Cookery for Little Girls

For cake baking a graduated tin cup, marked in quarters and thirds, is almost a necessity, as different people's ideas vary so as to what constitutes a quarter or a third. If the cup is at hand, however, and is used in taking all the measurements, there can be no mistake. And a cupful means a level cupful, not heaping; a teaspoonful a level spoonful, not a rounded one, unless so specified. BAKING PREPARATIONS 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: [Illustration: ICING THE CAKE] TEA CAKES One-third of a cup of butter, one cup of sugar, one egg, one cup of milk, two cups of sifted flour, two level teaspoonfuls of baking powder, half a teaspoonful of vanilla, and half a cup of currants. DIRECTIONS FOR MIXING First the child should measure her flour while her cup is dry, and adding the baking-powder, sift it on