TO BAKE CAKES

Make sure the oven is in condition, it can better wait for the cake than the other way around. Light your gas oven five or ten minutes before needed and reduce heat accordingly when cake is put in oven. For the coal range, have the oven the right temperature and do not add coal or shake the coals while cake is baking. If a piece of soft yellow paper burns golden brown in five minutes the oven is moderately hot; if it takes four minutes the oven is hot, if seven minutes is required the oven is fit for slow baking. Sponge cakes require a slow oven; layer cakes a hot oven, and loaf cakes with butter a moderate oven. Never look after your cake until it has been in the oven ten minutes. If cake is put in too cool an oven it will rise too much and be of very coarse texture. If too hot, it browns and crusts over the top before it has sufficiently risen. If, after the cake is put in, it seems to bake too fast, put a brown paper loosely over the top of the pan, and do not open the oven door for five minutes at least;