200 
THE LADIES' FL 01AL CABINET. 
chased years before when a drug-store had failed, and 
articles were sold “ at a bargain,” and had been kept in 
the paper in which it was first wrapped. The young- 
lady was suspicious of it although knowing nothing of 
this, and used a very generous measure, but the golden 
hue of the poorly raised biscuits proclaimed something 
wrong, and the hostess generously coming to the relief 
of the discomfitted biscuit-maker, suggested that per¬ 
haps that cream-tartar was too old, as she had had it 
three or four years—ever since John Smith failed in the 
drug business. 
If recipes are faultless and measurements accurate, it 
is very easy to be successful, but as that is not always 
the case, it might not be amiss in this article to give 
some of the reasons why failures occur, and how to 
guard against theqj. If cake is tough, it has too much 
flour or too little butter. If it falls there is too much 
butter or too little flour. Asa rule, the less flour one 
can use and not have the cake fall, the more delicate 
it will be. If cake does not rise in the oven as it 
should, there was not a sufficient amount of soda and 
cream tartar or baking powder. Usually a cake requir¬ 
ing one cup of milk, will need one teaspoon of soda and 
nearly three times that amount of cream-tartar, unless 
there are a great many eggs used. 
If cake is too coarse-grained, the oven was not hot 
enough or there was too little cream-tartar for the soda, 
or too much baking-powder for the amount of cake. 
If is too fine grained, there was too much cream tartar. 
Eggs should not be beaten on a warm dish or in a 
warm room, and they should not be allowed to stand 
long after they are beaten. For sponge cake and ome¬ 
lette, it is better to use a d'over egg beater for the whites 
until they come to a foam, and then beat them stiff 
with a fork or a thin, pliable piece of a barrel hoop 
Soda should be thoroughly pulverized on a plate with a 
knife before measuring it, and should be put into the 
flour with the cream-tartar and gifted twice. Butter 
should be cut in pieces about as large as dice, and only 
lightly pressed together as it is dropped into the cup, as 
a cup of butter does not mean a solid cup. In warm 
weather, especial care is needed in measuring butter. 
Fig Layer Cake. 
The ingredients needed for this cake are three-fourths 
of a cup of butter, two cups of powdered sugar, one 
cup of sweet milk, the whites of five eggs, one even 
teaspoon of soda, and three scant teaspoons of cream- 
tartar or three teaspoons of baking-powder, and two 
and a half cups of sifted flour. The filling will require 
one pound of best figs, one cup of water and a half cup 
of sugar. 
The first thing to do in making cake is to butter the 
tins and measure the ingredients. The soda and cream 
tartar or baking-powder must be thoroughly mixed and 
sifted with the flour. Then cream the butter, add the 
sugar a little at a time, and then the milk. The cake 
can now stand while the eggs are beaten to a stiff froth, 
after which the flour can be added to the cake and the 
necessary stirring given before the eggs are put in. It 
must then be baked immediately. This recipe will make 
four layers. 
The figs should be put in a saucepan with the water 
and sugar, and boiled till tender, and then rubbed 
through a colander, and when cool spread between the 
yers. 
We regret that there was a serious omission in the 
recipe for “ Fairy Layer Cake,” appearing in the Cabi¬ 
net for April last, the amount of butter not being given, 
and we therefore repeat the recipe corrected: 
Fairy Layer Cake. 
Two cups of powdered sugar, three-fourths of a cup 
of butter, one cup of sweet milk, one cup of corn-starch, 
two cups of flour, one even teaspoon of soda, and three 
scant teaspoons of cream-tartar or three even teaspoons 
of baking-powder, and the whites of seven eggs. 
The filling is a creamed sugar, prepared as follows: 
Pour one-half cup of boiling water over two cups of 
powdered sugar. Boil till a spoonful taken out will stir 
to a thick cream. Beat the whites of three eggs to a 
stiff froth, and pour the boiling sugar over them, stir¬ 
ring it all the time. Then put in one-quarter of a tea¬ 
spoon of tartaric acid and one teaspoon of vanilla: beat 
till stiff and cold, and then spread between the 
layers. 
Lyonnaise Potatoes. 
Cut six cold boiled potatoes in dice. Chop very fine 
enough onion to fill a tablespoon. Melt two tablespoons 
of butter and fry the onion in it till it is a light straw 
color. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper, and 
stir them in the butter. They should be turned often 
and not cooked more than two or three moments; just 
before they are taken up, a tablespoonful of chopped 
parsley should be stirred in them. 
Asparagus. 
Wash and cut off part of the white ends. If a sauce 
is to be used, tie them in small bundles, and put into 
boiling salted water and cook until tender; then take 
them up, untie them, and lay them neatly on a shallow 
dish or a platter. For the sauce, melt in a saucepan a 
piece of butter the size of an egg; add two even table¬ 
spoonfuls of flour, and a little salt. Stir till smooth, and 
then pour in gradually, one pint of milk or hot water, 
and as quick as it is scalding hot, turn into a sauce-boat, 
in which the yolk of one egg has been beaten, and stir 
till the egg and sauce are blended. When the asparagus 
is served, put a spoonful of the sauce on the ends to be 
eaten. Another way is to cut the asparagus in inch 
pieces, taking care to use only the part that is tender; 
drain off the water in which they were boiled, and pour 
the sauce over them just before sending to the table, or 
put milk with a little butter over them, and let it just 
come to a boil and then serve like peas, or pour it over 
some pieces of toasted bread that have been moistened 
in the water in which the asparagus was boiled. 
Mrs. C. G. Herbert. 
How to Make Rose Water. 
Whoever possesses plenty of Roses can make this 
perfume at a slight expense. Gather the Roses while 
free from dew, and put them into a two-gallon glass 
jar. Then take a two-ounce bottle and put in the, 
mouth of the jar, so that it will fit closely, and cut 
some pieces of perfectly clean sponge (that has been 
boiled to free it from sand and grit) into narrow strips, 
and soak them in the purest olive or Lucca oil. Cotton¬ 
seed oil will do, if free from any odor. The oil must 
be perfectly sweet and fresh, or it will spoil the per- 
