CAKE DECORATION, etc.
189
sugar, and the two should be stirred together till the
mixture becomes light and creamy. Remember when
adding eggs to a cake mixture only to add them two or
three at a time, or they will curdle and suddenly thin the
mixture. Each lot should be well mixed in before adding
the next.
As the freshness of eggs is of such importance, it is well
to give a method of testing them: 1. Encircle the egg
with your finger and thumb, and then hold it up to
the light; if the egg is clear and transparent it is
all right, but if cloudy or dark in patches it is, to say
the least, suspicious; any way, with bought eggs especially,
always break each separately into a basin before mixing
it with the rest of the materials. II. Dissolve 2oz.
kitchen salt in a pint of warm water in a basin, and
when this solution is cold put in the eggs to be tested. A
new laid egg will sink at once to the bottom and stay there;
if a day or two old it will sink and then rise a little off the
bottom; if three days old it will float half way between the
bottom and the surface; getting nearer and nearer to the
surface the staler it is, till what is called the “shop egg”
will project right out of the water.
The butter should be of the best quality, fresh if
possible; or if salt must be used, wash and work it well in
several waters, finally pressing it in a cloth to extract every
drop of moisture. Unless butter is hard and cold it will
oil, and make whatever it is mixed with heavy. Butter
should always be kept in a cool, not to say a cold, place;
abroad the cellar is always chosen for its storage. In
summer, when it is difficult to keep it firm, take a good
lump of ice and after well washing it put it in a pan full of
cold water, and put in the butter broken up fairly small,
watch it, for the very moment the butter begins to “ice”
it must be well worked in the icy cold water, then care-
fully wiped with a clean cloth, and used at once. In the
country where ice is not always attainable, if there is a