Baking Preparations Recipe

Before beginning the work, the child should read over her recipe and lay

out all ingredients needed. She should have the mixing bowl on the

table with the mixing spoon, the teaspoon and tablespoon for

measurements, and the measuring cup. The cake pan, wiped off, warmed and

greased lightly with lard, is next set aside, ready for use.

Then the fire must be in good condition. If a gas stove is used it will

take only a few moments to heat the oven properly, but if wood or coal

is the fuel, the mother must show the child how to prepare the fire, so

as to have the oven the right temperature and on time. The old way of

having it as hot as one can stand the hand while counting twenty, is a

fair test.

As small cakes bake more evenly and quickly for the inexperienced cook,

it is a good idea to let the child put her cake dough in muffin tins. A

mixture that might fall and seem a failure if put in a loaf and not

properly baked, will often come up very nicely in gem pans; and,

besides, the small cakes appeal more to the childish fancy. A nice

one-egg cake is made as follows: