know the right temperature for
Baking both layer and loaf, white, butter Cakes, also for chocolate
Cake. Should the Baking begin with a cold or a warm oven? How long
should each kind of cake bake?"

Temperature for Cake Baking

The usual time and temperature for baking layer cakes is 400 deg. Fah.,
for twenty minutes. Loaf cakes, made with butter, with or without
chocolate, take a temperature of from 350 deg. to 375 deg, Fah. for from
forty minutes to an hour. These temperatures are approximate, and are in
accordance with the general rules for oven temperature, but this has to
be adapted to the recipe. The more sugar used the lower should be the
temperature, to avoid burning, and especially when molasses is used does
the need to decrease temperature become imperative. The more butter used
the higher should be the temperature, at least, until the cake is "set,"
to keep it from falling. Cakes with much butter need the greatest heat
at first, and then a reduced temperature. So do all cakes of small size.
Large cakes are better at a uniform temperature, not so high as the
average. A different flavor is produced, especially in very rich cakes
with a good many eggs, when put into a cool oven and baked with
gradually increasing heat, from that developed by a high initial
temperature and then a decreased heat. The quality of the flour and
shortening also affect the temperature and time needed in baking. It is
a good safe thing to follow the rules, and to temper them with judgment.
When the cake is just firm in the center, and has shrunk from the sides
of the pan, it is done, no matter what the temperature has been or how
long it has baked. But you will always get your cake at this condition,
more surely and safely, by following the rules, though you must be on
the alert to use them with flexibility.

QUERY NO. 4248.--"Will you please give me a recipe for Canned
Pimientoes?"

Canned Pimientoes

Cut round the stem of each, and with a small, sharp knife remove the
seeds and the white partitions inside. Set on a baking sheet in a hot
oven until the thin outside skin puffs and cracks, then remove it with a
small, sharp knife. Or they may be scalded, then dipped into cold water
and the skin be carefully removed. Sometimes the skin is left on. Now
press each one flat, and arrange them in layers, alternately overlapping
one another, in the jars, without liquid, and process for twenty-five to
thirty-five minutes at 212 deg