the dish one-fourth full. Bake them in an insulated oven for one-half to three-quarters of an hour, depending upon the size and ripeness of the apples. The stones should be heated until the paper test shows a golden brown colour.

Baked Spiced Apples

• 6 apples
• 30 cloves
• 2 cups water
• ²/₃ cup sugar
• 6 slices lemon

Pare the apples, remove the cores and stick five whole cloves into each apple. Make a syrup of the water and sugar. Put the apples into a pudding dish, pour the syrup over them, and place a slice of lemon over the top of each. Bake them in a slow insulated oven for one hour with the stones heated until the paper test shows a light brown.

Baked Pears

Prepare and cook the pears as directed for baked sweet apples. If desired, a bit of butter the size of a bean may be put on each pear before baking.

Baked Quinces

Prepare and cook the quinces as directed in the recipe for baked sweet apples. Twice as much sugar and water will be required for quinces, and, perhaps, more time for baking. This will depend upon the size and ripeness of the fruit. It is usually cut in halves before baking.

Baked Sweet Apples

• 8 sweet apples
• ¹/₃ cup sugar
• 1 cup boiling water

Prepare the apples as for baked apples. Cook them in a slow insulated oven, for about three hours. The stones should be heated until the paper barely changes colour, as explained in the test given on page 225.

Bread

• 1 pt. water or milk
• 1 tablespoon butter or lard
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• ¹/₄ cake compressed or ¹/₂ cake dry yeast and
• ¹/₂ cup warm water, or
• ¹/₂ cup liquid yeast
• Flour to make a dough

Soak the yeast for a few minutes in the half cupful of warm water. Scald the milk or boil the water, add the fat, let it cool till lukewarm, then add the remaining ingredients, except the flour. If compressed yeast is used, add as much flour as is needed to make a dough that may be kneaded. If dry yeast or liquid yeast is used, add only one and one-half pints of flour; beat the mixture well, and let it rise till full of bubbles, usually over night; then add the remaining flour. The rest of the process is the same, no matter what yeast is used. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, return it to the bowl, set it in a warm place to rise until it has doubled in size. Knead it again until all large bubbles are pressed out, mould it into two loaves, put it into greased pans and let it again rise until it has doubled in size. Heat the insulated oven stones until the paper test, given on page 225, shows a golden brown. Put the bread in and bake it from fifty minutes to one hour. If two stones will not make a hot oven for a large amount of bread to be baked, use hot flatirons or stove lids to supplement them.

Rolls

Add one tablespoon of butter to the recipe for bread, or knead the butter into the dough just before moulding it. Shape it into rolls, put them into a buttered pan, and when risen to a little more than double their size, bake them for twenty minutes in an insulated oven with stones that will turn the paper a rich brown, as explained in the test on page 225.

Baking Powder Biscuits

• 4 teaspoons baking-powder, or
• 1 teaspoon soda and two teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 pt. flour
• ¹/₂ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter or lard
• ³/₄ to 1 cup milk or water

Mix and sift the dry ingredients, work in the fat with the fingers, or mash it in with a fork. Add the liquid, one-third at a time, mixing the dough in three separate portions in the bowl. Cut through these three masses until they are barely mixed, then roll the dough to about one-half inch thickness; cut it into biscuits, lay them on a greased pan, brush the tops with milk or melted butter, and bake them for fifteen or twenty minutes in an insulated oven with stones heated so as to turn the paper a rich, dark brown, as explained in the test on page 225.

Cup Cake

• ¹/₂ cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1¹/₂ cups flour
• 2 eggs
• ¹/₂ cup milk
• ¹/₂ teaspoon nutmeg, or
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1¹/₂ teaspoons baking-powder
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt

Cream the butter, add the sugar, then the beaten yolks of eggs. Mix and sift the dry ingredients, add them, one-third at a time, to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk. Beat the whites till stiff, add them and the vanilla, beat the dough till barely mixed, and pour it into a greased pan. The dough should not much more than half fill the pan. Bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, tested as explained on page 225, for loaves of cake.

