Cakes

Reprinted March 2004. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalogAmericans have enjoyed cakes for hundreds of years. Back in colonial\ud days, the old “recipes” called for measurements like “a lump of\ud butter the size of a walnut” or “a dessert spoon full of sugar.” Ingredients were beaten for hours and housewives guessed at the oven\ud temperatures in their wood stoves. Today, modern appliances and\ud standardized recipes have taken away much of the labor and trial-and-\ud error of cake baking