HOUSEKEEPING. 
Apple Turnover and Apple Pies. 
Lovers of apple pie, whose digestion is not equal to an 
undercrust, be it never so well made and baked, will find 
in the following recipe a compromise between a pudding 
and a pie, which does away with the objectionable part of 
the pie. We also invite the attention of housekeepers 
whose ovens do not bake well on the bottom, and of all 
lovers of warm apple pie. Just here it might not be out of 
place to remark, that with an oven that bakes equally well 
in all parts, the under-crust of a pie should be as dry as 
the upper. It is not necessary to' make it tough, nor to 
bake it till it is as dry as a herring. A pie that is properly 
baked will slip from the tin with careful handling, and if 
placed on a wire frame where the air has access to the 
bottom, it will cool without becoming moist, and when 
ready to be served it can be transferred to a plate. One 
of the wire frames on which meat is often placed in the 
roasting-pan will answer very well, and the cost is 
trifling. 
To make the turnover, about the same quantity of flour 
and lard that is required for one pie will be needed. 
Earthen, or else granite-iron pie-plates are best to bake it 
in. Select tart, tender apples; pare and cut in thin slices, 
enough to fill two pie-plates ; butter the edges so the crust 
will not stick to the plates when done. Make the crust 
precisely like ordinary pie-crust, with openings for the 
steam to escape, only it should be rolled out a trifle thicker; 
cover both plates and bake till thoroughly done. Then 
loosen the edge of the crust on one pie and turn it on a 
dinner-plate with the top of the crust down. If any of the 
apple remains on the pie-plate, scrape it off with a spoon 
and spread it evenly over the crust. Now sweeten the 
apple and add spice, if you like it; then take the crust from 
the second pie and turn it top down on the apple layer of 
the first, spreading its own apples over it, and sweeten as 
before ; serve with cream or plain. It resembles layer-cake, 
only the layers are pie-crust and apples. 
Imperial Cake. 
Seven ounces of butter for a rich cake, six for a plainer 
one ; one pound of powdered sugar ; one pound of sifted 
flour; a scant half-pint of sweet milk if seven ounces of 
butter are used, a full half-pint with less butter; one tea¬ 
spoon of soda slightly more than level; three level tea¬ 
spoons of cream-tartar and five eggs. Flavor with a few 
drops of almond. Pulverize the soda thoroughly with a 
knife and sift it and the cream-tartar with the flour. It 
is still better if sifted twice. Beat the butter to a cream 
and gradually stir the sugar in it. Then add the yolks 
of the eggs well beaten and stir for a few minutes, after 
which add the milk. Have the flour ready and have an 
assistant stir it slowly in while you are beating the whites 
to a stiff froth, or you must beat the whites and set them 
in a cool place if you stir in the flour yourself. The whites 
must be lightly stirred in just before the cake is ready to 
be put in the pans. Three kinds of cake can be made from 
this recipe. Bake a thin sheet in a biscuit-tin, ice it, and 
when the icing has stood till it is firm enough to mark it 
off in squares with a knife, melt a little chocolate in a cup 
over the tea-kettle, and with a small camel’s-hair brush 
mark each square of cake into little squares and dot them 
with chocolate or ornament them in any other way your 
taste dictates. Two small bar-tins can also be made, one 
with citron or raisins and one plain cake ; or a cake of three 
layers and a bar-tin. Two kinds of layer-cake can be 
made by cutting the layers in halves and filling each with 
something different. A piece of white writing-paper can 
be placed between the halves, and they can then be placed 
tightly together, so they will not become dry. 
A Word About Icing. 
In these housekeeping articles we strive to offer eco¬ 
nomical suggestions rather than extravagant ones, and with . 
this in view we give a recipe for icing where one egg will 
ice a cake of four layers, or two good-sized round cakes. 
The icing is more difficult to make, but one successful 
effort will win your approbation. When it is just right it is 
very glossy, and will not flake off when the cake is cut, or 
be brittle when eaten. Take one-half pint of granulated 
sugar and a scant half cup of cold water. Boil till it will 
shred from the spoon, then pour it slowly over the white 
of one egg beaten to a stiff froth, and stir briskly until it is 
nearly cool. The cake should not be quite cold when the 
icing is spread on. The difficulty in making this icing is 
in determining when it has boiled just enough. It begins 
to boil thick when it is done. If it seems too stiff when 
ready to spread, put in a spoonful of boiling water. If it 
is too thin there is no remedy ; use it and do better next 
time. It is best boiled in granite-iron, and should be 
stirred occasionally while boiling. For chocolate icing it 
does not require to be quite as thick as for plain. The 
grated chocolate should be stirred in when the icing is 
partially cool and the quantity is determined by the color 
it gives to the icing. Mrs. C. G. Herbert. 
NOTES AND COMMENTS. 
New York Horticultural Society. — The December and in some of the classes decidedly rich, the hall was at 
exhibition showed plainly the folly of displaying flowers no time one-fourth part filled with members or visitors, 
where there were, relatively, no admirers. While the The folly of offering premiums for exhibits that are neither 
display of Roses and Chrysanthemums was really fine, seen nor appreciated is apparent. That New York City will 