This recipe may be varied by adding one-half cupful of raisins, currants, chopped citron or nuts. Or two ounces of chocolate may be melted and added to the dough.

If baked in layers or in gem pans the stones must be heated somewhat hotter than for a loaf cake. Allow fifteen or twenty minutes in the oven.

Sour Cream Cake

• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• ³/₄ cup thick sour cream
• ¹/₂ teaspoon soda
• ¹/₂ teaspoon baking powder
• 1¹/₂ cups flour
• ¹/₄ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup raisins

Beat the yolks of the eggs, add the sugar, then the cream. Mix and sift the dry ingredients, add them to the liquid mixture, then add the raisins, which have been floured with a little of the measured flour, and, lastly, the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Put it into a greased pan and bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, heated for loaf cake, as explained in the test on page 225.

Apple Sauce Cake

(Made without butter, milk or eggs)

• ¹/₂ cup white veal or beef drippings
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup sour apple sauce
• 1¹/₂ teaspoons cinnamon
• ¹/₄ teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 2 cups flour

Mix the ingredients in the order given, beat the dough well, put it into a greased pan, and bake it for forty minutes in an insulated oven, heated for loaf cakes, as explained on page 225.

This cake seems, when baked, very much like any spice cake.

Sponge Cake

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• Juice and rind of ¹/₂ lemon
• 1 cup flour
• ¹/₄ teaspoon salt

Beat the yolks of the eggs, add the sugar and lemon; beat the whites of eggs till stiff, add them to the mixture, and when barely mixed add the flour and salt, folding them in lightly. Put it into a bright, ungreased tin, and bake it fifty minutes or an hour in an oven heated not quite so hot as for butter cakes. The paper should turn light brown when tested as explained on page 225.

Let the cake stand five minutes before removing it from the pan.

Plum Cake

• ¹/₂ cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• ¹/₄ cup chopped nuts
• ¹/₄ cup candied orange peel
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup currants
• ⁵/₈ cup pickled fruit syrup or molasses
• 2 cups flour
• ¹/₂ teaspoon soda
• ¹/₂ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons mixed spices

Mix and sift the flour, soda, cream of tartar, and spices. Put all the ingredients together in the order given, flouring the fruit with a little of the measured flour. Put it into a greased pan and bake it for one and one-quarter hours in an insulated oven, with stones heated as explained on page 225, till the paper is a light brown.

Rich Fruit Cake

• ¹/₂ lb. butter (1 cup)
• ¹/₂ lb. sugar (1 cup)
• 6 eggs
• ¹/₄ cup brandy
• ¹/₄ cup lemon juice
• Rind of 1 lemon, grated
• 2 cups blanched, chopped almonds
• ¹/₂ lb. citron
• ¹/₄ lb. candied orange peel
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• ¹/₂ teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¹/₂ teaspoon allspice
• 1 lb. raisins
• 1 lb. currants
• ¹/₂ lb. flour (1³/₄ cups)

Line the pan with three thicknesses of paper, buttering the top layer. Mix the flour and spices. Flour all the fruit except the citron. Mix the ingredients in the order in which they are given. The pan may be filled nearly full, as this cake rises but little. Bake it for three hours or more in a very moderate insulated oven. Test the stones as explained on page 225, until the paper will barely change colour. If, at the end of two hours, the cake is not browned at all, take out one or both of the stones very quickly and heat them again till they will slightly brown the tissue paper. The oven must be promptly closed when the stones are removed, or the cake will be injured. Test it with a steel knitting needle or straw. The needle will come out only a little greasy when the cake is done.

Let the cake stand at least five minutes after removing it from the oven before taking out of the pans, or it is likely to break. Fruit cake should be kept for at least a week in a tightly covered tin box or a crock, before it is ready for use. It will keep for months, and improves with time.

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